Brewers sweep Twins, take 3 game division lead to NYC

In what has become a fairly common occurrence, the Brewers won a series at Miller Park.  Better still, they swept said series.  This series was different than some previous victories however.  It seemed as if the Brewers had control in each and every game, even when they found themselves trailing in Friday nights series opener.  It was the first time all year were I felt relaxed through the vast majority of a series.  Even Carlos Gomez felt nice and relaxed (check out his game on Saturday).  The Twins had really been on a hot streak coming into Friday nights game, so this series could have very easily gone the other way.  Prince Fielder’s heroic two-run double on Friday night set the mood.  A very powerful, aggressive mood that everyone seemed to like.  Especially us Brewers fans.

Weekends Scores:

Friday – Brewers 4 vs  Twins 3

Saturday – Brewers 11 vs  Twins 1

Sunday – Brewers 6 vs  Twins 2

Pitching Round-Up: Wolf, Gallardo and Narveson all picked up a win a piece (6, 9, and 5 for the season).  John Axford recorded his 20th save of the season on Friday night.  Axford has really put that rough start behind him.  He is one of the best closers in baseball right now.  La Troy Hawkins continues to be just shy of perfect.  Hawkins has a season ERA of 0.46.  Clearly he is trying to make up for lost time (and earn his paycheck, unlike last year).  Kam Loe threw two scoreless innings this series, but I still think they are using him way too much.  Then this morning we heard news that Mark DiFelice had been re-optioned back to Nashville.  The move is believed to be in order to make room for the very sleepy Zach Brraddock.

Hitting ‘Round the World: After a two-run homer today, Ryan Braun increased his hitting streak to 17 games.  Aside from that…it was actually a team effort scoring runs this weekend.  Everyone got involved, Carlos Gomez, Corey Hart, Yuniesky Betancourt (inside-the-park), Prince Fielder, and Ryan Braun all hit home runs in this series.  I have very little to gripe about from this weekend.    It’s hard to argue with Carlos Gomez going 3 for 4 on Saturday and Yuni B. having back to back multi-hit games.  This team looks dialed in offensively.  I hope this confidence can carry into Yankee Stadium.

Zack Greinke will take his 4.77 ERA to the mound on Tuesday night.  AARP member Freddy Garcia, will take the mound for the Yankees.  To be totally honest with you, I wasn’t sure if that was a type-o or not.  I had to go on-line and do some quick research and it turns out that Freddy Garcia still plays baseball…for the Yankees.  That rotation is in worse shape than I realized.  Fortunately, Colin is working with some of the staff writer’s over at Yanks Go Yard, to give us the inside track on how we can beat those jerks cheaters fine “young” men.  This Yankees series is nothing else, if not nostalgic.  As many of you may remember, we used to be a part of the AL East.  The Pinstripers lead the all-time series 208-182, so we should try and take a little chunk out of that this week.

Watching the Brewers this weekend was just flat out fun.  Many of my Twins fan pals were chirping at me on Thursday about the beatdown the Twins would inflict.  I love watching Minnesota sports fans fall silent, because that is their response to their teams failure…silence.  This weekend the team played with no fear and that is when they are the most dangerous.  When everyone is able to throw caution to the wind and just have some fun, this team is unbeatable.  Seeing them horse around in the dugout lets me know that they are putting out “the vibe”.  Confidence is the key to this team giving Braun and Fielder offensive support.

The Cardinals and Reds are continuing to lose games, so that is fun to watch.  After Sunday afternoon’s victory, the Brewers are the proud owners of a 3 game lead over the Cardinals and 4 game lead over the Reds and Pirates.  How close are the Cubs you ask?  Well those pesky baby bears are a meer 12 games behind the Brewers.  Suck on that Wrigleyville.

If you missed Nyjer Morgan high-fiving a Twins fan, here is the video link.  Not quite as funny as when Manny Ramirez did it, but still worth a good chuckle.  You have to watch very carefully, but you can see him slap at something as the camera pans with Josh Wilson.  After the game Morgan said:

"I gave him some love.  It would have been nice if it was a Brew Crew member.  I just happened to slap-a-dap with somebody."

Well put T-Plush, well put indeed.  First thing I am going to do tomorrow, slap-a-dap my boss.  Have a great Monday everyone.  Go Brewers!!!