Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers-Braves (5/19-5/22)

This is SnoTap's version of recap of the two, three or four game series Milwaukee Brewers will play this season. We focus on the positives and negatives with topics about the game and topics that were nowhere near close to part of the game.

Highlights
Kyle Lohse - Brewers really don't have an ace to their staff, but they do have a number one pitcher, right now that's Lohse. No one is pitching better than him on this roster. He continued to dazzle against Atlanta going for eight innings giving up four hits and striking out eight batters with only walked one. Lohse looked in complete control for the full eight innings. He didn't really deal with any sort of problems, and won his six start of the season. Nine out of Lohse's ten starts have seen him go at least six innings.

Jonathan Lucroy - This man is on a complete tear. I know Buster Posey and Yadier Molina hang out in the National League, but Lucroy is playing like an All-Star starter. He is currently eighth in the league in batting average and on-base percentage. Lucroy reached base safely in 11 out of 17 at-bats against Atlanta, and hit over .500 for the season against the Braves. Lucroy is having the best May by far of any Brewers batter, and I do think you seriously have to consider Johnny Luc for the cleanup position even when Aramis Ramirez comes back.

Mark Reynolds - He was the main benefactor as to why Milwaukee won on Wednesday night with his grand slam. Reynolds is not going to give you the base-hits you want all the time, but he will bring the home run power. It is why Reynolds should stay in the lineup because now and again, he will hit a big home run for the team. Yes, he will also strikeout too, but you just roll with the punches there with Reynolds. But keeping him on the bench and starting Jeff Bianchi is not something that will win you baseball games. Simple as that.

Khris Davis - Decent series for him, and it would be great if he got hot at some point. I still believe he is figuring out Major League Baseball pitching even after two months. Davis hit a two-run homer on Monday night to pull the Brewers within two runs of Atlanta before shit hit the fan, and Davis drove in two runs on Thursday. He can hit against left-handers without question, but the struggle comes against the righties. Hopefully, Davis can find his groove in Miami and carry over to the homestand against Baltimore and Chicago.

Ryan Doumit -Known. Brewer. Killer. He always seems to do something against the Brewers, doesn't he? Doumit hit the home run that opened the Wang floodgates on Monday night, and then drove in two runs including the go-ahead on Thursday night. Doumit needs to stay far away from the National League Central.

Lowlights
Ron Roenicke's Decision Making - Not the best week for Ronald. He has been sort of above criticism for the season given how good the Brewers have been, but he is not helping things with all the injuries. There was the Wang decision on Monday which we already discussed, here and here. And then last night was a complete trainwreck with not having someone warm in the bullpen. Will Smith did give up two runs, but ended up getting an out as well. So help me God if he gets hurt in the coming days. Roenicke needs a full deck because he doesn't know how to handle one when it's limited.

Yovani Gallardo's ankle - To make matters worse on Tuesday night, Yovani Gallardo sprained his ankle meaning he could be out for Sunday's game against Miami. He will probably not see any Disabled List time for this one, but it is always disappointing to see a starting pitcher go down. Thankfully, it is just a sprained ankle, and not anything more serious to his legs. I wouldn't push Gallardo starting on Sunday, but the fact, Mike Fiers or Jimmy Nelson isn't up therefore the Brewers don't have a backup plan putting them at odds.

Ryan Braun's side - I feel like Michael Scott seeing Toby again... NOOOO GOD NOOO. Braun looked like he was struggling at the plate, and he pulled himself out of the game on Thursday night. It becomes a waiting game to see if Braun plays tonight. He is a former Miami guy so this series has some meaning to Braun and probably wants to be in the order. My guess is he will play tonight, sit out Saturday and play Sunday. Hopefully, he doesn't have to miss the whole series.

Wily Peralta - I don't think there is a reason to push a panic button on Peralta rather he just had a bad start against a good team. Peralta gave up a home run as well as walked four batters in five innings. Peralta still hasn't given up more than three earned runs in a game so far this season. Just a bad start from Wily, he will be fine.

Charlie.

Brewers-Braves Preview (5/19-5/22)

Brewers previews to get you ready for the series where we have five things to watch, pitching matchups and prediction. We add a YouTube video in the mix, it could be really anything.   

Pitching Matchups
Monday: Wily Peralta (4-2 2.05) vs. Mike Minor (1-2 4.24) 6:10 pm FSNWI
Tuesday: Yovani Gallardo (2-2 3.07) vs. Julio Teheran (2-3 2.20) 6:10 pm FSNWI
Wednesday: Kyle Lohse (5-1 2.88) vs. Ervin Santana (4-1 2.76) 6:10 pm  FSNWI
Thursday: Matt Garza (2-4 4.83) vs. Aaron Harrang (4-4 2.98) 6:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Overreacting to offensive struggles - I realize this weekend was a struggle in the biggest use of the word. but I don't think it is anything to be worry about yet. No Aramis Ramirez or Carlos Gomez in the lineup with Ryan Braun just coming back. Not to mention, the refusal to play Rickie Weeks against right-handers. They will likely have Gomez back on Monday, you can see Braun starting to feel it a little more and if Jean Segura gets hot, Milwaukee could be just fine. Atlanta's pitching staff is the best in the majors so we really shouldn't expect the Brewers to break out here, but it would be great if Milwaukee started to see the ball a little better with slightly more patience.

2.) Gomez and Braun at full strength - Really Milwaukee hasn't had both this guys healthy since late April and it is incredible to still have this team 10 games over .500. I am curious to see whether Gomez will be the same player right away, or if it will take him sometime to get back to his old Gomez ways. Back injuries are not an easy thing to comeback from and with the way Gomez plays, he could have some issues with a back injury. Braun seems fine and there are no plans to rest him until further notice. If both these players are cooking, there are not many tougher starts to a game than Gomez, player x and Braun.

3.) Braves pitching prowess? - Everyone knows about how good the Braves pitching staff has been this season, but are we starting to see them come back to earth a  little bit? Mike Minor might be the exception. He had only three starts and one of them was a six-run blowup against St. Louis, he came back six days later and pitched shutout ball. Ervin Santana has given up three or more runs in three of his last four starts. Two of Julio Teheran's last three starts have seen him give up at least three runs as well. The only one whose been surprisingly consistent is Aaron Harang giving up two earned runs a game in his last three starts bouncing back from his terrible start against Miami. Obviously, Craig Kimbrel and their bullpen is always a concern too.

4.) Braves' May record is a little misleading - Currently, they are 6-11 in the month of May and losers of four of their last five games. This would make some fans feels like the Brewers could have a good shot to play a team while they are down, but this all a little flawed. Atlanta played San Francisco and St. Louis twice this month already. This is not a 23-19 team rather one dealing with a tough part of their schedule. Although Milwaukee has found success with Atlanta in the past couple of years. The Brewers won four of the six games played against Atlanta last season with shutting them out four times.      

5.) Someone needs to get hot - This is a weak fifth slot, but it would be great if a Brewers player went on a hot streak. The odds are it would be Jean Segura whom is showing glimpses of seeing the baseball again. Mark Reynolds would be another player to get warm instead the strikeout machine that he has been lately. Johnathan Lucroy is probably the hottest Brewer right now other than Rickie Weeks and Lucroy isn't even that warm with hits in seven of his last 10 games.

Appropriate YouTube video


Let's go with some Ellie Goulding's "Burn" in an attempt to get some Brewers warm in this week in Hotlanta. Side note: I have to think Atlanta residents hate the term 'Hotlanta.'

Prediction

My head says the Brewers are losing three out of the next four games which would probably put them in a pretty bad spot, but my heart thinks the Crew will get a split. Maybe I am crazy.

Charlie.