Highlights-Lowlights: Nationals-Brewers (6/23-6/25)

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
Marco Estrada - He has been the punching bag of this Milwaukee Brewers team for some time now, but he delivered a big start when the Brewers needed him. They were on the verge of getting swept for the first time this season. They are coming off a 16 inning heartbreaking loss the night before meaning the bullpen is completely taxed. Estrada is facing Stephen Strasburg as well. Estrada only gave up two hits, two runs and only walked two batters. And he went for 6 plus innings. Overall a great start for the Brewers fifth starter and hopefully, a step in the right direction.

Scooter Gennett - Look I was wrong about Scooter. I basically scorched the earth when he got called up to replace Rickie Weeks. I didn't want Scooter to fail, but I was convinced he wouldn't be a better player than Weeks. I couldn't have been more wrong. I want to apologize about how much I bungled the whole thing last summer. He's been great for the team. Gennett has the second-highest batting average since August 2013 in all of Major League Baseball. Scooter hit a grand slam and drove in an added run in the only Brewers win this week.

Yovani Gallardo - It continues to be a great month for Yovani, and my assumption would be he will win Brewers Pitcher of the Month. He again pitched great in a no-decision against Washington on Tuesday night. Gallardo only gave up four hits in six innings. If Gallardo is this way for the most part for the rest of the season, Milwaukee can contend with anyone. Whatever he went through in the month of May, he is over it. Gallardo's ERA is now down to 3.23 and keeps pitching strong for the Brewers.

Ryan Braun - In the sixth inning, Braun stepped to the plate with runners on second and third with two outs. He is having a disastrous June for the greater part, but this is a situation where Braun has to deliver the big moment. He did just that with a two-run single giving the Brewers the lead against the tough Jordan Zimmernmann. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for the Brewers slugger. It seems like we are just waiting on a Braun hot streak

Mike Fiers - Even though he is hanging out in Nashville for a couple days, he did a great job for Milwaukee on Tuesday night despite taking the loss. Fiers went four innings only giving up four hits with two of them coming in the 16th inning. Fiers also struck out four batters and had no issue with the Nationals bats. He made a campaign pitch to be a starter on Tuesday night.

Lowlights
Carlos Gomez's Extra Inning At-Bats - This was easily the most frustrating part of the whole series. Not the 16 innings, not the lack of hitting in the first two games, but Gomez's at-bats in the extra frames. He had a chance to win it twice and jumped over the first pitch both times when the pitchers were a bit shaky in the first place. Gomez is the biggest first-pitch swinger in baseball so it's understood he would swing at the first pitch a great deal of times. It is honestly hard to be mad at him, but he needs to show a little more discipline in late at-bats.

Will Smith - Another player on the Brewers where it is hard to be mad at, but Smith didn't do his job on Tuesday night giving up a home run to Anthony Rendon. Is it time to push the panic button on Smith? Probably not because he played at such a high level in the first three months of the season. Smith giving up three runs in his last 10 appearances isn't a big deal... yet.

16 Inning Baseball Games - I realized how much I hated late extra-inning games. I like West Coast trips without question because of the late night atmosphere for a night owl, but my goodness, the 16 inning game on Tuesday night was horribly boring. The game dragged on and no one could get a hit to save their soul. Maybe 16 inning games are more exciting when we have teams going back and forth with runs, but Christ, this was bad.

Scary Nats - Brewers thankfully got a game from Washington, but this is a scary team without question. They have front line pitching with Strasburg, Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez. They will be getting back Bryce Harper and Wilson Ramos. Additionally, the Nats have a great bullpen. This is a lethal team moving forward.

Charlie.

Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers vs. Rockies (6/20-6/22)

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
Jean Segura - This is more for his Friday than anything else he did over the weekend, but Segura came into Coors Field with a bang. He doubled his home run total with two dingers, his first multi-homer game of his career. They were important home runs too as Segura hit the first one after Colorado added two runs to pull the Rockies within one early on. Segura's second home run broke a tie and brought the Brewers back from trailing 6-4. He also added an RBI single in the next at-bat to complete the day. Segura can start building off this piece by piece he could get going again on offense.

Wily Peralta - Most people would look at a start where the pitcher gave up four runs and scoff he didn't really do his job, yet I disagree with how Coors Field been playing this season. Peralta went into the eighth inning with full control of the game. One of the things Brewers coaches have been trying to do more with Wily is him pitching to contact versus trying to get the strikeout every time out. He only had two strikeouts and really settled in after a tough first inning. Wily isn't yet an ace, but games like these where he needs to have a different approach shows ace-like abilities.

Aramis Ramirez - RED HOT. HOT HOT HOT. Rami usually does this in June and it is a sight to see really. He added a home run in the last two games, and his average has went from .261 10 games ago to .297. In his last eleven games, Ramirez is hitting .463 with nine extra-base hits. Further in the last four games, Ramirez has at least two hits. This is when the Brewers can really start cooking as Ramirez becomes damn near unpitchable and can win a game nearly by himself.

Scooter Gennett/Rickie Weeks - Good weekend to be a Brewers second basemen. Gennett got it going on Friday night with three hits including two doubles plus scoring on all three hits. The lead-off spot is paying off dividends as Scooter's average is up to .310 on the season. Weeks took over the spot over the weekend and added an RBI triple Saturday plus a two-hit game on Sunday. It will be interesting to see if Weeks gets a third straight start as Milwaukee faces another lefty or if Ron Roenicke will give Scooter a chance against a left-handed pitcher.

Carlos Gomez - The hitting and the on-base streak continue as Gomez pushes it out to 18 games with 35 straight on-base. He had multi-hit games on both Friday and Saturday along with driving in a run on Friday. Gomez continues to be one of the best Brewers on the team and continues to prove why he needs to start in the All-Star Game this coming July.

Lowlights
Colorado's Wild Pitch - Since MLB's videos do not want to work on Blogger, watch it here if you haven't already, but it is straight Micky Mouse silliness from the Rockies. I don't know how that happens. It feels like a computer glitch in MVP Baseball or something. It sums up the weekend though for Colorado's pitching staff whom gave up 28 runs over the weekend. These teams will meet again for four games this weekend in Milwaukee.

Marco Estrada - I am still not wild about anything Marco Estrada is doing right now for this team. He gave up seven earned runs on Friday and only three of them came from the home run. He shockingly got the win in the game against the Rockies, but there is really no reason for Estrada to be starting for this team. Estrada is the one problem for this team and Ron Roenicke will not believe it for reasons I cannot explain.

Francisco Rodriguez - Not the best Sunday for Frankie. Milwaukee held a two-run lead, and would have blown the save if it were not for a baserunning error by Corey Dickerson. Even though this was nerve-wracking, it is important for Rodriguez to have these kind of outings every now and again. I realize that sounds like flawed logic, but K-Rod cannot rest on his laurels knowing improvements are always needed.

Brandon Kintzler - Once again, not a great weekend for him. He battled through Sunday's outing with giving up three hits but finding a way out of the inning. Friday, he gave up a run which would make back-to-back outings. Hopefully, we are not going through another dip for Kintzler because it hurts how Milwaukee manages their bullpen.

Charlie.

Brewers-Diamondbacks Preview (6/16-6/20)

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 (6-5 2.90) vs. Brandon McCarthy (1-9 5.29) 8:40 pm FSNWI

Tuesday: Kyle Lohse (7-2 3.00) vs. Wade Miley (3-6 4.71) 8:40 pm FSNWI

Wednesday: Matt Garza (4-4 4.17) vs. Chase Anderson (5-1 3.21) 8:40 pm FSNWI 

Thursday: Yovani Gallardo (4-4 3.51) vs. Josh Collmenter (4-4 4.05) 2:40 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch 

1.) Milwaukee's Payback for Arizona - It might not mean much to Milwaukee, but Arizona took two of three from Milwaukee in early May. You would think the Brewers want to excert a little revenge especially since not a lot of teams have done well against Milwaukee this season. Three out of the four pitchers faced this week did not pitch in the last series. They need to avoid known Brewers killers, Aaron Hill and Paul Goldschmidt if they want to have a good series. 

2.) Scooter's lead-off success to continue? - As we noted this morning in highlights/lowlights, Scooter Gennett is excelling in the leadoff role. He had multiple hits in all three games against Cincinnati this weekend plus he played well in the series against New York. Scooter setting the table for the big bats in the order is crucial, and it is nice to see a guy step up while Jean Segura is currently struggling on the offensive end.  

3.) Handling Josh Collmenter - One of the biggest Brewers killer of recent memory. Milwaukee cannot seem to unlock the code against him. I don't know if it is the delivery or the fact he throws the ball very slowly compared to other pitchers, who knows really. For reference, Milwaukee batters only have eleven hits off him with no home runs and only two doubles. I don't know if this will be the time they break Collmenter but it would be ideal. 

4.) Waitin' on Ryan - Currently, Ryan Braun is in a slump, and he has been struggling at the dish. For the month of June, Braun has been pretty bad with only .183 average with only eleven hits. Chase Field is a hitters friendly ballpark meaning it could be the breakout series Braun needs to get him his jump started for the month. 

5.) My love for West Coast baseball - Simply put, I am a night owl. I usually stay up until 1:30 or 2 AM regularly so the west coast baseball is a nice treat every once in awhile because I get to watch baseball into the night. It also helps when there are no other sports on anymore at night.  

Appropriate YouTube Video 


Sorry this went up late. I got caught up in the World Cup.

Prediction
Split would be ideal. 

Highlights-Lowlights: Reds vs. Brewers (6/13-6/15)

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
Yovani Gallardo - Who knows what changed with Yovani in the last couple starts, but he has come back to life. Gallardo delivered another great start only allowing one run in seven innings giving up six hits with eight strikeouts. In the last two starts, Gallardo allowed only one run striking out 16 batters with only 10 hits off of him. Yovani is not going to be this good all the time, but it is refreshing to see him bounce back after the brutal six-game stretch. You wonder if it motivated him to see Kyle Lohse starting to get attention as the quote 'ace' of the staff. I could be looking too far into it, but Gallardo does seem to be handling opposing batters like he did at the start of the year.

Scooter Gennett - You think he likes the lead-off spot? In the last four starts for Scooter Gennett, he has two hits in each of the games. He really does seem to flourish in a spot where Gennett says he is the most comfortable. He had two doubles on Saturday and added another one yesterday which drove in a run therefore he is not just getting on-base with singles, Gennett adds a little bit more. It would be great if he started taking more walks. Gennett's OBP is only .335 which isn't good for a player hitting .296.

Carlos Gomez - He continued his hitting ways this week as Gomez extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Gomez added a big hit on Friday night driving in the game-tying run. Gomez had two hits on Sunday as well as the run scored to tie Saturday's game. It is fair to say Gomez is the straw that stirs Milwaukee's drink. He helped ignite all of the big Brewers innings this weekend. Even though he dropped to fourth place in the All-Star voting, I think it is guarantee he will be in his second-straight All-Star Game.

Khris Davis - He started the scoring attack on Friday night with a solo home run off Homer Bailey, Davis' first home run since June 5th against Minnesota. Davis had a productive groundout Saturday to tie the game late on Saturday as well. The most important thing is Davis hasn't wavered after the hot streak he had in late May. He could have faltered a little bit, but Davis remained consistent throughout the last 10 games which is encouraging to see from a young player.

Ryan Braun's home run - He didn't really have a highlight weekend as Braun only had one hit during the weekend dropping his average to .281, the lowest its been since April 23rd. But we will not worry about that right now. Braun hit his first meaningful home run of the year. Eighth inning with one out and a runner on second, he hits an opposite field home run. People are waiting on Braun to get hot again, and with two hitter-friendly ballparks, he might have an opportunity to breakout.

Lowlights
Marco Estrada's home runs - They continue to be a problem for this Brewers team. He gave up homers to Billy Hamilton, Todd Frazier and Brandon Phillips allowing for the first five runs of the game. Milwaukee came back to tie the game at three only to see Estrada giving up a two-run shot in the subsequent inning. It is not good right now. He didn't even walk a batter today. They were all gopher balls. Estrada is a problem on this Brewers roster right now. I don't know how starting him again will help this Brewers team because it seems like a given Estrada giving up at least one homer.

Matt Garza's defense - PUKE. Matt Garza's defense reared its ugly head on Friday night with a short-arm throw to second base and airmailing a ball into the stands later in the game. He had four unearned runs. Garza actually pitched great if it weren't for the errors as he only gave up an earned run. Garza's next start is against Arizona, and I fully expect them to try to bunt more offense plus try to put more pressure on him as teams will notice this start.

Rob Wooten - Not the best outing for Mr. Wooten. He gave up six straight hits and allowed five runs. He is the first pitcher since John Gelnar in 1970 to give up six straight hits in an appearance without getting an out. Let's chalk this up to a bad outing by him. It is a bummer to see because the Brewers had a chance to get back into this game only being down a run and Wooten puked all over his shoes. It happens now and again unfortunately.

Francisco Rodriguez - Yes he got a save on Saturday night, but he blew the game on Friday night. That's one you would have loved the Brewers to have after coming back from a four-run deficit, but K-Rod gave up a run leading to Cincinnati's win. I have no idea what's wrong with closers when they are playing in non-save situations, but the wheels always seem to come off for them. Hopefully, Frankie will find the secret of pitching in non-save situations.

Irving Falu - Ron Roenick gave Jean Segura a night off on Friday night, and it did not work well for the Brewers.  The now-Nashville player Irving Falu added a couple errors to give Milwaukee four on the night with him and Garza's ineptitude on defense. He also came up multiple times in big spots with runners on and Falu went like a fart in the wind. Happy to see him back in Nashville.

Charlie.

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 92

Charlie and Mitch's usual Wednesday podcast for your listening ears where we start by talking about how we would handle being in Brazil for the World Cup. Next, we talk about Milwaukee Brewers with Marco Estrada's struggles and Scooter Gennett moving to the leadoff spot. NBA Finals talk looking at Kawhi Leonard, and why this series hasn't swung. Some NBA Draft talk with the Milwaukee Bucks working players out along with general topics about Donald Sterling and California Chrome. We finish with a preview the World Cup looking at the United States chances along with talking about each individual groups to the best of our abilities.

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.

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: Pirates-Brewers (5/11-5/13)

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
Marco Estrada - When Marco gave up a first inning home run to Known Brewer Killer Neil Walker, I thought here we go again with Estrada in the month of May. But he proved me wrong taking control of the baseball game from there with six strong innings giving up only five more hits and no more runs after the Walker solo shot. Estrada giving up nine home runs is concerning but expected. He is a fly ball pitcher and he works a ton of change-ups. If one of those hang, it will head out of the ballpark. Estrada's ERA is down to 3.28 after Tuesday's performance, and that's pretty damn good for a back-end starter.

Rickie Weeks - Did you know Weeks is hitting .625 for the month of May? Do you know people still hate Weeks like the plague? Do you know he is the better option at second base right now? Weeks is playing his ass off. He had two opposite field hits on Thursday afternoon with a double and a home run. Weeks had a big RBI pinch hit on Tuesday night. He is on complete fire folks. Either get with it, or get behind. Also, let's stop with the trade nonsense right now. I will write about this next week whether Weeks is still hot or not but it's the wrong move by the Brewers.

Wily Peralta - We need a losing effort horn like The Solid Verbal Podcast because Peralta dazzled again knocking his earned run average to 2.05. Peralta pitched great going seven innings only allowing one run and gave up five hits with striking out four batters. For the season, Peralta only walked 10 batters in eight starts this season, and in the last two, he walked just one batter. The biggest criticism about the young right hander was his control. It seems to be fixed, at least for now, and if that's the case, the Brewers could be looking at a frontline pitcher.

Khris Davis Walk-Off - I wish I could explain Khris's thrill for the dramatics, but it seems like he has it. Three big extra inning hits on the road that all helped the Brewers win baseball games, and then a walk-off hit at home. With this team likely to be contending for a National League Central crown, Davis' ability to be clutch in the moment is a big, big thing. Hopefully, he puts it together in other innings than the ninth or extras though.

Mark Reynolds defense - When Milwaukee signed Mark Reynolds, most people including myself, saw it as a way for the Brewers to add some power, but no one expected him to be this good on defense. He made two run-saving plays on Thursday afternoon including the start of a great double play after Tyler Thornburg walked the first two batters in the eighth. With how bad the Brewers were at defense last season, this is a much-needed boost to their piss poor defense of last season. It's appreciated.

Lowlights
Ron Roenicke has a decision looming and it's terrifying - I have no idea how the whole Scooter and Rickie thing is going to play out. We never had this problem last season because Weeks never really got hot all year minus the one little spurt when Gennett got called up. Roenicke has to know he cannot move Weeks from the lineup, but at the same turn, Gennett is playing too good to keep him on the bench. I hope he just rides the hot hand for awhile and see what happens. Heaven help me if he continues to straight platoon.

Francisco Rodriguez - You know this is a lowlight because it is the reason why the Brewers lost on Wednesday night as Frankie gave up four straight hits leading to three Pirates runs. But it is a good thing. Rodriguez isn't going to be perfect all year. I would much rather have him 'blow up' in a tied game versus him blowing a three-run save or something dumb like that. He did fine on Thursday afternoon and hopefully, it will continue this weekend.

Andrew McCutchen - I don't really call the best players on teams, Known Brewer Killers, unless it is Troy Tulowitzki whose the president of the club. But McCutchen usually does some serious damage against the Brewers. But he went 1 for 12 with only one run scored. It is apparent McCutchen is bothered a bit from his foot injury he sustained on Saturday. I don't think for one season the Brewers figured out McCutchen or something dumb like that. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up on the Disabled List or takes some time off this weekend.

Spotty Brewers offense - Even though they won two of three against the Pirates, it doesn't mean their offense didn't look like complete shit at times. They only scored one run on Wednesday night and nine out of eleven batters before Weeks's single in the eighth inning struck out. Carlos Gomez not being in the offense might be hurting this team more than the Braun injury. The jury is still out on that one, and who knows how long they will be without Gomez yet let me tell you, it isn't that fun.

Charlie.

Pirates-Brewers Preview (5/13-5/15)

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
Tuesday:      Gerrit Cole (3-2 3.64) vs. Marco Estrada (2-1 3.53)                7:10 pm FSNWI
Wednesday: Francisco Lirano (0-3 4.64) vs. Wily Peralta (4-2 2.17)           7:10 pm FSNWI
Thursday:     Wandy Rodriguez (0-4 7.65) vs. Yovani Gallardo (2-2 2.92)  12:10 pm 620 WTMJ

Five Things To Watch
1.) Bad blood anyone? - The last time these two teams met, the same two pitchers were pitching and Gerrit Cole chirped at Carlos Gomez after Gomez had bat flipped a triple leading to a big fight. Everyone is saying there will be no antics in this game, but I am thinking this first game will be chippy. Both teams want to set the tone of the series. I don't think Cole will try to hit Brewers players nor will Milwaukee do the same, but there will be many chippy things happening throughout the game. It should be a ton of fun. If nothing happens at all, I will be very bummed out. With how banged up Milwaukee is, a fight wouldn't be a good idea even though I love a good fight.

2.) Let's play everyone's favorite game... Guess the lineup!!!!! Let's say Carlos Gomez is suspended for the first two games of the series, Aramis Ramirez is headed to the Disabled List and Ryan Braun is coming off of it. I could see a lineup featuring Rickie Weeks, Jean Segura, Scooter Gennett or Logan Schafer hitting leadoff. I could see them moving Jonathan Lucroy to the clean up position. Hopefully, Ron Roenicke gets creative with his lineup versus going with something lazy by having both Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay in the same lineup. Here is the nine I want for the first two games but it's probably unrealistic.... 2B Rickie Weeks, 3B Scooter Gennett, RF Ryan Braun, C Jonathan Lucroy, 1B Mark Reynolds, SS Jean Segura, CF Logan Schafer, LF Khris Davis

3.) Marco needs to rebound from tough May start - After starting off the season strong, Marco Estrada has not been the same in May. In the first four starts of the season for Estrada, he had six walks combined with three of them coming in a single game against Boston. In the last two, Estrada has walked six. Additionally, home runs have been an issue with both Cincinnati and Arizona hitting two out on the Brewers righty. Estrada is still making it to the sixth inning which is good as he has went six or farther in all but one of his games, yet still, there needs to be a little more improvement from Estrada whether it is limiting his home runs or walks.

4.) More likely to break out... Wandy or Francisco? - Two of the three Pirates pitchers are struggling to star the season. Wandy Rodriguez is coming off the Disabled List to face Milwaukee, the last team he faced in April. He could return to his old school Brewer Killer form causing some chaos for a team that struggles during afternoon games at Miller Park. Liriano is another story. Six of his eight starts have seen the supposed Pittsburgh ace giving up at least three or four runs. One of the technically 'good' starts, Liriano only pitched two innings and the other one happened on Opening Day against Chicago.  

5.) Pittsburgh's not so hot road record - Pirates have played 23 of their first 37 games at home to start the year meaning there is not much to their away statistics yet. But right now, they have lost 10 of their first 14 games away from PNC Park including a sweep at Milwaukee in mid-April. It will be interesting to see if the road demons ride again, or if Pittsburgh reverses their luck.

Appropriate YouTube Video


You had to know it's coming....

Prediction
I am feeling two of three from Pittsburgh. If Milwaukee can do that, they would be 5-4 on this homestand which would be adequate. Although I will say it appears like Milwaukee is building a little May momentum after two late-inning wins.

Charlie.

Smart, not Selfish Move For Rickie Weeks to Decline Outfield Opportunity

Ask most Milwaukee Brewers' fans opinion on Rickie Weeks, you will hear pretty much the same thing. Weeks is a frustrating player to watch as he tends to strike out too much for people's liking and doesn't have the defense, some would like at the second base position. But despite all of the negative fan reaction, rarely do we ever see Weeks react against the fanbase. He never made comments about how he 'hates the booing' or didn't want to be in Milwaukee because Scooter Gennett took his job. Overall, Weeks rolls with the punches and knows he will get an opportunity again.

Over the weekend, Ron Roenicke let the media know Weeks was asked if he wanted to learn left field to get some more playing time and he declined. Many people saw this as a selfish move by Weeks. The Brewers second baseman responded with a huge weekend.  It is really hard to understand the frustration of the fans with Weeks not wanting to learn another position at his age. Left field would have been a terrible idea for Weeks, but now an opportunity presents itself to have Gennett and Weeks both in the lineup.

Weeks is not a left fielder or an outfielder, let's clear that up right now. I might be mistaken, but management whether it be Ken Macha, Ned Yost or Roenicke asked Weeks to try out center field or it might have been a hot topic with the fans. Weeks either declined or it never actually happened. The thing with Weeks is he understands his defense isn't very good. At times, he can be instinctive and make some nice plays, but nothing at second base would make you think Weeks could play another full-time position. He feels the most comfortable at second base, and Weeks will probably not move positions unless it was an absolutely need. It is not about being lazy or selfish, rather knowing and playing to their strengths versus trying to do too much.

One thing people might not be considering about Weeks in the outfield would be the amount of shit he would get from the pinheads in the bleachers. Fans would assault Weeks in left field thinking they could finally give the much criticized player a piece of their mind. Some people believe this wouldn't happen, but Brewers fans are a fickle bunch with insanely high expectations at times. I don't think they would handle having Rickie in left field well despite him playing well in the last week. Weeks knows left field might not be good for his strength of play, but also for him not hear from the fanbase up close and personal.

If Aramis Ramirez goes on the Disabled List before Tuesday night's game, an opportunity presents itself where Weeks and Gennett could get on the field at the same time. Both are hitting over .275 right now, and with the Brewers' injury concerns, they need to be in the lineup. Weeks might not be comfortable in the outfield, but why couldn't he play third base or Gennett for that matter?  Range needed is limited, and I could see the struggle of fielding bunts yet that's about it. Mark Reynolds moved to first base to have all three in the lineup with Lyle Overbay on the bench is the way to be in the next couple of weeks with Ramirez out. Roenicke has shown a little more creativeness this season and hopefully he will think about this in the following couple weeks.

Who knows when Weeks redemption will end, but right now, it is enjoyable to see how well Rickie is excelling. My assumption would be Weeks is on the trading block right now, and they are just waiting for the rest of the team to get healthy, or maybe Brewers are happy to have two strong second basemen.

Charlie.

Highlights-Lowlights: Padres-Brewers (4/21-4/23)

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
Scooter Gennett - Talk about responding to the moment. Scooter moved up to the two hole in order to take some pressure off Jean Segura, and for now, it seems Scooter may have stolen the two spot from Mean Jean for the time being. He scored a run in all three games along with hitting a home run on Tuesday providing the only offense for this Brewers team. He also added five hits in the series. I was extremely anti-Scooter when he came up last season thinking Rickie Weeks still had something in the tank, and it appears I was very wrong. Way to make me eat crow Scooter.

Kyle Lohse - The veteran strikes again for Milwaukee with another great performance. He allowed only one earned run with five strikeouts only allowing five hits in the process. Lohse mowed through the San Diego offense pretty easily and battled out of a jam or two as well. One thing I found interesting is after he walked three batters last Saturday, he did not walk a batter tonight. Lohse rarely walks batters so if it is over two, it is a bit of a big deal. He walked five in Philadelphia, zero the next game. Walked three, zero the next game. Hey Kyle, keep going with the latter.

Jean Segura - For the first time all year, we saw signs of life from Jean Segura. He played well as Roenicke shifted him down in the order. Segura had two hits on Monday and another two Wednesday including a big three-run blast breaking the game wide open for the Brewers. Segura seems to be finding his stroke again down in the order, and if he could get hot, look out. Brewers could really boast an interchangeable lineup plus having him hit before the pitcher is not the worst thing in the world.

Yovani Gallardo - Even though he came away with the no decision, a nice outing from Yovani on Tuesday night going seven strong only allowing one run spread over five hits. Gallardo handled San Diego for every inning but one of them. I cannot say enough about the start from Yo. In the last three Aprils, he had an ERA of over five with opponents hitting over .300 against him. He takes on his biggest challenge on Monday night when he faces St. Louis at Busch Stadium, a place that has given him all sorts of trouble.

Ryan Braun - He ends up closer to the lowlights because Braun did not have a good Tuesday game going 0 for 5 with a looking strikeout to end it in the 12th. But he did provide RBI's in the two other games. I feel like I saw better swings from Braun at Miller Park than I have seen all season. If I had a blog where I could predict things, I think this Chicago series will be huge for him.

Lowlights
Ron Roenicke's Figaro decision - With winning the first 16 of 22 games, the manager cannot get much criticism, but Roenicke deserves a bit for deciding to stay in with Alfredo Figaro versus a pinch hitter then Wei-Chung Wang. The same result could have happened and the Brewers still end up losing yet it doesn't hurt to add a bullpen arm when it is available plus have a pinch hitter come up and see what happens.

Tuesday night's game in general - Easily, the worst baseball game I have watched this season. I would not like to watch that again, thanks.

RISP - I think we talk about this every year with the Brewers no matter how good or bad they are. Brewers had multiple opportunities to bust Tuesday's game wide open and they could not take advantage of the situation. Against a team like San Diego, you can force extras doing that, but against a St. Louis-like team, it will not end well for them.

The Brewers 8th on Wednesday - It made zero sense to have Tyler Thornburg get all warmed up and pitch to one batter then two batters for Will Smith. Just pick one and ride it out. No need to waste the arms when they have taken a beating in the last week.

Charlie.