By Melissa S. Wollering
For the first time this season, the Brewers moved into a tie for first in the NL Central Wednesday. Other “firsts” in Brewers’ history occurring this week: Ryan Braun as NL Player of the Week, Rickie Weeks leading the team in home runs and Bob Uecker being named to the Braves’ Wall of Honor.
Facing the Fish is always fun and not only did they sweep them, but Wednesday’s win against the Florida Marlins catapulted the Crew to the top of the division alongside the Cardinals (at least for one day, hopefully more). Rickie continued to strip his dissenters of their dignity as he hit another homer to leadoff the bottom of the first, boosting his batting average to .286 and his OBP to .346. As of Wednesday, he had secured the team lead for HR’s with nine and in my opinion has the opportunity to become a 40-homer guy if this streak continues.
Trevor Hoffman earned his seventh save and makes me wonder what is more critical: the relationship between Metallica and ‘Hells Bells’ or the purpose it serves for Hoffman. They just wrote it and recorded it. Hoffman gave it meaning. Should he get comped each time it plays?
Ryan Braun led the league with 12 RBIs last week and was rightly named NL Player of the Week on Monday. Surprisingly, he’s never earned the honor before because Al Pujols got in the way. Ready for sick stats? Across seven games, Braun hit .458 (11-24) with eight runs scored, three HR’s and three 2B’s. His slugging percentage was .958. His OBP was .567. On May 6th versus the Reds, Braun hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs. On the 8th, he hit a two-run homer to help the Brewers beat the Cubs. If you didn’t have a man crush yet, strong feelings are forming, admit it.
Umpires at Miller Park digitally reviewed their first play ever Wednesday night and GOT IT RIGHT in stark contrast to Peter Christian’s justified call-out of NBA refs/officiators. I’m not sure how I feel about instant replay in baseball yet, but I must say the correct call made a huge difference. The home run that was reversed would have brought the Fish within one. By coincidence, MLB’s only other replay thus far was used just before the Brewers’ in Pittsburgh Wednesday. Adam LaRoche of the Pirates became the first player to be ‘robbed’ of a homer. Pirates BEAT the Cards, too. So I think we know how I feel about replay (this week at least).
The Brewers’ farm system is stepping in to save the Crew’s bench. Mat-with one T-Gamel is coming up and Brad Nelson is going down. Nelson could refuse the assignment and become a free agent. Gamel will serve as a DH in upcoming interleague games, including the series versus the Twins. The third baseman will also get some pinch-hit at bats and starts in other games. The Brewers did this four years ago with Prince Fielder and it worked beautifully. It sounds as though Gamel has a shot at making this a permanent thing if he can impress Dougie Melvin.
Backup catcher Mike Rivera is off the DL, so Carlos Corporan’s short-lived stint is over. He did get his first hit in the majors though, so congrats Carlos! The Brewers also signed veteran outfielder Frank Catalanotto to a minor-league deal Tuesday, which could further improve our bench in the future.
One more random thing the Brewers “top” right now: the hit-by-pitches category. Three of the top four players HBP this year are from Milwaukee. No, nothing is being done about Braun’s ball-to-the-head, but he certainly did produce a look that could have killed after he hit that home run last Saturday.
In “Just a Bit Outside,” Bob Uecker made history this week as the Brewers and Milwaukee Braves Historical Association inducted the former Braves catcher into the Braves Wall of Honor. Ueck began his major league playing career with the Braves in 1962 and spent two seasons with the club. The Milwaukee native later played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. He was even a member of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in 1964. Fortunately, while announcing for the Brewers he has perfected smack talking the Cards and his allegiance to them, if any, is barely visible.
In “Friendly Fire With the Cubs,” one of your fans is taking Craigslist to a new all-time low. He’s giving away free Cubs tickets to girls who send him pictures of their racks. Whoring yourself out for Cubs tickets is silly. I’m not going to rip on the guy who’s giving the tickets away. Nope, if he thinks this is a good way to obtain a mountain view, fine. I will rip on the women who actually respond to him, though. Shaking my head, side-to-side…
Now more about the bench. Other than Craig Counsell, you may as well use the bench to staff the park with extra hot dog vendors. Brad Nelson is 0 for 20, including 0 for 13 as a pinch-hitter. Chris Duffy is 3 for 28 (.107).
In this week’s “Chart Magnificence,” take a look at this breakdown in runs production for 2008 and the start of 2009. Tally those runs and you get what ended up as just over 17% of the Crew’s overall runs production in 2008. Cartwheel over to 2009 where the bench is only accounting for about 12% of the team’s total runs production. Macha isn’t using the bench as much as Ned Yost did, but that doesn’t account for the entire gap. Production IS down this season compared to this point last season.
Counsell is the new Gape Kapler, already matching close to half of his ‘08 production in just one-fifth of what will likely be his total number of plate appearances. Maybe a mid-season acquisition like Ray Durham of ’08 could help the bench. Or maybe Mat Gamel and Frank Catalananno can help in the coming months. Either way, keep the bats hot in the starting lineup and work it from the bench. Winning isn’t everything. Wait, it is…