Some things to read while reaching your final destination.
The Brewers entered play last night having gone 5-12 in their last 17 games while the Reds went 15-2, but managed to pull out a 6-3 victory at home against the NL Central leaders. Nate Petrashek has the recap, if you missed it.
Last night's top story had to be Jean Segura, who went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts in his Brewer debut. Segura was called up yesterday when the Nationals claimed Cesar Izturis off waivers, and Ron Roenicke told Tom Haudricourt (linked via Twitter) that he's here to play frequently. Here are some additional notes on the shortstop of the future:
- Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker says this opportunity to evaluate Segura now could help the Brewers establish a plan for 2013.
- Segura went 6-for-12 over the weekend for Huntsville and was named one of Baseball America's top performers.
- Segura will be wearing #9, in case you'd like to repurpose your George Kottaras or Marquis Grissom jerseys.
- Segura is the first Brewer born in the 1990's.
If not for Segura last night's top story would have been John Axford, who recorded a five out save after Francisco Rodriguez loaded the bases in the eighth inning. Axford got some major help from Norichika Aoki, though, as he made a game-saving catch with the bases loaded to turn a likely extra base hit into a sac fly. Axford is also on Miller Park Drunk's list of "9 Chillest Brewer Bros."
Rickie Weeks went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored last night and now has multiple hits in five of his last twelve games. J.P. Breen of FanGraphs says that Weeks is doing a better job of using left field and swinging and missing less often during his recent resurgence.
Weeks was one of five Brewers to collect multiple hits last night. It's only the fifth time they've done that in 2012.
Other notes from the field:
- Last night's five out appearance was John Axford's first multi-inning save since September 12, 2010.
- The Brewers estimated the distance of Corey Hart's blast to the Harley Davidson Deck at 444 feet, while Hit Tracker has it at 435 feet. Either way, it was the second longest home run in baseball last night.
- The Brewers hit three home runs in an inning for the second time in 2012.
- The Reds have lost back-to-back games for the first time since July 2-5.
- Last night's four-run sixth snapped a streak where the Brewers had scored just two runs in their previous 30 innings.
- Aramis Ramirez hit his 37th double last night to take the major league lead, and is on pace for 56.
- Norichika Aoki had two hits last night to extend his streak to nine games, the eighth time a Brewer has reached that mark this season.
- We've got a look at the game's turning points and a transcript of Ron Roenicke's postgame press conference.
- The Polish won the sausage race.
- 31,319 fans paid to see last night's game, still a pretty strong number for a Monday night during the State Fair.
The series continues at Miller Park tonight when Mike Fiers takes on Johnny Cueto at 7:10. Tyler Emerick of MLB.com has the preview. Robert J. Baumann of FanGraphs gave tonight's matchup a 5 out of 10 on the NERD scale.
Ryan Braun went 0-for-4 last night and is now 0-for-11 over his last three games. It's only the seventh time in his career he's been held hitless and walkess in three straight games, although he also had a four game streak earlier this season. Nonetheless, though, Braun is still a candidate in MLB Daily Dish's poll to identify baseball's most team-friendly contract.
The Brewers continue to get good news on Shaun Marcum, who is expected to pitch a rehab start for Wisconsin on Thursday. The Brewers will have a tough decision to make on Marcum following the season. MLB Daily Dish has a look at Marcum and the Brewers' other pending free agents.
Elsewhere in pitcher injuries, Chris Narveson reports that he's going to start doing throwing exercises into a trampoline next week and could resume throwing on the field as soon as the end of the month. He's still months away from throwing off a mound, though. It sounds like he's still on pace to be ready to pitch next spring.
Looking back a day, Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus has a review of Sunday night's ESPN broadcast. The Brewers' lackluster performance against the Cardinals created what some might call underwhelming television.
In the minors:
- The affiliates went 3-2 last night but Wisconsin's loss wasn't Cameron Garfield's fault: He went 3-for-3 with two home runs in defeat against Beloit. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
- Chadwin Stang also doubled for Wisconsin to extend his hitting streak to 18 games.
- Huntsville won last night and is back to .500 for the first time since late June.
- Stars pitcher and recent trade acquisition John Hellweg got his first professional hit last night.
- Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds manager Mike Guerrero.
- Bob Brainerd of Time Warner Cable Sports 32 has a profile of Wisconsin pitcher David Goforth.
If you're headed out to Miller Park this week and you'd like to try something different, the Chef's Table is serving "Cincinnati 5-Way Chili." John Steinmiller says "You will definitely finish this bowl of chili satisfied as it is a complete and full meal."
If you haven't yet, please take a moment today to vote in our Brew Crew Ball Tracking Poll. It will remain open through the day today and results will be posted later this week.
Finally, congratulations are due out today to AcesHigh, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AcesHigh | 60.8 |
| 2 | Berryjs | 57.1 |
| 3 | sjlee | 54.6 |
| 4 | takeapitchcarlos | 51.9 |
| 5 | icecreamman | 48.2 |
| 6 | Cecil Cooper's Love Child | 46.5 |
| 7 | Saberilliterate | 44.8 |
| 8 | arails4 | 44.8 |
| 9 | Uhhhhdel | 44.1 |
| 10 | c.stet | 43.0 |
Tonight's action starts at 6:05, so there's still time to make your picks for today.
Around baseball:
Diamondbacks: Placed catcher Henry Blanco on the DL with a thumb injury and signed catcher Wil Nieves.
Dodgers: Designated outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. for assignment.
Giants: Claimed reliever Jose Mijares off waivers from the Royals.
Indians: Claimed pitcher Fabio Martinez off waivers from the Angels.
Nationals: Placed infielder Mark DeRosa on the DL with a groin injury and designated reliever Atahualpa Severino for assignment.
Rockies: Placed first baseman Todd Helton on the DL with a torn labrum in his hip.
This morning Lookout Landing has a look at starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, who leads all regular major league starters by averaging 26.4 seconds between pitches. The major league average is 21.3 seconds. I wouldn't mention this at all except it made me wonder about the Brewers, so I checked and discovered that Francisco Rodriguez is averaging 29.4 seconds.
In baseball economics: The Phillies failed to sell out Citizens Bank Park last night for the first time since July 6, 2009, snapping a streak of 257 consecutive games.
Today in former Brewers: Jason Wojciechowski of The Platoon Advantage has a look at the ignominious end of Yuniesky Betancourt's second tenure in Kansas City.
This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History marks the 40th anniversary of all-time great Milwaukee Brave Eddie Mathews being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972. It's also Seattle Pilot and original Brewer Jerry McNertney's 76th birthday, and Plunk Everyone notes that his eleven career HBP are tied for the fifth most ever for a player born on August 7.
Now, if you'll excuse me, this Parcheesi game is enthralling.
Drink up.