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.
HighlightsCarlos Gomez - I guess Gomez's back is feeling alright because he had a tremendous series in Miami. Gomez had four doubles and drove in three runs. For the series, Gomez went 8 for 13. Currently, Gomez's average is .320 with 10 home runs. He is without question an MVP candidate, and I will be shocked if he is not one of the leading vote getters for the outfield spots when the All-Star balloting comes out. Also, he delivered the soundbite of the year after Friday's four hit game.
Offense explosion - One of the bigger questions through this road trip was the lack of offense from the Brewers. They were practically dead from Friday until Wednesday, but then Milwaukee started to get warm in the final two games in Atlanta then napalmed in Miami, a place not known for big offense. Brewers had nine runs on Friday and seven on Sunday. We just will not talk about Saturday. The one big thing is the runs didn't all come on home runs. Brewers had a lot of them on Friday, but all seven Sunday were driven in some form.
Jimmy Nelson - Even though he got a great deal of run support for his start, he pitched pretty well for a spot start. Nelson pitched nearly six innings only allowing five hits, walking only three and striking out six batters. It was a productive day for Nelson. Miami has a couple players where you can make some big time mistakes to, and Nelson avoided it. It's nice to know if the Brewers do see some injuries with their pitching staff that there are guys waiting in Nashville ready to pitch in the big leagues.
Ryan Braun - This was for his Sunday afternoon performance where he needed only a home run to hit for the cycle. Braun looked awesome at the plate on Sunday. Hopefully, this means the side injury is finally going away and Braun will be back to his normal self. Hitting in the two spot seems to be alright for Braun, and it's definitely a new school way to do things. Many advanced metrics folks say the two hitter should be your best hitter because there are more opportunities there especially in late-game situations.
Rob Wooten - One guy kind of flying under the radar lately has been Rob Wooten. He still has a 2.40 ERA because of a bad game in Pittsburgh where he allowed three runs. But did you know Wooten's last earned run was on April 19th against Pittsburgh? He has been great of late and deserving of a spot on this roster. I know Tom Gorzelanny will be ready soon, but Wooten deserves to be on this roster.
LowlightsBaserunning Gaffe for Days - Saturday was not a good game for the Brewers. They really should have won the game, but probably the worst play featured a Mark Reynolds single with Braun and Gomez on-base where Gomez gets thrown at third and Braun dogged it home making the final out in the inning and the run not counting. Brewers ended up losing the game by a run naturally. Gomez took some issue with how Braun ran out that hit basically throwing all the blame on him. Roenicke tried to deflect it a little bit putting the blame on both players. I like it though. No one is being passive aggressive and just being honest. I think that's a sign of a good team personally.
Marco Estrada's home runs - I know I have been beating this drum a bit, but he gave up four more on Friday in what was a good start after giving up just one to Giancarlo Stanton, but he ended up giving up two to Garrett Jones plus another one to Stanton. He struck out seven batters without any walks so it's a real Catch-22 with Estrada. It is great he pitched well minus the home runs which are still a problem even though they're solo shots. Hopefully, Milwaukee's pitching coaches can try to do something different to avoid it slightly.
Randy Wolf - Usually, I don't speak ill of the opposing team but since there were not many things to bitch at for the Brewers this series, it is nice to see Wolf is back to his old ways. I said on Friday, we either would have Wolf at his finest or Wolf giving up runs all over the place. It was the latter. Glad Randy could help out his former team.
Missed opportunities Saturday - This is one of the Brewers worst defeats of the season. They had multiple chances to drive in runners and failed to do it. Granted, it is a long season, but you think about these ones at the end of the year when they may need one or two wins. All in all though, a good series for the Crew.
Charlie.
Major League Baseball is trying to desperately to get more viewers watching their product. Right now, there is a decline from what we have seen in other sports. It is not to say MLB is pushing the panic, but there seems to be a worry that things are not getting better by any means. They tried to do something different with the bracketed competition for the Home Run Derby, and it completely sucked despite getting a worthy winner in Oakland's Yoenis Cespedes. He deserves the title without question, but the final should have been pitting Jose Bautista against Cespedes. 
