Tastes Great:

Manny Parra–I’ll be the first to admit, I had written him off and certainly did not expect this kind of game from him.  I even bet my co-worker lunch that he’d have an ERA over 4.50 in this game.  I lost, and I’ll pay up.  Enjoy the McDonald’s Dollar Menu Derek:)

Less Filling:

Ken Macha–The players are not performing well of late, but the skipper is doing absolutely zero to help them.  He’s burying the team’s best prospect on the bench (Gamel), doing nothing to stand up for his players and coaches (barely put up a fight when two of his coaches got kicked out), and has continually made poor bullpen decisions.  Today he disgustingly ran Villanueva out there again, even though he’s been over-used and ineffective for over a month.  If he was going to use Coffey today at all, he should have put him out there to start the 8th; if he wasn’t going to use him then he should have not pitched him at all.

Carlos Villanueva–As I’ve said before, I don’t put it all on him because he is not being used properly.  Macha seemingly thinks he can be a setup guy, which Villy isn’t.  A solid middle relief pitcher, sure.  A reliable starter, no.  Put your player’s in the best position to succeed.  But the player’s gotta step up at some point too, and Villy hasn’t been. 

Todd Coffey–See above.  Although at least Coffey has been largely effective this year, unlike Villy.

Brewers offense–Really….only three hits?  And not a single walk?  Wow, either the stuff about the shadows is really true, or it is at least getting into their heads big time.  For whatever reason, the day/night thing is real.  Here’s the Brewers splits so far this year:

Day games:  28 games, 93 runs (second worst in NL), .218 batting average (worst in NL), .677 OPS (worst in NL)

Night games:  56 games, 299 runs (most in NL), .273 batting average (best in NL), .802 OPS (best in NL)

Tastes Great:

Patience–After collecting just two walks in the opening game shutout at the hands of the Cardinals, the Brewers made all the Cards pitchers work, drawing 9 free passes in the game, with every starting position player except Mat Gamel taking at least one.

Mike Cameron–Cam showed a good eye, taking three of those nine walks.  And he got a hit in his only other at-bat.  He’s been either way up or way down lately, but hopefully he’ll get a little more consistent and stay up.

Craig Counsell–Did exactly what you ask of your leadoff guy, he got on base.  Had a couple hits as well as drawing one of those walks.  Even drove in a run.

Mat Gamel–I know he struck out twice with the bases loaded, but it was nice to see him get some chances and of course go yard for two RBI’s.  God I wish Macha would just put him in everyday and let him do h is thing.  Plus he played some pretty solid defense, which had been his achilles heel in the minors.

Todd Coffey/Mitch Stetter–The dynamic duo did their jobs to a “T” once again.  Coffey even went two innings.

Less Filling:

Jeff Suppan–I really didn’t want to put him here, and probably wouldn’t have if he’d been able to get through six, but having to come out in the middle of an inning is never good.  Plus four walks isn’t good either.

Ryan Ludwick–That mustache is uglier than sin.  Total molestor style.

Tastes Great:

Corey Hart–The lone bright spot pretty much, Corey collected three of the Brewers seven hits.

Less Filling:

Yovanni Gallardo–His walk totals have been a bit worrisome lately, and it’s beginning to catch up to him.  His pitch counts have been high, and I really worry about his health now and going forward.  That’s what happens when you put so much pressure on one guy to win every game; sometimes they don’t deliver and it leaves you kind of shell-shocked. 

Ken Macha–He’s left Gallardo in too long on several occassions this year, and that extra work may end up coming back to bite the Brewers in the form of fatigue or even worse injury.  Add to the fact that Macha did relatively little to protect his players and his other coaches, and just not a good game for anyone.

Doug Melvin–Hey Doug, shut your pie hole.  Criticizing, especially in a condescending manner, your best player will not get anything accomplished.  I think Melvin is starting to feel some heat for putting a less talented team out there this year, and he’s trying to pre-emptively defend himself when things don’t go well for the Brewers. 

Chris Narveson–Why is this guy on the major league roster again?  I guess it’s actually not that big of a deal since with as much as the Brewers have been getting beaten soundly lately, a mop-up guy is needed.

Brewers Starters–Obviously the Brewers offense can’t say a whole lot today, having
scored a total of 0 runs.  However, they once again were put behind
early in the game.  As Braun said, it is disheartening and frustrating
to always be playing from behind.  And it usually doesn’t result in
good things for your offense when you’re always playing from behind.  I
did a little research…

Since June 1, the Brewers have
played 33 games counting tonight.  In those 33 games, Brewers pitchers
have given up at least 1 run in the first or second inning 18 times.  I
didn’t count exactly, but I would say roughly 60-70% of those times
were games where they gave up runs in the first inning, and oftentimes
that was a crooked number.

The Brewers are 13th in the NL
overall in ERA heading into today, and 14th in starter’s ERA.  The
Brewers had the worst overall ERA in the league in June at 5.37.  For
the year, the Brewers have the third worst ERA in all of baseball in
the first inning, now at 5.96 after today.