SnoTap Song of the Day: C.U.B.A.- Calvin Harris

Summerfest is a day away when the clock strikes midnight. This should really just be called 'free pass two weeks' because I swear the city is always chalk full of people on all days of the week plus all of the underagers trying to figure out ways to get beer. Or sneak in their favorite kind of booze (Girls I knew in high school go-to move was through ziplock bags but you didn't hear that from me). Calvin Harris isn't going to be at Summerfest, but it doesn't mean his latest song can't go into your rotation for the upcoming eleven days. Harris decides to go with pretty much no vocals rather just straight filthy production. Harris is on quite a run with Top 40 hits, but I doubt this will make the charts. Still an awesome song.

Charlie.

Nationals-Brewers Preview (6/23-6-25)

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:     Gio Gonzalez (3-4 4.85) vs. Matt Garza (4-4 4.02) 7:00 pm ESPN2/FSNWI 

Tuesday: Jordan Zimmermann (5-4 2.95) vs. Yovani Gallardo (5-4 3.34) 7:10 pm FSNWI   

Wednesday: Stephen Strasburg (6-5 3.24) vs. Marco Estrada (6-4 5.22) 1:10 pm MLB Network 

Five Things To Watch 

1.) Happy to be home - Milwaukee has spent 15 of the last 18 on the road. They did pretty well winning eleven of those 15 games including the current four game winning streak the Brewers are on as they head back to Miller Park for the week. The only series they have lost in that time span was the one at home versus Cincinnati. Hopefully, Washington doesn't pose too much of a problem. They won their last two games, and the Nationals beat Milwaukee two out of three last season at Miller Park.

2.) Aramis Ramirez month to continue? - It is the hot topic of the Brewers offense right now. Aramis Ramirez exploded on the West Coast and hopes to keep it going against Washington. He will be facing three tough pitchers with only have real success and experience against Jordan Zimmerman. Ramirez is flourishing hitting behind Carlos Gomez and his hitting streak right now because it always seems like Rami has a duck or two on the pond to drive in consistently. Ramirez being healthy and playing at this level is so important to the Brewers being a deep postseason contender.  

3.)  Jordan Zimmermann returns to Wisconsin -  One of Wisconsin's own returns to the home state which I am sure the folks at FS Wisconsin will talk a great deal about in the coming days. Zimmerman is one of the better pitchers in baseball for the month of June. In four starts, he has only allowed three total runs with scoreless outings in two of them. The last two times through he has seen barely any run support as Washington has only given him one run in the last two outings. Against Milwaukee, he has been virtually unhittable with a sub-one ERA at Miller Park in the last three years. Brewers will have a tall task Tuesday night.  

4.) Time to strike - St. Louis is five and a half games back of Milwaukee currently. Both Jaime Garcia and Michael Wacha are on the Disabled List with shoulder issues. St. Louis is embarking on a three-team West Coast trip where they will be playing Los Angeles and San Francisco. Milwaukee needs to make a dent here in the division. I am not saying this race will be over by any means as Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are hanging around too, but Milwaukee can definitely tack on some games to their lead before the All-Star Break. 

5.) Possible playoff preview - Who knows how the cookie will crumble but these two teams could meet in the playoffs. They see each other again right after the All-Star Break in Washington for three games so a tone can be set. I don't know if winning four of six will really make that much of an impact come October, but it is still nice to know you can beat a team you might see in the playoffs.  

Appropriate YouTube Video


In honor of playing our nation's capital, let's get a little American in this blog post. Also I am emotionally hungover from Sunday's World Cup and need a bounce back.

Prediction 
Honestly, I want to say Milwaukee can get two out of three, but with two great Washington pitchers, I don't really feel comfortable saying they can grab two here. Brewers will have to manage with a one win this week.

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.

Re-Cupping The World Cup: France Flies High, Magical Messi and German Survival

We are going to do a short blog each weekday about the World Cup. There will be a little more on United States obviously, but when it comes to the other games, we will talk about the different games in short recaps like we used to do with the NBA. I am no expert, don't pretend to be, but I want to compile a blog featuring some tweets, GIFs, videos and a couple thoughts from yours truly. If you hate it, let me know or think you could do it better, you know where to find me @SnoTap12 

Friday
Costa Rica 1 Italy 0 - Currently, the Ticos are the most surprising team of the tournament for my money. They take down Uruguay and now put themselves through with a win against Italy. This is a big moment for CONCAF getting a win against a team like Italy. The goal by Bryan Ruiz defined the term "Ball Don't Lie" after being denied a penalty. Costa Rica winning Group D featuring England, Italy and Uruguay is wild.

France 5 Switzerland 2 - Les Blues might be playing the best soccer after two games. A team not expected to do much damage in the tournament could be on the verge of making a lot of noise. They played at such a high level against an upstart Switzerland getting five straight goals before allowing two late in the game. Oliver Giroud and Karim Benzema really played strong throughout the game leading to France's probable advancement to the Round of 16.

Ecuador 2 Honduras 1 - This was the Enner Valencia game with two huge goals in the game to complete the comeback against Honduras. Valencia had two great goals hanging around the net with a great finish with his foot and his head. It gave Ecuador a chance to advance in the World Cup with a win or a draw against France. This is a massive hill to climb given how well France played throughout the first two games of the World Cup, but we have seen some crazier things.



Saturday
Germany 2 Ghana 2 - Might have been the game of the weekend if Portugal and the United States didn't happen because it featured a possible chance Germany would drop a game in group stages something that didn't even seem possible during their drubbing of Portugal. Miroslav Klose saved the team with an equalizing goal in the 71st minute. Thomas Mueller took a big hit leading to blood everywhere around his facial area. Who knows if Mueller will play against the United States.



Argentina 1 Iran 0 - There are games where you know why Lionel Messi is better than everyone else in the world. This game was headed to an improbable tie before Messi made his move in stoppage time netting a goal to put Argentina ahead and through to the Round of 16. I mean Iran didn't screw up really honestly. They had a strong defense on him with not much space, but Messi found enough to put it home. Iran can still advance with a win plus some goal differential help.

Nigeria 1 Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 - Oh man, I felt for Bosnia as they had a couple chances late in the game. They had a perfect opportunity at the very end, but the ball went off the post sending them home from Brazil. Nigeria does have to play Argentina, but they control their own destiny. They could lose and still be in if the goal differential doesn't get out of wack.

Sunday
Algeria 4 South Korea 2 - Honestly, how bad is the defending by South Korea? They looked horrible on Sunday with Algeria attacking the goal consistently. They went up three goals in the first 40 minutes of the game. Algeria looked much more improved from their first game against Belgium. Algeria could get through with a win against Russia and a draw against Russia would probably do the trick as well unless Korea blows out Belgium.

Belgium 1 Russia 0 - The 'dark horse' continues their push into the Round of 16 even if they are not playing the best soccer. I am curious to see how different the results would be for Belgium if they were in a group with stiffer competition. They got a pure goal at the 88th minute, but this game did not leave anything for people to get on the bandwagon for this Belgium team.

Charlie.

The Disappointing Draw: United States Lets an Opportunity Slip By

Faint chants of U-S-A U-S-A begin to be heard at Jack's American Pub on a jam-packed Brady Street in the 95th minute. There are some already tasting victory and advancement to the knockout stages. I am patiently watching the clock thinking it's too early for chants, just finish and then we can celebrate like banshees. All the sudden, Cristiano Ronaldo tears down the wing and puts in a perfect ball allowing Silvestre Varela to score the equalizer in the latest regulation goal in World Cup history. You could hear a pin drop at the one-time rambunctious bar.

Me?  I went into a full squat buried below everyone. I wanted to crawl into the fetal position and not wake up for the next couple of hours. Did that really happen?  There are no words for the first thoughts after the game except for the fact everyone wanted to drink the pain away as quick as possible. A stomach-punch ending with a great game. United States are still second in the group with a lot that can happen. Even though the final result was a nightmare, the game and the atmosphere was perfect.  

It is really hard to think about the positives of the game given what happened at the conclusion. If the United States tied Portugal 1-1, we would probably talk about the variety of missed opportunities throughout the game rather than wondered what Michael Bradley was thinking with the ball and an open field in front of him. If he runs around for 30 seconds, Portugal cannot muster an attack and the United States is through to the Round of 16. Instead, United States will be fighting for their lives in hopes their trip to Brazil last longer than just a mere two weeks. Bradley had a better game, but it seems more and more like he is developing into the goat of this World Cup for the United States team. 

He had the horrid game against Ghana, and Sunday, Bradley played some better balls yet still had the massive brain fart in the final minute, something he did as well against Ghana. Bradley also had a wide open net with just a defender to beat and instead of delivering a swift kick in, he finessed the ball leading to Portugal preserving their one goal advantage. Bradley is one of the best players on this United States roster, but it seems like the moment is too big for him. He cannot handle being the second star next to Clint Dempsey. Bradley needs to play with more composure especially in the late parts of the game.

Bradley wasn't the only one whom had trouble in Manaus. Geoff Cameron really had a poor game having responsibility for both goals. Cameron had a horrible ball allowing Nani to get an opportunity for goal in the early goings of the game. Further, he lost Varela allowing him to slip behind and lead to the shocking header. Cameron will probably not get pulled from the lineup, but a case could be make he doesn't really deserve to be in the starting eleven after his performance on Sunday afternoon.

Bradley and Cameron might have had bad moments, but let's not take away from how well the United States play today from the 6th minute to the 94th minute. United States attacked more and had more shots in the first half than they did for the entire game against Ghana. Unlike Bradley, Jermaine Jones has been one of the best players for the United States, and he finally made his scoring presence felt with a great strike to equalize the United States. They didn't stop with one goal. U.S. kept attacking leading to DeAndre Yellin starting the break that led to Clint Dempsey getting his second goal of this World Cup putting the United States ahead in the 81st minute. All they had to do was hold on like that Wilson Phillips song and they would be in the final 16. 

As noted, they were denied that opportunity, and once again, a friendly reminder that sports can be the bane of our existence leaving us wonder why we care so much about grown men kicking around a black and white ball.  The equalizing goal and the go-ahead goal feature the complete opposite reaction and why we love sports. It cannot always be rainbows and unicorns. Hardships are involved all the time and usually you would like to avoid them being public. That being said, one of the best decisions I made was to find my way to Brady Street for the game amid a terrible hangover and staying out til 4 AM the night before. 

Never in my life have I seen a crowd of people like that on a street in Milwaukee. The police had to shut down part of the street because so many people were flooding the streets. Nomad had three different places to watch the game, all three were at capacity. According to a guy I spoke with they sold 500 cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Guess the whole racism thing didn't really make a dent in their bottom line, eh? Nomad wasn't the only bar packed as every place seemed to be wall-to-wall with people. It made me think could a Milwaukee Brewers World Series run lead to this type of pandemonium?    

 We found our way to Jack's where people were covered head to toe in American apparel. There were chants, there was happiness. The last time I celebrated something to that effect was Aaron Rodgers to Randall Cobb in late December. But it was a great feeling jumping up and down celebrating with everyone with chants of USA reigning down and momentarily deafening the in-game audio. The only thing better would have been an actual victory because the celebration would have been going to the wee hours of the night and this blog wouldn't have been posted yet. It is almost like the sports gods giving us a sample of the nectar of pure unfiltered happiness, but not the whole thing. That will have to wait for another time. 

United States needs a draw or a win to move on or a variety of tiebreakers need to happen with Ghana-Portugal for the team to advance. No one is ready to be done with the American soccer experience. It is just getting started. 

Charlie. 

Brewers-Rockies Preview (6/20-6/22)

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 

Friday:     Marco Estrada (5-4 4.82) vs. Christian Bergman (0-1 3.75)  7:40 pm FSNWI 

Saturday: Wily Peralta (7-5 2.98) vs. Christian Fredrich (0-0 0.00)       3:10 pm FSNWI   

Sunday:    Kyle Lohse (8-2 3.09) vs. Tyler Matzek (1-1 3.75)              3:10 pm FSNWI 

Five Things To Watch 

1.) Exorcising Coors Field's Demons - In the last two years, Milwaukee has won one of six games at Coors Field. This is not a place that treats the Brewers well in the past couple years. Brewers have not won a series in Denver since 2005 (To be fair, Milwaukee got a split in 2011 during a four-game series at Coors Field). That was nine years ago! Victor Santos and Chris Capuano were the winning pitchers of the series. WES HELMS hit a home run in the first win of the series. Hopefully, things can change this weekend.

2.) Marco Estrada's Do or Die Start - Everyone expecting the worst with Marco Estrada tonight at Coors Field. I really do believe if Estrada struggles again tonight, Jimmy Nelson will face Colorado next weekend at Miller Park. Estrada has been downright awful in the last month or so. Estrada needs to avoid the walks without question because he will probably give up a home run or two tonight, that's the expectation. Everyone is expecting a dumpster fire so hopefully Estrada will use that as motivation and deliver a complete gem. 

3.) Trying to avoid Troy Tulowitzki - We always talk about Brewers killers, but maybe the most notable and the President of the whole thing is Troy Tulowitzki. Whenever he faces Milwaukee, he mashes against the Brewers. In the last three years, Tulo has 24 hits against Milwaukee with a little over half of them being for extra-base hits including five home runs. This equates to an average of about .358.  For the season, Tulowitzki has 18 home runs with batting .356 having an MVP-like season as well as three of his last seven games featured three hit games.  

4.) Dealing with a no-hit team - The last game Colorado played they did not fare well losing 8-0 with Clayton Kershaw no-hitting them striking out 15 batters. Colorado is come in pissed wanting to make a point. Now, they were swept by the Dodgers where Colorado only scored three runs. Is the regression monster looming given how outrageous their offensive numbers have been this season and Milwaukee catching them at the right time?  Or is this a case of Colorado being a wildly inconsistent baseball team?   

5.) Carlos Gomez hit and on-base streak deserves attention - I don't know why people haven't talked about Carlos Gomez's streaks right now. He reached on-base 32 straight games whether it be on a walk, error or base hit. Gomez also has a 15-game hitting streak going which is the best of his career. Honestly, I believe Gomez can have a field day at Coors Field. It seems like a place where he could completely rake and have a massive series. 

Appropriate YouTube Video


I have to go with the Dumb and Dumber line about John Denver. So good every time.

Prediction 
As much as I want to think the Brewers will reverse their luck here and take a couple games, I have them winning one. Let's go with Peralta's start on Saturday.  Usually when the opposing team has three pitchers with a combined four total MLB starts plus one making their Major League debut would give you encouragement, Milwaukee makes those guys look like Cy Young. Even one win gives the Brewers a .500 West Coast trip.   

Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers-D'Backs (6/16-6/19)

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
Aramis Ramirez - It is going a little under the radar but Aramis is starting to turn the corner like he usually does in the summer. In the last seven days, Ramirez is hitting .370 with 10 hits, three doubles and two home runs. He had quite the series in Arizona as well with three hit day on Monday night driving in two runs breaking the 3-3 tie in the eighth. Ramirez added a towering solo home run on Tuesday and sparked the Brewers scoring on Thursday. If Rami gets hot with how this team is already playing, look out National League. It might not be pretty for the rest of them.

Elian Herrera - Got to give Elian some love for the series. He had a good series starting in three out of the four starts. Many people were concerned about Herrera filling in for Carlos Gomez in the first two games, but he did just fine out there. Additionally, Herrera delivered at the plate with two runs driven in plus having a two-hit night on Monday. It really never made sense why the Brewers kept sending him back down to Nashville. He has a pulse at the plate, and he knows how to play multiple positions. Herrera might not be the best option, but he is a quality bench player for this team. Yeah I said it.

Yovani Gallardo - In the last three starts, Gallardo has pitched 21 innings with only giving up two runs. At the beginning of the month, Gallardo's ERA was a little over four and now it is down to 3.34, basically two-thirds of a run in a mere three games. Gallardo had everything working on Thursday as he pitched more to contact than trying to get Diamondbacks strikeouts. If Gallardo pitches this way for Milwaukee, they will be very hard to beat. They do not need to have an actual ace, but if they have pitchers who have ace-like runs for a month, that will pay off in a major way.

Matt Garza - In the last series, Garza made the lowlights, and much of that reason was his horrid defense. But only one run was earned for Garza in that game. He pitched well again on Wednesday giving two earned runs in nearly eight innings of work. It is the first game all season where Garza didn't walk a batter. In fact, he has only one total batter in the last two starts. I don't know whether it was a comfort thing for Garza, or he is finally used to Jonathan Lucroy/Martin Maldonado calling the game. But he has been much improved this month.

Khris Davis - Did you know Khris Davis is from Arizona? I swear I heard that at least 10 times over four games. He had a good series back in his home state with a big three-run homer on Wednesday night providing the only offense for the Brewers. Davis also added two RBIs in Monday's win. He keeps playing his ass for the team. Davis is currently on pace for .261 with 26 home runs this season. Pretty strong first season debut for him. .

Lowlights
Brandon Kintzler - I don't know how upset I want to be at Kintzler. At one point, he has only given up two runs since May 23rd which is pretty damn good given he had a rough start to begin the month of May. But the other part of it is it appears Kintzler struggles when put into tight situations. He blew the game against Cincinnati and Arizona earlier this season in back-to-back outings, nearly lost the game against New York earlier this month and struggled again on Wednesday night. I easily get the most nervous when Kintzler heads to the mound in late-game situations.

Brewers bats against Wade Miley - I don't know what I want to blame on this for the Brewers. They struck out eight times against Miley and couldn't figure out that the home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez was calling the inside corner every damn time. Miley always got a big strikeout when he needed it as he dealt with baserunners all night. Brewers just couldn't figure out the inside pitch which seems to be a bugaboo a little bit for this team.

Crybaby Diamondbacks - All this team does is bitch and moan about everything. We already talked about the whole hitting Ryan Braun thing and why it's stupid, but you should read if you haven't. But seriously, they acted like every strike three was a ball or if a call on the mound didn't go their way, they seemed to be so shocked a call could go against them. Grow up.

Will Smith's 1/3 inning - We need to figure out what happened here. Will Smith, a possible All-Star, basically comes in like he was Ray King or Brian Shouse instead of being the pitcher he has been this season. What made it even more puzzling is Arizona had two left-handers up in the next inning meaning Smith could have easily handled them. The only defense of Smith not pitching an extra inning is the fact he pitched three straight games along with four of the last five.

Charlie.