I don't really know where I'm going with this Series Preview opening, so I'm going to start with what's on my mind right now, which is Trevor Bauer's debut. I suspect I'm not the only one thinking about it at the moment. I had any number of obvious, knee-jerk reactions to the start, most of which were far too laced with profanity (either positive or negative) to repeat here. However, now that I'm a few hours removed from it, the lesson from Thursday's game that seems to ring the truest is "having depth is wonderful."

Think about it: the Diamondbacks lost two pitchers who had started playoff games for them the previous year in a span of about a week, and they might have upgraded their rotation in the process. And when their highly-touted prospect only went four innings in his first ever start, the team could call on a slightly-less-touted-but-still-very-solid prospect to finish the job. It's a luxury we don't always think about as fans.

I'm going to (clumsily) tie this in with the Brewers by pointing out how many of their struggles could have been avoided with greater depth. Here's a team that sacrificed depth in order to "win now" last season, making blockbuster trades for Shawn Marcum and Zack Grienke that left their farm system barren. It worked to an extent last year, getting them to the NLCS, but they're paying for it this year. The Brewers are 34-41, and the only real personnel change between this year's roster and last is the absence of Prince Fielder. And that's where depth comes in handy.

It sure would be nice if they could have slotted Brett Lawrie into their lineup once Fielder left. It sure would have been nice if Alcides Escobar or Lorenzo Cain were around to relieve the Brewers' replacement-level options at center field and shortstop, respectively. It sure would be nice if they had Jake Odorizzi to be around to be their Trevor Bauer if need be. I'm not saying what they did is wrong, or that Brewer fans should regret it. I'm just saying that I'm happy that the Diamondbacks aren't in that situation right now.

What the Stats Say (According to Fangraphs):

As a pitching staff, the Brewers have the second-biggest gap between their ERA and their FIP in baseball, with an ERA that's almost half a run worse than their FIP. Part of that might be due to their defense, which UZR is not a big fan of (seriously, how do you get rid of Fielder and make your defense worse?), but there's probably some bad luck mixed in there as well. Their offense is still solid (that wRC+ is tied for third in the NL), but it's a step below what they had in 2011, and it's very reliant on a few players.

Starting Lineups:

Arizona Diamondbacks

1. Gerardo Parra, CF
2. Stephen Drew, SS
3. Justin Upton, RF
4. Jason Kubel, LF
5. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
6. Miguel Montero, C
7. Aaron Hill, 2B
8. Ryan Roberts, 3B

Milwaukee Brewers

1. Norichika Aoki, RF
2. Nyjer Morgan, CF
3. Ryan Braun, LF
4. Aramis Ramirez, 3B
5. Corey Hart, 1B
6. Rickie Weeks, 2B
7. Cesar Izturis, SS
8. George Kottaras, C

• Quick note: That Diamondbacks lineup is purely hypothetical. As in, we'll probably never see it, because of Kirk Gibson. But my god...just look at it. Speed and OBP at the top, good hitters throughout. Hell, Aaron Hill's batting seventh, and it's semi-defensible now! Is there a lineup equivalent to rosterbating?
• Maybe this is OCD talking, I really want to see a major-league lineup ordered by reverse defensive position. As in, right fielder (1) batting leadoff, followed by the center fielder (2), and so on. The Brewers don't quite have it down yet, but they're the closest I've seen. Get on it, Ron Roenicke.
• Norichika Aoki has been a nice surprise for the Brewers, with an OPS+ of 112 so far. And his emergence has allowed the team to sort of cover the giant, Prince Fielder-shaped hole at first base, with Corey Hart moving from RF to first.
  
• Rickie Weeks has actually dramatically improved his walk rate this year, all the way up to 13.6%. Unfortunately, no one has noticed because the other two numbers in his triple slash are so miserable. Currently, he's hitting .185/.307/.312, which is like a fever dream version of 2009 Chris Young.
• This is an obligatory mention of the 2011 Home Run Derby, just to make Brewer fans angry that we aren't over it yet.
• Jonathan Lucroy was having a great year, but he'll miss the series with a fractured right hand. So we'll see George Kottaras and Martin Maldonado, both of whom are above-average hitters this year, but they aren't doing what Lucroy was before the injury.
• Ryan Braun had a really good season last year, when he tested positive for steroids (sort of). This year, when he is presumably not taking steroids, he is having almost exactly as good of a season. I don't know if he bought steroids last year, but if he did, I hope he kept the receipt.

Pitching Matchups

Friday: Ian Kennedy (5-7, 4.42) vs. Randy Wolf (2-5, 5.32)

Insightful Commentary: I can only assume that the Cubs haven't had good hitting approaches that often this season, considering how wretched that team is, but they had a good approach against Ian Kennedy in his last start. As a result, Ian lasted only 4.1 innings, which is decidedly not ace-like. I'm not worried about him, really, since his velocity looks fine, and all of his peripherals seem to be solid. I'll still think he'll finish with an ERA of around 3.5, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been disappointed by him so far.

Randy Wolf has handed leads to his bullpen in three straight games, and in three straight games the bullpen has blown them. I would say that Randy Wolf should go old skool and be his own bullpen, but he's only thrown two complete games since 2004. Seriously, if Randy Wolf throws a complete game on Friday, something has gone horribly wrong.

Saturday: Wade Miley (9-3, 2.19) vs. Mike Fiers (2-2, 2.70)

Insightful Commentary: Among pitchers with at least 90 innings, Wade Miley stands alone with the lowest ERA in baseball. And I just can't get over the fact that he has 32 strikeouts to 2 walks in his last five starts. Earlier in the season, we were worried that Miley's ERA would regress to fall more in line with his FIP. Instead, his FIP has improved to the point where it is almost in line with his ERA. This is not how it's supposed to work, but I'm not complaining.

Mike Fiers has been a nice surprise for the Brewers as a rookie. He's 26 and spent last season dropping off of any prospect lists he still found himself on, so his arrival wasn't quite greeted with Trevor Bauer-level fanfare, but he's been solid. His secret so far has been his walk rate, which is minuscule through 33.1 innings so far.

Sunday: Josh Collmenter (0-2, 4.80) vs. Yovani Gallardo (6-6, 4.14)

Insightful Commentary: You can't say that Josh Collmenter hasn't earned his spot back. He has an ERA of 1.35 in 26.2 innings since losing his spot in the rotation. Of course, the question remains, how will he fare the second or third time through lineups? In his career, hitters have an OPS of .870, which is just below what Goldschmidt has produced this year. Collmenter has turned entire lineups into Paul Goldschmidt the second time he faces them. Of course, he did own the Brewers in two starts last year, so there's that...

And speaking of team ownage, Gallardo in his career is 6-0 against Arizona with a 1.21 ERA. And I don't think that includes the playoffs. I tend to be skeptical of career performance against teams, because Gallardo's been around since 2007, and it's not like his performance against Eric Byrnes and Conor Jackson has any bearing on this team, but I made an exception for this one stat. Mostly because it supports what we all remember from the NLDS.

Final Verdict: The Brewers aren't awful, and they're at home, so this could be a trap series. But the Diamondbacks are 24-12 against teams with a losing record (h/t shoewizard), and they should have the advantage in the first two pitching matchups. So I'll say Diamondbacks two games to one.

Head over to Brew Crew Ball for Brewer news.

(Stats via Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference)

The Atlanta Braves will be pursuing starting pitching this summer and their list of potential targets include Zack Greinke of the Milwaukee Brewers, Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster of the Chicago Cubs and Edinson Volquez of the San Diego Padres, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

With Tim Hudson and Tommy Hanson currently standing as the only reliable assets in their starting rotation, the Braves will likely make landing a starting pitcher a priority before the Trade Deadline. Greinke, Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster and Edinson Volquez would be among their potential targets.

Bowman believes that if the Braves reach a point where they are committed to landing a starter they will target Greinke. He notes that if the Brewers decide to trade their ace "the Braves’ interest will hinge on being able to lock the former Cy Young Award winner up with a long-term contract." Atlanta is not interested in landing Greinke as a two-month rental, according to Bowman.

Atlanta will have some money to play with as the club has several large salaries, including Chipper Jones ($14 million), Derek Lowe ($15 million) and Michael Bourn ($6.84 million), coming off their payroll at the end of the year. Bowman does note that some of this cash will be needed to either re-sign Bourn or acquire at least one other outfielder.

Some things to read while not getting scammed.

It was a largely quiet off day for the Brewers yesterday but they did make one relatively minor roster move, claiming shortstop Hector Gomez off waivers from the Rockies and designating reliever Brandon Kintzler for assignment (FanShot).

Gomez is a former top prospect who has been derailed a bit by injuries over the years. He's a 24 year old .268/.306/.425 career hitter in the minors, but has already played seven minor league seasons and has only appeared in more than 100 games one time since 2007. The Brewers have assigned him to Brevard County.

Kintzler, meanwhile, will almost certainly clear waivers and remain in the organization. He posted a 3.68 ERA in the majors before getting injured in 2011, but has a 5.24 mark between Brevard County and Huntsville in 2012.

Those transactions probably won't move this needle very much: This week's BCB tracking poll shows that just 30% of voters think the Brewers can still make the playoffs. That number was at 64% just two weeks ago.

Elsewhere in recent roster moves, Todd Rosiak (behind the paywall) has a story on Livan Hernandez and the immediate "veteran leader" role he's assumed in the Brewer clubhouse. Hernandez has certainly had his share of troubles over the years, with this April report saying his wages have been garnished this season, but the story makes it sound like he's eager to help some of the Brewers' young players.

Now that we've covered past and present roster moves, we might as well move on to potential future transactions: Jon Heyman is confirming that a Rangers scout was in Cincinnati to see Zack Greinke last night but says he's "not available yet."

We won't know the actual All Star selections for a few more days, but you can add Ken Rosenthal to the list of people expecting Ryan Braun and Zack Greinke to represent the Brewers. Adam McCalvy talked to Ron Roenicke about his favorite All Star moment, which came last season. Roenicke, by the way, was in Appleton to watch his son Lance play for the Timber Rattlers last night.

The Brewers open a three game series with the Diamondbacks tonight but won't be seeing former team broadcaster Daron Sutton. Sutton had been suspended by the Diamondbacks for insubordination, and now Bob Wolfley of the JS (behind the paywall) is reporting that he's also been removed from tomorrow night's national broadcast on Fox. Supposedly this whole thing is over Sutton's insistence on calling games in suits instead of the team-mandated polo, but that seems too ridiculous to be true.

In the minors:

• The affiliates went 1-5 last night with the lone win coming from Wisconsin, where right fielder Ben McMahan had a three-RBI night to power the Timber Rattlers to a 7-3 win over Peoria. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• Rattler Radio has highlights from Wisconsin's win.
• John Sickels of Minor League Ball raised some early concerns about first round pick Clint Coulter, noting that he's already allowed five passed balls and seven stolen bases in his first three Arizona League games at catcher.
• @Mass_Haas is reporting that 32nd round pick Nick Anderson expects to sign soon.
• Nashville reliever Jim Henderson will represent the Sounds in the AAA All Star Game after posting a 1.93 ERA in 24 first half appearances. Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem interviewed him about the honor.
• The Brevard County Manatees have a story on John Dishon, Seth Harvey and Jason Rogers, three players promoted from Wisconsin during the All Star break.
• Jeremy Warnemuende of MLB.com has a story on Helena pitcher and UW-Milwaukee alum Eric Semmelhack.

In power rankings: Yahoo has the Brewers 24th, down two spots.

If you'd like more Brewer coverage today but you're sick of reading, I'll be making my weekly appearance on The Home Stretch on 95.3 FM/AM 1570 The Score in Appleton at 2 pm today. Justin Hull is off this week so I'll be in studio with Joey D taking your calls and answering Brewer questions.

Finally, congratulations are due out this morning to 54438Crew, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:

There's still plenty of time to make your picks for today if you haven't already. Also, a new series means a new set of Prognostikeggers.

Around baseball:

Orioles: Placed first baseman Nick Johnson on the DL with a wrist injury.
Phillies: Designated pitcher Chad Qualls for assignment.
Red Sox: Signed third baseman Andy LaRoche to a minor league deal.
Yankees: Placed pitcher Andy Pettitte on the DL with a fractured ankle.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks the 27th anniversary of Moose Haas throwing a one-hitter against the Yankees in 1985. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that it's also been 7000 days since Graeme Lloyd became the first Australian pitcher to win a major league game.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to shower.

Drink up.

While the Brewers and Diamondbacks prepare for their final series of 2012, it's time to take a look back at the best Brewer moments against the Snakes in 2011. The Brewers went 3-4 against the Diamondbacks during the regular season and 3-2 in the playoffs.

1) Nyjer Morgan's walkoff single sends the Brewers to the NLCS

What else could it possibly be? The Brewers' single greatest highlight of 2011 and perhaps their greatest moment in generations came on this play, as the Brewers overcame a John Axford blown save and Carlos Gomez scored to give the Crew their first playoff series win in nearly 30 years.

Follow the jump for more!

2) Yovani Gallardo's gem gives Brewers NLDS Game 1

Pitching was the story of the Brewers' 2011 postseason, but typically not for positive reasons. The Brewers started off the playoffs with a masterful performance from Yovani Gallardo, however, allowing a run on four hits and striking out nine over eight innings.

3) Seven straight Brewers reach base to blow open NLDS Game 2

The Brewers took an early lead in their second home playoff game but couldn't hold it and went to the bottom of the sixth tied at 4. Jerry Hairston doubled with one out, though, and each of the six men to follow him to the plate also reached safely as the Brewers took a 9-4 lead.

4) Brewers score three in the tenth to win on July 20

Regular season games between these two teams had some dramatic moments too. The Brewers blew a late lead in this game to head to extras tied at 2, but the offense came to life in the tenth inning. Nyjer Morgan had the first of three RBI hits in the inning as the Brewers took a 5-2 lead.

5) Casey McGehee provides the offense in a 3-1 win on July 6

The Brewers only scored runs on one play in this game but it was enough as Casey McGehee's pinch hit, three-run homer gave them the lead in the seventh inning.

The Brewers went 2-4 this week, winning the first game and the last game to wrap around a four game road skid. We do, however, still have some pretty good Brewer of the Week candidates:

Norichika Aoki had eight hits this week, including two doubles and a home run. He hit /.348/.444/.565, stole five bases and was worth +.288 WPA.

Michael Fiers pitched 7.1 scoreless innings against the White Sox on Sunday, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out seven. He was worth +.281 WPA this week.

Yovani Gallardo recorded his fourth consecutive quality start and his tenth in eleven starts on Monday, allowing two runs on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts over six innings. He was worth +.037 WPA this week.

Zack Greinke made two starts this week and allowed two runs on eight hits over 15 innings, walking two and striking out seven. He was worth +.849 WPA.

Aramis Ramirez had seven hits this week, including three doubles. He posted a .304/.385/.435 line and was worth +.282 WPA.

Honorable mentions this week: Marco Estrada, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks

The Brewers are 11-13 in June, but 7-5 at home. So there's that.

Tonight they'll send Randy Wolf (5.32 ERA, 4.43 FIP) to the mound. It's tough to tell what to expect from Wolf on a day-to-day basis: In his five starts in June he's allowed 0, 1, 4, 5 and 6 runs. The five spot came on Saturday against the White Sox, when he allowed those runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings, walking none and striking out four.

Wolf's effectiveness always seems to come and go, but it's worth noting that he's been better at throwing strikes lately. He's walked just five batters over his last four starts and has a 3.55 ERA over that span. He had been walking nearly four batters per nine over his first eleven starts.

Wolf last faced the Diamondbacks on May 27 and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits over 5.2 innings. Eight current Diamondbacks have faced him ten times or more:

He'll face Ian Kennedy (4.42 ERA, 3.82 FIP), whose numbers have fallen off a bit a season after he posted a career-high 234.2 innings. Some of that may be luck, though: His fastball velocity, strikeout and walk numbers all remain roughly steady from last season. He got roughed up by the Cubs on Saturday, allowing five runs on ten hits over 4.1 innings.

Like Wolf, Kennedy has been all over the map lately. He's allowed 0, 1, 2, 5 and 6 runs in his last five starts. He'll throw a roughly 90 mph fastball along with a fair number of changeups and some curves and cutters. He's also allowed ten home runs in his last nine appearances.

The Brewers beat Kennedy on May 25, tagging him for four runs on seven hits over 5.2 innings. Five current Brewers have faced him ten times or more:

Today's lineup, courtesy of Mike Vassallo. Bonus points if you can guess who's catching Randy Wolf:

Aoki 9
Morgan 8
Braun 7
Ramirez 5
Hart 3
Weeks 4
Kottaras 2
Izturis 6
Wolf 1

The bullpen has some extra rest and is hopefully ready for a fresh start:

Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (20 pitches) Wednesday.
Livan Hernandez pitched one inning (18 pitches) Wednesday.
Kameron Loe pitched one inning (nine pitches) Wednesday.
John Axford and Tim Dillard last pitched on Tuesday.
Manny Parra last pitched on Monday.
Jose Veras last pitched on Sunday.

It should be a nice night for baseball at Miller Park tonight. Temperatures will be in the low 80's and any rain that comes through today should be gone by then.

Very few players ever hit for the cycle in their career. There are plenty of guys in the Hall of Fame who never achieved the cycle. It requires not only four hits on one game -- something seldom achieved in itself -- but also the speed and power needed to hit for a single, double, triple and home run.

Aaron Hill has now hit for the cycle twice in the month of June. And it isn't even over yet!

Facing the Brewers on Friday night, Hill completed the cycle in just the sixth inning.

Hill got his game started with a ground-rule double in the first inning. He singled in the third. Hill's big blast came in the fourth when he sent a ball over the left field wall to make the score 8-1 in the D-backs' favor.

With a runner on first and two outs, Hill came to the plate against Livan Hernandez. He sent a ball deep to center field, allowing him to dive into third to complete the triple.

Pretty awesome.

There may be a total of five or six cycles hit this season, and Aaron Hill already has two of them.

The last player to hit for the cycle twice in a month: Babe Herman, who did it in 1932.

For more on Hill's big night and the Diamondbacks, check out AZ Snake Pit.

W: Ian Kennedy (6-7)
L: Randy Wolf (2-6)

HR: Aaron Hill (11); Paul Goldschmidt (11)

MVP: Nyjer Morgan (.073 WPA)
LVP: Wolf (-.451 WPA)

Win Expectancy Graph

Brian Anderson described this game best as "Cyclewatch." Diamondbacks 2B Aaron Hill went 4-for-5 and completed the cycle with a triple off Livan Hernandez. It was Hill's second cycle of the season, a feat that has not been accomplished since 1931. 1B Paul Goldschmidt came a triple shy, hitting his second double of the night in the 9th by ground rule.

As might be obvious from the MVP's WPA, no Brewer even came close to the cycle. The Brewers were able to scratch across three runs: one in the first on an Aramis Ramirez groundout, and another two in the sixth on a Cesar Izturis double. Morgan, Norichika Aoki, and Izturis each had two hits.

Actually, it probably wouldn't have mattered even if a Brewer had managed to hit for the cycle. Randy Wolf put the Brewers in a big hole early, giving up eight runs over just four innings, just as he did on April 13 vs. Atlanta. Wolf's ERA now stands at 5.78 on the season.

The bullpen performed adequately in mop up duty the rest of the evening; kind of ironic that on a night when the starting pitching falters, the bullpen turns in a decent outing. Tim Dillard, Kameron Loe, Jose Veras, and Manny Parra each pitched a scoreless inning. The sole blemish after Wolf exited was Hill's RBI triple in the sixth off Hernandez.

Not much to write home about on this one. The Brewers were never really in it, and drop to 34-42 on the season. Game two pits Michael Fiers (2-2) against Wade Miley (9-3) at 6:15 tomorrow.

The last time the Diamondbacks played a baseball game in Milwaukee, it.. well, it didn't end well. But Aaron Hill and Paul Goldschmidt ensured that the Diamondbacks had a MUCH better night tonight! Aaron Hill became the first player in 81 years to hit his second cycle in the year, and Ian Kennedy pitched 7 innings for the win. Need I say more than that? Fine, follow me after the jump....

After winning just one game, and on a 9th Inning Rally at that, in Atlanta, it looked like the Diamondbacks' road woes would continue in Milwaukee, the very place where their 2011 season ended. Ian Kennedy gave up two singles to start the Brewers' 1st inning, and small ball allowed Norichika Aoki scored on a groundout from Aramis Ramirez. The Diamondbacks hitters cared not for small ball and instead tied the game up on a double from Paul Goldschmidt and, with two outs, a ground-rule double from Henry Blanco. (Brewers coaches tried to call foul - literally - but the replay shows chalk clearly flew up as the ball landed on the line.)

And that's when the fun really began. Willie Bloomquist did what Willie does best, which was hit - he led off the 3rd inning with a double. Aaron Hill, who had ground-rule doubled in the 1st inning for his 1,000th career hit, singled on a ball that Rickie Weeks should've been able to get to, and Willie went to third. Hill then stole second base off of Brewers starter Randy Wolf, who had looked a little upset and distracted with the base hit. Justin Upton beat out a barely-outfield-grass-single (to Weeks) to score Bloomquist for the lead. Jason Kubel singed to right field for his 27th RBI of June, which brought up Paul Goldschmidt, who hit a monster 3-run home run to essentially put this game out of reach for the Brewers. With the bases clear, Randy Wolf easily got the next three outs of the inning, but with a 6-1 lead, the Diamondbacks were lookin' good. Who's afraid of the big bad Wolf? NOT US!

Oh but the fun didn't end there, folks. After Bloomquist reached base again - on a Rickie Weeks error - in the 4th inning, Aaron Hill followed with a home run to left field. If you're keeping track, that homer put everybody on #AaronHillCycleAlert (tm Nick Piecoro) - he was a triple away from the cycle, and it was only the 4th inning! In the 5th inning (which was not pitched by Wolf, who was pulled after four innings), Paul Goldschmidt singled to put us on #PaulGoldschmidtCycleAlert - now he only needed a triple as well, and both guys were guaranteed at least one more plate appearance.

In the 6th inning and with two outs, Hill came up (with Bloomquist on base again - all that man does is hit) to face Livan Hernandez, needing a triple. As he said after the game, as he did 11 days ago after his first cycle:

"But you can't think about it," he said. "If you think about doing anything at the plate, you're digging yourself into a hole. I said that last time. You look for a ball up and hope things work out." -Arizona Republic

Well, this one wasn't up, it was low and outside, but he got enough of the bat on it to be hard-hit. He was also fortunate that Nyjer Morgan is an inconsistent center fielder who got a terrible read on the ball and let it roll allll the waaaaaay to the wallllllllll for a triple! And there you have it, folks - the first man in 81 years (since Babe Herman in 1931) to hit two cycles in one season (let alone 11 days!) is your very own, and the Diamondbacks' likely All-Star Game representative, Aaron Hill. (That last part is just speculation; we'll know for sure on Sunday.)

So by now it was 9-1 in the 6th and Kennedy had settled down nicely after the rocky start, allowing only three more baserunners (two singles and a hit-by-pitch) since the 1st inning. But at right around 80 pitches, Kennedy hit the proverbial wall. With two outs in the 6th, Kennedy made a throwing error, Weeks was safe at first base and Corey Hart went to second. He walked the catcher George Kottaras to load the bases, and Cesar Izturis doubled in two runs. But he got out of the inning without further damage, and even pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning. Two bumps aside, it was a very solid outing for Ian Kennedy.

Back on #GoldschmidtCycleAlert, Goldy was walked in the 7th inning, but the inning ended without getting out via a double play, which guaranteed Goldschmidt another chance at the cycle in the 9th. He very nearly got the cycle, too - with two outs, he laced a ball down the left field line. He might have tried to stretch it to three bases, since it bounced off the short wall in foul territory, which slowed the ball down; sadly, a fan was leaning into the field of play and touched the ball, making it another ground-rule double. After the game, Paul said he didn't think it made a difference, with it being down the left field line, but up 9-3, he should've at least gotten the chance to make that decision for himself. He can deny it if he wants, but I think he would've tried for it. Oh well, the next time one of his teammates hits for the cycle......

Brad Ziegler pitched a clean 8th inning, and Mike Zagurski got the final three outs to nail down the historic win.

Source: FanGraphs

Awesomesauce: P Goldschmidt, +19.7% / A Hill, +18.0%
Worth His Weight: W Bloomquist, +5.3% / I Kennedy, +4.4%
Clown Question, Bro: C Young, -5.8%

Take a look at that fangraph and note Goldy and Hill's nearly identical lines for the night. Combined, they were 8-for-9, 4 runs, 2 home runs, and 6 RBI. Tonight's starting lineup had four players above (Hill) or within shouting distance (Bloomquist, Kubel, Goldschmidt) of the .300 line, and one more (Upton) not far behind. Sure, Chris Young and Ryan Roberts are still scuffling, but our prospects look a lot brighter than they did a few weeks ago. To top it off, the Dodgers and Giants both lost tonight, which puts us only four back of the division lead.

It was a happy gameday thread, and fairly happenin' too for a Friday night. DC beat out ish95 (I know, I was surprised when I saw the number too) for the top spot and was the only person over 100; hotclaws was in third. A total of 37 people combined for over 750 comments: AzDbackfanInDc, Jim McLennan, Clefo, imstillhungry95, 4 Corners Fan, onedotfive, hotclaws, snakecharmer, since_98, txzona, BattleMoses, Zavada's Moustache, shoewizard, kishi, luckycc, egboyz, xmet, GuruB, SenSurround, Surksquatch, blue bulldog, leemellon, DbackCardsFan, mrssoco, Muu, Skii, CaptainCanuck, Waitingfortheroar, TucsonPete, bbtng, JoeCB1991, Backin'the'Backs, SongBird, blank_38, Joel Preston, Bryn21, and Rockkstarr12.

Easy winner for CotD, though for sentimentality I thought about giving it to one of the comments about missing Daron Sutton. There were also some great Twitter comments tonight, but by rule I think those are outlawed. (But I think I see a lot of law-breakers here...)

2 cycles in a month

= a bicycle?

by bbtng on Jun 29, 2012 6:57 PM PDT reply actions 7 recs

Wade Miley continues his bid for All Star/Rookie of the Year/Cy Young/MVP tomorrow evening. Grumble grumble grumble FOX out-of-town blackout, a game which FOX has announced that Sutton will not be broadcasting. Sigh. I'm glad the Dbacks are on so many FOX games this year, but what about us out-of-towners, huuuuh? Anyway, tune in or... y'know, don't.

Tigers links:

Tigers' outfielder Austin Jackson's throws seem to be getting stronger -- Detroit Free Press, Shawn Windsor
"When Cleveland rightfielder Shin-Soo Choo doubled off the centerfield wall Thursday night at Progressive Field, Austin Jackson appeared to have no option other than retrieving the ball and keeping Choo from third. But with Jackson's speed and improving arm, he nearly threw out Choo at second."

Dombrowski: Tigers have enough to win division, despite 'lousy' road trip -- The Detroit News, Tony Paul
'It's a hard game to play,' Dombrowski said Sunday morning, sitting in the visiting dugout moments after arriving at the ballpark. 'You run into pitching, you run into certain times when guys get in a little bit of a slump. That's why there are a lot of ups and downs.'

Christmas In July: Contenders' Wish Lists (A.L. Edition) -- Baseball Nation, Rob Neyer
"Hey, it's that time of the year when almost everybody's a contender and almost everybody's just one player away from being perfect."

Tigers Roundtable, Volume Two -- DesigNate Robertson
"I still stand by my opinion that "Tigers Weekly" is pointless, boring garbage. Thus, it should be replaced."

Al Kaline the right coach for Tigers' top prospect Nick Castellanos -- Detroit Tigers, John Lowe
"Nick Castellanos soon will get instruction from the man who played rightfield perhaps as well as anyone ever has. Al Kaline will visit Castellanos to work with him on his conversion to right, Tigers assistant general manager Al Avila said Thursday night."

Do The Tigers Need To Keep Up With The White Sox Activity? -- Motor City Bengals, Bryan Craves
"Watching the Chicago White Sox wheel-and-deal in the last week or so has had some wondering: Can't the Tigers add better players? The White Sox are doing that..."

Around the AL Central:

A Royals Game Recap Written Before The Top of the Fifth Was Completed -- Royals Review
"Let's try this little exercise. I'm writing this portion at the conclusion of the fourth inning:"

Twins 5, Indians 1: Morneau Homers Again, Duensing Leads Minnesota to Sweep -- Twinkie Town
"Twins take it to the Indians, sweeping the three-game weekend series with a 5-1 victory."

Game 102: Twins 5, Indians 1 -- Let's Go Tribe
"The Indians lost again to the Minnesota Twins 5-1, getting swept in the process. A recap of the action."

White Sox 0, Rangers 2: Gift runs end win streak at 5 -- South Side Sox
"Scott Feldman shuts out White Sox, ends win streak at 5."

Elsewhere in baseball:

White Sox Acquire Liriano For Stretch Run -- FanGraphs Baseball, Eric Seidman
"Kenny Williams reportedly worked his tail off to land Zack Greinke from the Brewers this week. The American League Central is up for grabs and the White Sox and Tigers have gone back and forth for the division lead in recent weeks."

Marty Brennaman is going to have to shave his head -- HardballTalk, Matthew Pouliot
"The Reds' legendary broadcaster Marty Brennaman will be sporting a new look a week from now."

The Meltdown Part II: Minor-league manager Joe Mikulik loses it again, gives third base to fan (VIDEO) -- Big League Stew, Mark Townsend
"Joe Mikulik is back — well, actually, he's still around and still managing the Single-A Asheville Tourists — and he's better than ever."

Hours before Sunday's bullpen meltdown, the most interesting play in the game may have been this one. Come for the Brewers scoring a run, stay for the #UmpShow.

Some things to read while making a sacrifice.

An ugly season took another turn for the worse yesterday as the Brewers carried a 7-3 lead into the eighth inning, blew saves on two separate occasions and wiped out Adam McCalvy's game story en route to an 11-10, eleven inning loss to the Nationals. Noah has the recap, if you missed it.

John Axford was one of four consecutive Brewer relievers to allow a run yesterday, giving up the lead in the eighth before hitting for himself (just his second professional PA) and doing it again in the ninth. After the game he posted this on Twitter:

This is absolutely inexplicable and bordering on insane. There are no excuses...and all I can promise is I will continue to fight.

— John Axford (@JohnAxford) July 29, 2012

@Mass_Haas notes that Axford still has an option remaining. Adam McCalvy says the bullpen has a 4.80 ERA this season, their highest since posting a 5.03 mark in 2006.

The game took a turn for the weird in the sixth inning when Norichika Aoki squeezed home a run, reached first on a fielding error and Cody Ransom came around to score while the Nationals were arguing the call, only to be sent back to third because the umpires thought time had been called. Replays showed that Aoki should have been out at first and time had not been called, leading to arguments with three different umpires at the same time. We've got the video, if you're confused or would just like to see it for yourself.

Other notes from the field:

• Mark Rogers allowed two runs on six hits over 5.2 innings in his 2012 MLB debut, walking one and striking out seven. It looks like he'll get a shot to stick in the rotation.
• Aramis Ramirez sat out yesterday's game with a sore wrist.
• Nats Enquirer has stills and video showing Michael Morse's game-tying home run in the ninth inning hitting someone in the ATI Club.
• The Official Site has video of John Axford and Mark Rogers talking to reporters following the loss.
• Norichika Aoki and Corey Hart were both hit by pitches yesterday, and Aoki leads all rookies with seven on the season. Plunk Everyone has more.
• Rickie Weeks was hit by a pitch on Saturday, the 104th of his career and his 50th at Miller Park.
• 44,633 fans paid to see yesterday's game and/or receive a Bob Uecker Bobblehead. The Brewer tumblr has a picture of fans lined up outside waiting to get one.
• The Brewers (Milwaukee Bears) and Nationals (Homestead Grays) wore replica Negro League uniforms Saturday night.
• The Polish won the sausage races on Saturday and Sunday.

The Brewers, who have now won just one of their last ten games, resume play tonight when they host the Astros at 7:10. James Walker of MLB.com has the preview.

Meanwhile, this weekend's big news came on the transaction front. For full coverage of the Zack Greinke trade, check out Saturday's Frosty Mug Special Edition. Here's more on that deal:

• Adam McCalvy reports that Ron Roenicke and his former boss Mike Scioscia talked to share notes on the players moving from the Angels to the Brewers and vice versa.
• Miller Park Drunk took a moment to say goodbye to Greinke.
• Carson Cistulli of NotGraphs has a photo showing that even Jean-Jacques Rousseau is thinking about Jean Segura.

The Brewers followed the Greinke trade on Friday with another on Saturday, dealing George Kottaras to the A's for reliever Fautino De Los Santos. De Los Santos is 26 and has been struggling in AAA this season (a 7.25 ERA over 36 innings for AAA Sacramento) but throws in the mid-90's and is striking out over ten batters per nine innings. The Brewers assigned him to Nashville. Here's some reaction to the deal:

• Bob Nightengale of USA Today says the Brewers made a "fabulous deal."
• Ben Badler of Baseball America says scouts have still been grading De Los Santos' fastball as a 70 on the 20-80 scale and he's got a plus slider.
• Jaymes Langrehr of Disciples of Uecker notes that Kottaras and his high walk rate are a perfect fit for the Billy Beane A's.
• It remains to be seen how they'll impact the team in the long run, but this weekend's Brewer transactions have decimated Jack Moore's wardrobe.
• All of these transactions are pretty new to Norichika Aoki, who told MLB.com that in-season trades like the Brewers have been making this week are very unusual in Japan. With that said, it sounds like he's handling the change well.

The Brewers cleared a spot for De Los Santos on the 40 man roster by moving Shaun Marcum to the 60-day DL. Marcum threw another bullpen session on Sunday but now won't be eligible to rejoin the team until August 14 at the earliest.

The transactions didn't end there, though: Following yesterday's game the Brewers announced that they're returning Tyler Thornburg to AAA to resume work as a starter (FanShot). They'll fill his spot on the roster by calling up a reliever today.

Elsewhere in changes, Jim Henderson is making the most of his first opportunity in the big leagues. He retired the only batter he faced yesterday and has now pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in his major league debut season.

Carlos Gomez also had another big day yesterday, going 2-for-5 and hitting his fourth home run in seven games. He was the runaway winner in our Brewer of the Week voting.

In the minors:

• After the Kottaras trade the Brewers preserved their minor league catching depth a bit by signing Humberto Quintero and assigning him to Nashville. Quintero, 32 and in his 14th professional season, was released by the Royals on July 2 and the Marlins on July 24. He had two hits in his Sounds debut last night.
• The Brewers released shortstop Tommy Manzella to make room on Huntville's roster for Jean Segura. The 29-year-old hit .252/.336/.298 in 62 games for the Stars.
• The affiliates went 2-5 yesterday and first baseman Nick Ramirez had a big day, going 3-for-5 with three extra base hits in Wisconsin's 9-4 win over Clinton. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• Outfielder Khris Davis had three hits for Huntsville yesterday to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, and has been promoted to Nashville.
• Unfortunately, that good news is coupled with some bad. There was an opening on the Nashville roster for Davis because Logan Schafer has been placed on the DL with an unspecified injury. Schafer is hitting .269/.322/.431 in 98 AAA games this season.
• Wisconsin outfielder Chadwin Stang also had two hits yesterday (including a home run) to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He's raised his OPS from .718 to .761 during the streak.
• Jonathan Raymond of MiLB.com has a story on Brevard County's Andy Moye, who allowed just one hit while pitching seven shutout innings in the Manatees' win on Saturday.
• Meanwhile, the news isn't as good for Seth McClung. He gave up a pair of grand slams to Albuquerque outfielder Jerry Sands in the first four innings last night.
• The Appleton Post Crescent has a profile of Wisconsin catcher Cameron Garfield.

If you'd like more Brewer coverage this morning but you're sick of reading and you'd prefer your audio options not have me in them, then this week's View From Bernie's Chalet podcast might be just what you're looking for. Topics include the Greinke trade, the bullpen and the rotation going forward.

Finally, congratulations are due out this morning to brewerspug, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard.

Today's action starts at 6:05, so there's still time to get your picks in. And, of course, a new series means a new set of Prognostikeggers.

Around baseball:

Astros: Claimed infielder/outfielder Steve Pearce off waivers from the Orioles.
Diamondbacks: Acquired third baseman Chris Johnson from the Astros for two minor leaguers.
Giants: Placed third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the DL with a hamstring injury and designated infielder Emmanuel Burriss for assignment.
Marlins: Placed outfielder Logan Schafer on the DL with a knee injury.
Nationals: Released first baseman/outfielder Xavier Nady.
Padres: Signed closer Huston Street to a two year, $14 million extension with a club option for 2015.
White Sox: Acquired pitcher Francisco Liriano from the Twins for two minor leaguers.

In former Brewers:

• Zack Greinke, who never lost a home start as a Brewer, lost his first one as an Angel.
• Luis Cruz is back in the majors as a Dodger, and at one point over the weekend Steve Dilbeck of the LA Times wrote that he's their hottest hitter.

This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks the 23rd anniversary of the end of Robin Yount's 19 game hitting streak in 1989, the longest of his career. Today is also 1992 Brewer Scott Fletcher's 54th birthday, and Plunk Everyone notes that his 57 career HBP are the most ever for a player born on July 30.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to reclaim my title.

Drink up.

The Milwaukee Brewers have fired bullpen coach Stan Kyles, according to the team. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com quotes the club:

"It is important that we make every effort to try to improve our bullpen performance," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said in a statement.

"While Stan is not solely responsible, I felt that this change was the first step and was necessary. Stan has been a loyal member of the Milwaukee Brewers organization for 11 years. His hard work and dedication has been an integral part of the Brewers’ success and is greatly appreciated. His professionalism, personality and knowledge will be missed."

Lee Tunnell will assume Kyles' former duties on an interim basis, according to the report. He's been in his current role with the Brewers since 2009, and has had stints coaching and scouting the Reds' minor league system (2006-2008) and coached within the Rangers' system before that (1997-2005).

McCalvy notes that the Brewers have struggled with their bullpen this season, blowing the most saves and recording the most losses in the majors, and have collectively earned a 4.80 ERA on the season -- ranking the unit 28th overall.

This week's poll features questions on the Zack Greinke trade, Jean Segura, the George Kottaras trade and more. It will remain open through the day Tuesday and results will be posted on Wednesday. As always, please vote once.

Follow the jump to vote in the poll.

It's only been about three weeks since the Brewers and Astros last met in Houston, but what a difference three weeks can make. Since the All Star break the Brewers have traded away both Zack Greinke and George Kottaras, but the Astros have moved no less than six major leaguers in four separate deals*. If you've fallen behind on your Astro roster moves, here's a recap:

July 20: Traded relievers David Carpenter and Brandon Lyon and starter J.A. Happ to Toronto.

July 21: Traded closer Brett Myers to the White Sox.

July 24: Traded starter Wandy Rodriguez to the Pirates.

July 29: Traded third baseman Chris Johnson to the Diamondbacks.

* - They also traded Carlos Lee to the Marlins in a deal on July 4.

Non-coincidentally, the Astros have won just three of their last 27 games.

So, if you're scoring at home, the Astros have removed two regulars from their lineup, two starters from their rotation and three arms from their bullpen in the month of July. That means we'll be seeing some new (to the Astros, at least) faces this week. Here are a few of them:

Dallas Keuchel, LHP

Kuechel is 24 years old and is scheduled to make his seventh major league start on Tuesday. The Astros drafted him in the seventh round in 2009 and promoted him from AAA Oklahoma City after he posted a 4.03 ERA over 89.1 innings this season.

Keuchel has pretty good control (under 2 walks per nine innings in the minors), but has struck out just 4.6 batters per nine over two seasons in AAA and 3.3 per nine in the majors. He has a 4.63 ERA over 35 MLB innings but that's largely propped up by one outstanding outing on June 23.

Francisco Cordero, RHP

The Astros are the sixth major league organization for the one-time Brewer closer, who posted a 5.77 ERA in 41 games for Toronto this season before being included in the ten player deal on July 20. He's second among all active pitchers with 329 career saves, and 12th all time.

Unfortunately, those past successes haven't carried over to Houston. He blew saves in each of his first two opportunities with the team on July 24 and 25 and was quickly removed from the role.

Ben Francisco, OF

The former Indian, Phillie and Blue Jay is 30 now and back in the National League after coming over from Toronto on July 20. He's a career .260/.330/.429 hitter in 496 games, and his career numbers are pretty close to even against lefties and righties.

The fact that a 30-year-old journeyman outfielder is the Astros' third most exciting recent major league addition is a pretty solid indictment of the talent level on this team. With that said, Francisco is hitting .304/.333/.478 in his first nine games for Houston.

The Astros have also recently added one time near-perfect game thrower Armando Galarraga (who the Brewers won't see this week), former Pirate 1B/OF Steve Pearce, former Cardinal reliever Chuckie Fick and called up infielder Brett Wallace.

It's said that starting pitchers have to have three good pitches. It's also said that Bud Norris only has one - a slider. Of course, he also throws a low-to-mid 90s fastball and a changeup, but they're apparently not very good. The changeup doesn't look enough like his fastball to fool anyone and the fastball doesn't tail in enough.

Obviously, this means that Norris relies on the slider - a lot. In June, the Astros SBNation site The Crawfish Boxes looked at his extreme usage (35.7% of the time) and how that overuse makes him more susceptible to injury.

He spent time on the 15-day DL in June with a sprained knee.

Norris has started 17 games this season and as a 5-8 record with a 5.33 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He's got 101 strikeouts to go with 43 walks.

He has some interesting splits - clearly Minute Maid provides some friendly confines for him - his home ERA is 2.12, but it's 7.46 on the road. His ERA is a full run higher during night games than day games, as well (5.23 vs 4.26).

Norris ended a seven-game loss streak Wednesday against the Reds when he received a no decision (and no run-support) while pitching seven innings, giving up five hits and one run. The start prior to that, he was tagged for nine runs in 4.1 innings against Arizona. He hasn't gotten a win since May 29 against the Cubs.

Marco Estrada had a rough outing last week in Philadelphia, giving up five runs in four innings for the Brewers shortest start since the All-Star Break. He's still looking for his first win of the season while sitting 0-4 with a 4.52 ERA. He does have 20 strikeouts vs just four walks in his last three starts, including a career-high 11 on July 14 against the Pirates.

Edit by JP @ 6:05 PM (Added lineup and bullpen notes on Parra and McClendon)

Here's the lineup for today. Ryan Braun is dealing with blisters on his fingers and is getting a day off. That leaves the Brewers bench thin for tonight (only Ishikawa, Ransom, and Maldonado available).

Aoki RF
Gomez CF
Ramirez 3B
Hart 1B
Weeks 2B
Lucroy C
Morgan LF
Izturis SS
Estrada P

In the bullpen:

Kameron Loe pitched one inning on Saturday and 0.2 innings (8 pitches) on Sunday
Jim Henderson pitched one inning Saturday and one inning (2 pitches) yesterday.
Jose Veras pitched one inning Friday and 1.1 innings (35 pitches) yesterday.
Livan Hernandez pitched 1.2 innings Friday and one inning (21 pitches) yesterday.
John Axford pitched two innings Wednesday and 1.2 innings (33 pitches) yesterday.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched 0.2 innings Wednesday and 0.1 innings (15 pitches) yesterday.
Manny Parra last pitched on Tuesday and is unavailable with shoulder soreness.
Mike McClendon pitched one inning (19 pitches) on Thursday for Nashville.

Kyle is off gallabanting up nort' and left mugging duties to me. He chose a pretty boring day for me to do this.

The Brewers were off yesterday, so the top story today comes from their Double-A Huntsville affiliate, where five pitchers combined to no-hit Chatanooga on Thursday night. Of course, it was about as bad as you could imagine a no-hitter to be: The team combined to allow eleven walks. Jimmy Nelson started the game and allowed four walks in four innings. Dan Merklinger only secured two outs and allowed a run on four walks. La Cross native R.J. Seidel picked up the win after giving up two walks in 1.1 innings. Darren Byrd allowed one walk in two innings, and Brandon Kintzler closed it out with a clean inning. Here's the boxscore if you want to look into it further.

After the game, Media director Jill Stacic interviewed all five pitchers involved in the no-hitter. Jimmy Nelson and Mike Vassallo both have pictures from the game.

Elsewhere in the minors:

• Mitch Stetter has gone 18 consecutive appearances without allowing a run in Triple-A Nashville. He also has not given up a hit his last four outings.
• Wisconsin outfielder Chadwin Stang hit a home run for the Timber Rattlers yesterday, extending his hit streak to 17 games.
• Hiram Burgos was named the Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Month for July while Khris Davis was named Minor League Hitter of the Month.
• Adam McCalvy checks in with new Brewers top prospect Jean Segura and looks at his hot start with his new organization.
• Tyler Thornburg had a great start in his first outing back with Triple-A. He went five three-hit innings while striking out seven hitters.
• Giancarlo Stanton is 22 years old and has 75 career major league home runs. Yesterday, he played in a rehab assignment against the High-A Brevard County Manatees. Stanton is younger than every single Manatee in the Brevard County box score during that game.
• For much more on the minors, be sure to check out morineko's Minor League Notes

Over at Cream City Cables, Nate Petrashek considers Ryan Braun's claim that he is not giving up on 2012 and looks at the odds of the Brewers getting back in contention.

Tom Haudricourt takes a look at Carlos Gomez' recent hot streak and how some slight changes in how he sets up at the plate seem to have made a world of difference .

In his latest fantasy baseball column, Matthew Berry looks at starting pitchers who have had the most leads blown by their bullpen. Lo and behold, Randy Wolf leads the league with eight potential wins blown by his bullpen. Second is John Lester with five while several pitchers are tied at four, including Marco Estrada.

In power rankings, Sports Illustrated has the Brewers at #17, same as last week. Meanwhile, Aramis Ramirez ranked ninth in the Hardball Times' August third-base rankings.

Also at the Hardball Times, Glenn DuPaul looks at the value each team is receiving from their highest-paid player. Only two teams are receiving positive value. Rickie Weeks, as the Brewers current highest paid player, does not rank very high.

Yesterday, Mike Trout was named the American League Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month. He is only the third player to achieve both league honors in the same month, joining Ryan Braun and Buster Posey as members of that club.

In former Brewers news, Zack Greinke and the Angels are reportedly not discussing a contract extension. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise as it has sounded all along like Greinke would like to test free agency.

Meanwhile, Let's Go Tribe! has quite an in-depth look at the career of Vinny Rottino, who was recently called up by the Indians to take Travis Hafner's roster spot while he is on paternity leave.

Around Baseball:

Astros: Acquired pitcher Garrett Mock from the Red Sox
Natonals: Activated outfielder Jayson Werth from the DL and placed pitcher Henry Rodriguez on the DL
Giants: Activated catcher Hector Sanchez from the DL and activated pitcher Shane Loux from the DL
Indians: Designated pitcher Derek Lowe for assignment.
Diamondbacks: Released outfielder Scott Podsednik two days after acquiring him from the Red Sox

Yesterday's most strange baseball news story may have been this: Several teams' Facebook pages were "hacked" and had strange updates added to their pages. For instance, the New York Yankees Facebook page reported that Derek Jeter would miss the rest of the season after choosing to undergo a sex realignment surgery. Meanwhile, the Padres Facebook reminded fans that "thought the handicapped are allowed to enjoy Padres games at PetCo Park, their presence is strongly discouraged." It was discovered later that the posts came from one "rogue administrator" of the pages.

Of course, the biggest baseball news might have been the reports that Phillies' starter Cliff Lee was placed on waivers. Lee is still owed $87.5 million over the next four years (which includes a $12.5 million buyout if a club does not pick up his $27.5 million club option). Still, Lee remains one of the best starters in the majors and it wouldn't be entirely surprising if someone were willing to take Lee's contract off the Phillies hands.

If you're curious about how the waiver process and August trades work, Twins SBNation blog Twinkie Town has a great primer on just that. The Brewers have a few players who could be traded during the August waivers trading period. Randy Wolf and Francisco Rodriguez are two of the more popular names thrown around.

Is everyone ready to go search through a bunch of old boxes? Thirty-seven century-old baseball cards that were found in an attic brought in a total of $566,132. Included in the collection were cards featuring Cy Young, Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner.

That's all I've got, unless you want to go golfing.

The Brewers share more history with the Cardinals than any other NL team, with the two having met in the 1982 World Series and again in the 2011 NLCS. In addition to that, 88 players have worn both Cardinal Red and Brewer Blue.

Longest tenured Brewer position player who was also a Cardinal: Sixto Lezcano

The Brewers signed the Puerto Rican outfielder as an amateur free agent in 1970 and he spent seven years with the Crew between 1974-81, batting .275/.354/.452 with 102 home runs and receiving a Gold Glove and some MVP votes in 1979 when he hit .321/.414/.573 with career highs in home runs (28) and RBI (101).

Lezcano was the highest-profile player sent to St. Louis in the December, 1980 deal that brought Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons and Pete Vuckovich to Milwaukee and laid some of the groundwork for one of the greatest runs in Brewer history. He played just one partial season in St. Louis before being traded again.

Longest tenured Brewer pitcher who was also a Cardinal: Cal Eldred

Eldred was the #17 overall pick in the 1989 draft, by 1991 he was a Brewer and in 1993 he led all of baseball with 36 starts and led the AL with 258 innings pitched. A somewhat predictable injury derailed his career not long after that, but he still appeared in 174 games over nine seasons as a Brewer and posted a 4.51 ERA over 1078.2 innings, the ninth most in franchise history.

Follow the jump for more.

Longest tenured Cardinal position player who was also a Brewer: Ted Simmons

Before becoming the catcher for the only back-to-back playoff teams in Brewer history, Simba was the #10 overall pick in the 1967 draft and played parts of 13 seasons as a Cardinal. He hit .298/.366/.459 with 172 home runs in 1564 games for St. Louis, made six All Star appearances and won a Silver Slugger Award.

Simmons came to Milwaukee in the Lezcano deal mentioned above and played five years for the Crew, appearing in 665 games and hitting .262/.311/.399. You could make a case he's the best catcher in the history of both franchises.

Longest tenured Cardinal pitcher who was also a Brewer: Ray Sadecki

The Cardinals signed Sadecki out of a Kansas City high school as an 18-year-old in 1958 and he reached the majors for the first time in 1960 for the first of seven seasons in St. Louis. The Cardinals traded Sadecki to San Francisco during the 1966 season and he was a Giant, Met, Cardinal again, Brave and Royal before joining the Brewers for 36 games in 1976.

Sadecki played parts of eight of his 18 major league seasons as a Cardinal and appeared in 201 games, posting a 4.15 ERA over 1103.2 innings. He worked just 37.1 innings as a Brewer with a 4.34 ERA.

Five players have appeared in at least 146 games as both a Brewer and Cardinal:

Five pitchers have worked at least 190 innings for both teams:

W: Joe Kelly (2-4)
L: Randy Wolf (3-8)

HR: None

MVP: Cody Ranson (+.059)
LVP: Randy Wolf (-.279 pitching, +.091 hitting for -.188 total)

Win Expectancy Graph

I'm on the road for the weekend and the internet is hit or miss, so I'll keep this brief.

Tonight the Brewers:

• Found new ways to waste outs bunting.
• Got another lackluster start from Randy Wolf (5 runs on nine hits over 5.1 innings)
• Committed four errors, including three errant throws from Martin Maldonado and Corey Hart's first miscue at first base.
• Got nothing from Aramis Ramirez, who sat out again with his sore wrist.
• Once again showed that they're really bad at winning baseball games that don't involve the Astros.