Jack White & Questlove: Baseball Fans

There are celebrities at baseball games. That's a known fact. It is summer with nothing to do so there is nothing weird about seeing a couple musicians at a baseball game. It happens all the time. What was weird about last night is it seemed like the cameras shined brighter on Jack White at the Chicago Cubs game and Questlove at the New York Yankees game.

Everyone came with their own joke about how White doesn't look very happy to be there. Guess what, he played in hotbox known as The Rave last night, the guy barely sees the sun and people don't really know him for a happy go-lucky kind of human. Additionally, the Midwest was balls getting stuck to the chair hot yesterday. White probably didn't expect it to be this hot.  Questlove had more fun it seemed like even though Texas and New York didn't score a run until the 13th inning. They stayed for the whole thing which is pretty awesome. Questlove should really be behind the plate every game. It seems like the right spot for him. George H Bush of the Yankees. Let's make it happen.

 Some social media highlights.

Is that Jack White pic.twitter.com/m94sBgqmxT
— Torque Penderloin (@AndrewCieslak) July 23, 2014

My favorite part of the tweet is wondering if it is actually him. All that really needed to happen is for one person to look up his tour schedule and see he just played Milwaukee, I am going to assume Chicago is happening tomorrow.



Need to have some beers with Questlove.

Charlie.

Changes to Interleague Rivalries Needed

For the last two years, Milwaukee and Minnesota have been playing a split four-game series during the week.  It is a part of the new Major League Baseball Interleague system as Houston Astros made the transition to American League giving both leagues 15 teams. This meant we would have an interleague series every series turn with two divisions playing each other along with the ‘rivalry’ matchups getting a four-game series during the week so each team would get two games at home.  This officially needs some fine tuning after two years because it is hurting baseball’s economy with ticket revenue.  How to fix it is pretty simple actually and it is beyond me why MLB hasn’t thought about it before.

The four-game weekday series works for only four interleague rivalries.  Those are Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox, Oakland A’s vs. San Francisco Giants,  New York Yankees vs. New York Mets  and Los Angeles Angels vs. Los Angeles Dodgers. The reason why it works for these four rivalries is the opposing fanbase can make it to the other team’s venue with ease drawing a bigger crowd.  When you have something like Minnesota-Milwaukee which is a six-hour trip, no one is making the trip to Milwaukee on Monday or Tuesday.  Cleveland and Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and Miami are other examples where it makes things difficult for the opposing fan to travel elsewhere.

This doesn’t stop at the box office either. Sure, most people coming into town will spend more money. They might buy a Hank t-shirt, stuff animal, etc, but they are also seeing the game at better seats.  Further, usually these opposing fans are probably staying at a hotel which is more revenue for the city along with spending money in the variety of bars and restaurants across the city. It might not be significant revenue unless the opposing team is really good and bringing in a great deal of fans, but it still is something missing in the last couple years.

Honestly, the series haven’t been as much without having Twins fans all over the city. As they have struggled, we haven’t seen as many around Milwaukee in the past couple years, but it is a good-hearted rivalry.  Additionally, it is really fun to be in an opposing ballpark giving the other fans shit in a scenario like this one.  You start singing Jason Kendall’s name like clocktower (JAAAAAAY-SON KEN-DALLLLLL, JAAAAAY-SON KEN-DALLLLLL) and talking about football in June because at times, Vikings fans have small-man’s syndrome (Love you guys).  MLB is taking away all of these things away from Brewers and Twins fans along with other rivalries around the league.  Hopefully, this is the last year with these split series during the week.

If they decided to these series on the weekend where MLB had four-game series split with Thursday/Friday being at the first place with Saturday/Sunday being at the second place. MLB can flip it every season allowing for both teams getting the weekend games.  This would still help drive people to the opposing ballpark. It is a lot easier to take off work at the end of the week telling the boss, ‘We are going to see Brewers-Twins in Milwaukee and spending the whole weekend down there.’  Taking two days off work and probably staying an extra day to party is not the worst thing in the world. Most people are not taking off Monday and Tuesday because one, there is not much nightlife happening and two, many people don't want to come back to their job on Wednesday.

The other thing baseball could think about is adding an extra series to interleague.   I doubt they want to do something like this because do you really want each team to get a weekend series with their interleague rival versus an extra division series?  Odds are probably not, but if they could figure out a way to make a schedule work, that would be the dream honestly. The one place where I could see them finding a way is trying to subtract an inter-division series.  But is it really beneficial to have them play another interleague series versus inter-division matchup like Arizona-Milwaukee?  For revenue standards, no question about it, but for potential playoff record against the National League, it could be troublesome.

This is one of the minor things the new commissioner will have to address next season.  Four-game series aren’t affecting the players rather it is affecting the fans whom want to cheer their home team in a city not their own. 

Charlie. 

Highlights-Lowlights: Cubs-Brewers

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
Ryan Braun - I told ya. I thought Braun would have a big series, and he did exactly that with two big
performances on Friday and Sunday night. He hit two home runs so we can retire the whole thing about 'Braun cannot hit homers at home' which I don't think really was a thing but I got sick of everyone talking about it. Braun also drove in another run on Friday night plus he scored four times as well in those games. Braun tends to go on these tears for about a week or so meaning it should be a real fun time for Minnesota this upcoming week.

Kyle Lohse - What a game for Lohse needing a little bit of a bounce-back after his Memorial Day start. He finished the game with a three-hit shutout striking out six batters for his seventh win of the season. He messed around and picked up a Maddux as well. He finished the game with 93 pitches. An extremely efficient outing for Lohse on the mound whom seemed in full control. Lohse also did some damage with his bat driving in two runs. He apparently jokes about what a bad hitter he was, but he had Brewers fans fooled on Sunday afternoon. Lohse is pitching better than anyone on this team. Pretty good for a guy some fans believed to be the next Jeff Suppan.

Khris Davis - Sure, his hitting streak ended today at 10 games, but Davis had another big series. He added a hit on Saturday, but the headlines stem from his Friday night performance. Davis had two hits, both doubles and scored on both hits as well making for a very productive day at the plate. Who knows if Davis will hit as high as five again this season, but he seemed very comfortable at there. It is nice to see he can hit at any spot of the order.

Jason Hammel - It is time to annoint Jason Hammel with the Known Brewer Killer crown. He dominated the Crew for the second straight appearance at Miller Park. He did not give up a run once again and remained in control for most of the game. Hammel did not walk one batter, he struck out eight and only gave up four hits. It appears like Hammel will be dealt at some point this season, and Chicago should definitely consider it because he has been one of the brightest spots for the Cubs this season. He will garner some value.

Wei-Chung Wang - I need to give credit where credit is due, and Wang did pretty well in his two appearances this weekend. He pitched well on Friday night not allowing a run and only one hit given up. On Saturday, he did allow a run in his second inning of work, but that was sort of  Braun's fault as he attempted to dive for a ball yet he missed it. It does appear Wang feels comfortable on the home mound which is a good thing, and hopefully, he will start figuring out more stuff becoming an actual option out of the Brewers bullpen.

Scooter Gennett - He deserves this honor for his Sunday performance. Gennett added a home run and two doubles scoring all three times he reached base. Even though everyone else struggled against Hammel, Gennett found some success getting two of the four hits the Cubs hurler gave up on Saturday. Scooter has moved his average up to .281, the highest its been since May 14th against Pittsburgh. If he gets warm, it will only add to the potent Brewers offense.

Lowlights
Cubs accuse Brewers of 'stealing signs' - Oh so this is back? Cubs after Sunday's ass-kicking accused the Brewers of possibly taking some of their signs. This is flat out stupid. This is sour grapes from a team whose ace got dominated for the first time of the season. Guess what? Even the best pitchers have bad starts every now and again, and that's what happened with Jeff Samardzija on Sunday afternoon. The most ridiculous thing about the sign-stealing stuff is how bad the Brewers lost on Saturday. If they were taking signs, you think they would have swept the series, right?

Wily Peralta - Things really got out of hand quickly for the Brewers righty with his first real bad start of the season. He gave up two home runs to Anthony Rizzo and his whole sixth inning went to complete shit with Peralta giving up six runs on only five hits. Peralta did not have his best stuff out there, and the Cubs took advantage of it especially Rizzo. I don't think this is the regression truck coming around rather just an abberation in the game logs. Wily should be just fine for the next start against Minnesota.

Tyler Thornburg - Fair to be a little concerned with him as of late? Thornburg gave up two runs in the ninth on Friday night, and granted, they were meaningless, still Thornburg is having an issue serving up runs. In three of the last four appearances, Thornburg has allowed at least one run.  It is clear he needs to fine tune some of his skills because it appears the opposing teams have a good book on him finally after not being able to figure him out in the bulpen.

Mark Reynolds - Not a good weekend for him. He had five strikeouts this weekend including three at the plate on Friday night. Reynolds didn't really seem comfortable at the plate all weekend. Reynolds' average has dipped to .205.  Good thing, there are other Brewers to pick up the slack where he can be placed lower in the order.

Charlie.

Cubs-Brewers Preview (5/30-6/1)

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
Friday:     Travis Wood (5-4 4.35) vs. Marco Estrada (4-2 3.98)    7:10 pm FSNWI
Saturday:  Jason Hammel (5-3 3.08) vs. Wily Peralta (4-4 2.12)      3:10 pm FSNWI
Sunday:    Jeff Samardzija (1-4 1.68) vs. Kyle Lohse (6-1 2.92)      1:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Whose bat stays the hottest? - If you didn't hear the Brewers are have a 10-game streak going where
they have 10 hits or more hits and if they get 10 tonight, it ties the franchise record set in 2011. Carlos Gomez and Khris Davis both have hitting streaks going as well Jonathan Lucroy has a hit in nine of his last 10 games. At some point, the bottom has to fall out a little bit on the offense. Not all of these guys can remain hot, but who really knows with this team. My vote is definitely not Friday as Brewers bats have thrived off left-handed pitchers all year.

2.) Big time Braun series - I have a feeling this will be the series where Braun hits multiple home runs and we proclaim "HE'S BACK." It seemed like he had a different pep in his step on Wednesday night. He was stealing bases, running a little better and naturally making good contact. Braun is due for a big series to get in on all the fun the rest of the guys in the lineup are having right now. Currently, the Brewers slugger has a sneaky five-game hitting streak with multiple hits in three of them. It seems like this is the type of thing that happens before Braun goes completely off and he loves Cubs pitching.

3.) No easy pitchers this weekend - Two out of the three pitchers (Hammel and Wood) dazzled against the Brewers this season already, one with a shutout and the other with one mistake to Rickie Weeks. The other (Samardzija) is pitching like a Cy Young on a last place team. I will say this about Hammel and Wood though. Both of these pitchers faced the Brewers when they were terribly beaten up with injuries. I'm interested to see how they both handle the Brewers at near full strength. Both pitched well in their last outing so it could one of those things where something has to give and I am betting on the Brewers bats personally given what we saw this week already.

4.) 7th inning blues hopefully disappearing - For the season, the Brewers are averaging .5 runs in the seventh inning which ranks 19th in MLB, and obviously, the last six games haven't helped one bit. Good news, the Cubs are one of the worst teams at producing runs in the seventh inning at 26th. For reference, Baltimore is in the top ten at producing runs in the seventh. I might be grasping for straws here looking for answers, but I am starting to believe it is a little bit of an aberration of one series. I could also be totally wrong and it continues to be a problem this weekend.

5.) Marco Estrada home run watch - I realize this has been a personal conquest of mine this season, but Estrada has given up 16 home runs already this season which leads all of baseball. Roof should be open, but I don't know if the panels will be open as well meaning some balls might stay in the park. But the Cubs have a great deal of power with Anthony Rizzo, Junior Lake and Starlin Castro. Estrada needs one of those games where he dominates in all facets instead of 'Well Marco pitched great except for the two home runs he gave up."

Appropriate YouTube video


I wanted to go with some Kanye West after hearing some snippets of his first single, but let's ride with the best of Harry Carey done by Will Ferrell.

Prediction
A sweep would be awesome, but with the pitchers lined up for this one, it is reasonable for me to expect two out of three in some way.

Charlie.

The Growing Disagreement on Wei-Chung Wang

Wei-Chung Wang is one of the biggest storylines of the Milwaukee Brewers season thus far. We already know about why he is an intriguing player, and the consequences that come with him being off the team. Wang had another terrible outing giving up five runs in one inning making his ERA around 17.61.  This is unfair to Wang. He really should be in Single or Double A working on his craft but instead he gets trotted out once every two weeks to get hit around by MLB talent. Milwaukee is in a tough place with a General Manager whom wants him there and a Manager that doesn't. We don't know the latter part of that statement, but it sure feels like it.

Doug Melvin made all sorts of comments about how the Brewers are committed to Wang, long-term. We talked on the blog before about how it feels like Wang is first-round draft pick to replace them losing a pick to have Kyle Lohse. Melvin believes he will be a great pitcher, and he is terrified to let go of young pitching. It comes from him giving up on Jorge De La Rosa and Dana Eveland whom didn't become All-Stars post-Brewers life, but they did end up having solid years here and there. Further, Melvin waited until he absolutely last moment to let go of Manny Parra because he believed there still was a chance of him being successful.

No one likes to be wrong, and it seems like Melvin might top the list. For a long time, he brought in former Texas players, he had either drafted or traded for at some point, almost like he wanted to be proven right. Additionally, it doesn't help things that Hector Rondon, a Rule 5 guy like Wang, has become the closer of the Chicago Cubs after spending a year on the Chicago roster. Melvin looks to that and probably knows he cannot let go to Wang especially to rival Pittsburgh. But the difference between the Cubs and Brewers is Chicago spent a majority of the season below .500 while Milwaukee is in a pennant race. Having a liability in the bullpen like Wang is making things difficult on Ron Roenicke and it's starting to show through.

Last night, the Brewers trailed Atlanta by one run in the eighth inning coming off a half inning featuring a Ryan Braun home run. Will Smith, Milwaukee's usual set-up man, hadn't pitched since Friday, but Roenicke went with Wang. It became an entire dumpster fire with a six-run inning in the eighth leading to Milwaukee's third straight loss. Many people including me perceived as Roenicke waving the white flag because they were likely hopeless against Craig Kimbrel, one of the best closers in the game. But now that I had a chance to stew a little bit on this topic, Roenicke did this as a big giant FU to Melvin.

Why would Roenicke have Wang face Ryan Doumit, Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Freddie Freeman? Wang wasn't going through the bottom of the order here. Further, he wasn't facing a low-tier team rather a likely playoff contender. Roenicke wanted to show Melvin how not ready this pitcher is and wants to have Jimmy Nelson or Mike Fiers in the big leagues, two guys completely dominating Triple A right now. Roenicke didn't mind losing the game to prove a point. Is that spiteful?  Yes. Will Roenicke get his point across to Melvin?  No probably not, but Roenicke wanted to make it clear Wang doesn't belong here. It's not really fair to Wei-Chung truthfully, but there is a clear division between the Manager and General Manager. Although Roenicke has seemingly lost his marbles trying to figure out what works with this baseball team so who knows it could be the manager doing something different.

What happens from here?  Who really knows. Wang is known liability. Does he go on the Jeff Suppan Disabled List with a 'shoulder' or 'elbow' injury that causes him to miss a month or so?  I don't think Melvin makes the move to give him back to Pittsburgh honestly, at least not yet. But Milwaukee is heading to an iceberg they cannot avoid especially if other pitchers struggle in the coming weeks. If Marco Estrada hits the skids and clearly does not look like a starting pitcher, what does Milwaukee do?  It becomes damn near impossible with Wang in the bullpen if Estrada starts showing signs of struggling as a starter.

Maybe there isn't a growing disagreement with Manager and Front Office, but it sure as hell is starting to feel like it a bit. Wang hasn't pitched in two weeks, but still, it seemed calculated. Almost like a moon door for Wang's career in Milwaukee.

Charlie.

Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers-Cubs

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
Jean Segura -This is really just the Friday game for Seggy as he had a three hit game. He was the reason Milwaukee won their only game of the series. Segura scored in the first inning, and then knocked in two runners in the second. Segura is starting to get a little bit warm in the past week or so. Segura's average went up to .262 on Saturday, the highest it has been since April 14th. Personally, I don't think he should leave the second spot in the order.

Kyle Lohse - Even though Lohse gave up two home runs, he pitched pretty well on a cold Friday afternoon in Chicago.  He finished seven innings in only 92 pitches which is impressive only giving up seven hits in the process. Lohse once again is having a great season which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone whose watched him in the past couple years. In his nine starts this season, Lohse has pitched into the sixth inning or longer in eight of them. An impressive and underrated start to this season.

Matt Garza's Six Other Innings - First inning was such a bummer for Garza. After the bad start, Garza only allowed one hit and two baserunners. It is similar to what he did against New York in the past game as well. Hopefully, Garza can find a way to rite the ship in the first inning because he will start putting together some solid outings. I am not starting to freak out about Garza yet. He is doing some great things on the rubber, just needs to put all together.

Edwin Jackson - He continued his strong May with a tremendous start against the Brewers Saturday
afternoon. Jackson pitched seven inning only giving up four hits and striking out eleven batters. He has been an occasional thorn in the Brewers side from time to time and he was on Saturday afternoon feasting on Brewers weak bats. The closest the Brewers got was in the first inning with two two-out hits. Jackson could become an interesting trade option if Chicago messes around a bit with his biggish contract.

Lowlights
Matt Garza's First Inning - You have to believe the routine for Garza will be changing in the coming days. This is the second straight start where he has given up three runs in the first inning plus in his Arizona start, he gave up three runs in the first three innings as well. It could be that Garza is trying to make the perfect pitch and isn't getting comfortable right away leading to his struggles in the first frame. As I said above, Garza will be fine, don't go crazy folks.

Jeff Bianchi - I have no idea why Ron Roenicke decided he wanted Bianchi at third and Mark Reynolds at first, but it happened without much success at the plate. Bianchi is hitting .154, the lowest his average has been this season and for the month, he is hitting .091. Bianchi struck out five out of the six times he stepped to the plate this weekend. I think it is time for Bianchi to find a seat on the bench for awhile.

Marco Estrada - If there was one inconsistent starting pitcher for the Brewers, it's Marco.  He gave up two more home runs today making it 12 on the season. Estrada is leading the National League with home runs given up. This is becoming quite a problem for the Brewers fifth starter. He needs to get back into his groove a little bit with his changeup. Estrada told the media after the game he didn't really have a feel for his changeup which isn't a good thing at all. Playing at Marlins Stadium on Friday will definitely help him out though.

Ron Roenicke's lineup - Ugh. I wish I could write a complete rant about how Roenicke has royally screwed up this lineup but no one really listens to me. Rickie Weeks should have been in the lineup all weekend. Bianchi continues to be bad and Martin Maldonado stays on the bench despite a red-hot bat. Looks Roenicke needs to take some risks. This became a complaint of mine last year, but it seems like his robotic ways are rearing its ugly head yet again.

Carlos Gomez's body - Bummed out that he had the flu or food poisoning causing him to be miss two games in Chicago. I don't know if he could have helped the Brewers offense, but sure would have been a welcomed addition given how putrid they were over the last two games.

Charlie.

Brewers-Cubs Preview (5/16-5/18)

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
Friday:     Kyle Lohse (4-1 2.75) vs. Jeff Samardzija (0-3 1.45)             1:20 pm FSNWI
Saturday: Matt Garza (2-3 4.98) vs. Edwin Jackson (2-3 4.56)              1:20 pm FSNWI
Sunday:   Marco Estrada (3-1 3.28) vs. Travis Wood (3-4 4.91)           1:20 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Rickie Weeks weekend - If Rickie Weeks spends any time on the bench, it is clearly out of spite from his manager. We already talked a bit in Highlights/Lowlights this morning regarding the Weeks redemption tour. It needs to continue in Chicago. I realize Scooter Gennett is the future second baseman of this team, but right now, Rickie needs to stay in the lineup before the bottom falls out. Honestly with Carlos Gomez out and the way Weeks excelled in the one hole yesterday, he should just stay there until Gomez comes back hopefully on Sunday. Weeks numbers at Wrigley Field are nothing to write home about, but right now, I don't think any of that matters to him.

2.) Scooter to play third or left field? - Let me keep beating this drum. Scooter Gennett told Joe Block he would be open to playing/learning outfield, but no one has asked him yet. I still cannot believe they haven't talked about putting him at third base although Mark Reynolds' defense looks like Brooks Robinson of late yet we cannot expect that to continue all season. He has a .287 average and to keep him out of the lineup with a struggling offense really hurts the team as a whole. The only real way seems to be for Reynolds to play first base and Scooter third base. It will be interesting to see how this storyline progresses in the next couple of weeks.

3.) Carlos Gomez's health - Hopefully, the Sports Illustrated cover jinx is not a real thing in Milwaukee. Even though he is suspended, it really has to do with his back injury right now. It is a weird situation because the Brewers do not have a day off until May 29th meaning the Brewers probably need to be careful with this one especially with the way Gomez plays the game. I will say the offense looks more quiet without Gomez versus where they were without Ryan Braun. And yes, it doesn't help Aramis Ramirez is out of the lineup as well. Speaking of his cover story, this is an AWESOME comment from Gomez.

#RichPeopleConversations RT @nelses1: Carlos Gomez y'all pic.twitter.com/4FPqQLrn2p”
— Jaymes Langrehr (@JaymesL) May 16, 2014

4.) Struggling Cubs but offense is still potent - Chicago is a weird team. They are 13 games under .500, they have lost nine out of their last eleven games, but in the two wins, Chicago scored 12 and 17 runs. They have also been in extras three times during this struggle session for the Cubs. Additionally, eight of the games have been outside The Friendly Confines. I guess what I am trying to say is... Yes I know the Cubs are 13 games under .500 but they have the ability to score runs, keep games close and find ways to win if their bullpen isn't involved so don't be cocky Brewers.

5.) Chicago's weather issues - It is the middle May, we are a week away from Memorial Day weekend so we should be ready to bust out the tanktops, right? Welp the weekend in Chicago looks like complete shit this weekend minus Sunday. 50 percent chance of rain on Friday, 30 percent chance of rain on Saturday. The nice thing is we have two games during the day meaning we could wait out the rain for awhile plus some of us will be working during the first two games as well.

Appropriate YouTube Video


Rickie Weeks' walkup song right now and one of my favorites in the last six months.  It also is getting played in every NBA arena everywhere. 

Prediction 
Brewers need to get off to a good start to a long 10 game road trip. Winners of their last four of five, I am going with they take Saturday and Sunday. The Shark dominates the Crew this afternoon.

Charlie.

Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers-Cubs (4/25-4/27)

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
Matt Garza - There is something about facing your former team, or I would like to think it has to be sort of cool about it. Garza had been struggling in the last couple starts, and he put together for a strong seven innings start notching his first win as a Milwaukee Brewer. Garza allowed only four hits and striking out seven batters only walking one batter. Garza had all of his pitches working confusing and befuddling Cubs batters. Hopefully, this is the start of strong performances for Garza. If Garza gets hot, it will only continue for Milwaukee's impressive start with their starting pitching.

Francisco Rodriguez - Once again, Frankie had a big weekend with two saves on Friday and Saturday. K-Rod has eleven straight saves in April setting the record for consecutive saves for the month of April. Rodriguez's month has been one of the best in baseball only allowing four hits in 13 appearances and walking three batters over eleven games. He also has struck out 19 batters. Rodriguez known for '30 Pitchers of Terror' in the first two terms with Milwaukee, but right now, Rodriguez is averaging 14.8 pitches per appearances. At some point, you have to expect some struggle, but right now, it's Frankie's world and we are just living it in.

Marco Estrada - Even though he gave up a home run in the eighth inning, Estrada has another strong outing for the Brewers. He went seven-plus innings giving up only allowing four hits, two of which happened to be home runs, something that happens to Estrada given the way he pitches the baseball. It is encouraging to see Estrada succeed at Miller Park. He struggled mightily last year inside The Keg, and it is good to see him bounce back in a major way in the first month of the season.

Jeff Bianchi - The unsung hero of Saturday night's game against Chicago. Jean Segura suffered a bat to the face by Ryan Braun leading him to leave the game, and Bianchi stepped in delivering two hits including a big two-run single helping the Brewers to break open the game against the Cubs. Bianchi continues to be a solid and reliable option for Milwaukee off the bench.

Lyle Overbay - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO chants were reigning down on Miller Park on Friday as Overbay blasted his first home run of the season. He added another hit in the game as well as had one in Sunday's loss giving him three hits in eight at-bats this weekend. Overbay's average is up to .273 on the season which is a massive improvement from how he started off the year. I would assume the platoon goes back to being more stringent with the success of Overbay lately and Mark Reynolds scuffling a bit at the dish.

Carlos Gomez's 'Aww' moment - If you missed it on Sunday, Carlos Gomez made a girl's day by signing her bobblehead box then giving her hug. Love to see those kind of moments.



Lowlights
Ryan Braun's Intercostal Strain - It's been a real up and down month for Braun as he has belted six home runs yet still bothered a bit by the thumb issue that plagued him last season, he is dealing with a intercostal strain which will keep him out three to five days. He could possibly pinch hit against St. Louis on Wednesday, but I doubt we see Braun until the weekend. If he needs to hit the Disabled List to recover, it's not the worst thing in the world to get him back 100 percent especially this early in the season.

Jean Segura's face -Milwaukee got very lucky when Braun's bat met Segura's mouth. He only needed stitches with the jaw not being broken or Segura suffering a concussion. He will be day-to-day with a chance he could play tonight against the Cardinals. Good to see he did not suffer too serious of an injury.

Saturday night brawl - Friends of the program went to Saturday's night game and saw this taking place in the 400 level of Miller Park. Apparently, it went on for five good minutes with beer being thrown in the stands. Brewers-Cubs have a rivalry, but it doesn't usually get to this point. Hopefully, it was just a rowdy Saturday night and this doesn't become a usual occurrence.



Aramis Ramirez - Did somebody tell him it's April?  He did have two sacrifice flys knocking in two runs, but he also did not register a single hit this weekend. Something to keep an eye in the coming week will be if Rami's struggles at the plate continue.

Charlie.

Charlie.