Tuesday- Falling back on your cushion

Some things to read while staring at the sky.

The Milwaukee Brewers have been struggling lately, and that slide continued on Monday, as an early home run and several bad baserunning decisions led to a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Jordan Mader of Brew Crew Ball has the recap, if you missed it.

The Brewers have now lost six of their last seven games dating back to the final contest in the Rockies series, but don’t appear to be panicking over their current situation. After Monday’s game, Ron Roenicke told reporters, “We’re in a little spell where we haven’t played well but we’ll turn it around.”

The Crew fell behind early Monday night as Marco Estrada allowed a two-run home run to Chase Utley in the first inning. Estrada continues to lead all of baseball with 27 home runs allowed on the season, and over at Brew Crew Ball, I took a look at how his pace compares to three pitchers who hold some pretty dubious records.

Ryan Braun was back in the lineup Monday night and collected two hits, but was still noticeably hampered by back spasms that limited him to just one inning in the final two games of the Reds series. He remains day-to-day… just like the rest of us.

• The Brewers leadoff batter reached base in six of the first eight innings Monday, but came around to score just once (h/t @AndrewGruman).
• 2006-08 Brewer Tony Gwynn Jr. entered the game for the Phillies as part of a double switch in the seventh inning and singled off Rob Wooten in the ninth.
• New Marquette basketball coach Steve Wojciechowski threw out Monday’s first pitch.
• The Bratwurst won the Sausage Race.

The Phillies series continues tonight when Wily Peralta takes on Kyle Kendrick at 7:10 p.m., and Stephen Pianovich has the MLB.com preview.

The 2014 MLB All-Star game is a week from today, and by now you likely know that the Brewers are scheduled to have four participants: Starting outfielder Carlos Gomez and starting third baseman Aramis Ramirez, as well as reserve catcher Jonathan Lucroy and reliever Francisco Rodriguez. Lucroy and K-Rod were both selected to participate by their peers, and Adam McCalvy talked to them about what it meant to receive that honor.

At least one Brewer, however, wants to play a bigger role in the All-Star festivities. Carlos Gomez has been openly campaigning to represent the National League in the Home Run Derby, but is still waiting to find out if he’ll be selected by captain Troy Tulowitzki. You can count @jcrasnick of ESPN among those hoping it happens.

Matt Garza is scheduled to pitch the finale of the Phillies series on Thursday, and it’ll be tough to top his 1-0, complete-game shutout win over the Reds from Saturday. Alec Dopp of Gammons Daily has a look at how a change in approach with his fastball may have impacted his results.

In the minors:

• The Brewers pulled off a minor trade on Monday, sending Wisconsin reliever Rodolfo Fernandez to Oakland in exchange for some international bonus money. Fernandez, a 24-year-old native of Cuba, had a 2.87 ERA in 31 1/3 innings in the Midwest League this season. The bonus money will help the Brewers avoid discipline for going well over their bonus allotment to sign Dominican infielder Gilbert Lara.
• Jimmy Nelson, however, remains in the organization and continues to have a big year. Baseball America listed Nelson as the 38th best prospect in all of baseball in its midseason update of annual rankings. He was listed 96th before the season.
• Jason Hunt of Fake Teams has a fantasy-centric look at Nelson, and says he has “the potential to provide more value for the rest of the season than nearly any other prospect left in the minors.”
• The affiliates went 1-4 on Monday but the losses weren’t Nelson’s fault, as he pitched seven scoreless innings in Nashville’s 2-1 loss to Memphis. Teddy Cahill of MLB.com has more on Nelson’s outing, and you can read about the rest of the day’s action in the Brewerfan.net Link Report.
• @AlecDopp notes that Nelson’s 1.49 ERA is the lowest by a Triple-A pitcher with at least 100 innings pitched in the last 20 years.
• Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds manager Rick Sweet.
• Tim Froberg of the Appleton Post Crescent has a profile of Wisconsin pitcher Taylor Williams.

Closer to home, if you’re planning on attending any of the three remaining games in the Phillies series, then you may also be interested in knowing that the Double Clutch stand on the Loge Level is serving “Philly Cheesesteaks” this week. Now I’m hungry for breakfast.

Looking ahead a little further, the Brewers will open a series against the Cardinals on Friday and will be giving away “Brew Crew” retro logo T-shirts to all fans in attendance. The Brewers tumblr feed caught Carlos Gomez wearing one.

Today in power rankings:

• ESPN moved the Brewers down a spot from second to third.
• Jonah Keri of Grantland also bumped the Brewers from second to third.
• Call to the Pen has downgraded the Brewers from fourth to ninth in all of baseball.

Around baseball:

Athletics: Designated pitcher Brad Mills for assignment and claimed outfielder Kenny Wilson off waivers from the Blue Jays.
Blue Jays: Placed first baseman Edwin Encarnacion on the DL with a quad strain.
Dodgers: Signed outfielder Roger Bernadina to a minor league deal.
Indians: Acquired outfielder Chris Dickerson from the Pirates and designated catcher/first baseman George Kottaras for assignment.
Mariners: Designated catcher John Buck for assignment.
Pirates: Placed pitcher Gerrit Cole on the DL with a lat strain.
Rangers: Designated infielder Donnie Murphy for assignment.
Royals: Signed reliever Scott Downs to a major league deal.

Let’s go around the NL Central:

• The Cardinals and Pirates went scoreless into the ninth inning Monday night before Matt Adams’ two-run walkoff home run gave St. Louis a 2-0 victory. Adam Wainwright and Charlie Morton each pitched seven scoreless innings in this game.
• The Reds scored in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings to run away with a 9-3 win over the Cubs. Jay Bruce homered in his second consecutive game for Cincinnati.
• The Brewers, as you likely know, lost 3-2 to the Phillies.

The Brewers’ lead over their division rivals may be dwindling, but Howie Magner has a nice reminder that all is not lost in our Tweet of the Day:

Fringe benefit of having owned such a big division lead is #Brewers can lose 6 of 7 & still own biggest division lead in MLB.

— Howie Magner (@howiemag) July 8, 2014

Meanwhile across baseball, the red-hot Angels remain one of baseball’s top stories. Their win Monday night was their 4,272nd in 8,544 games franchise history, making them the only expansion team in baseball with a .500 record as a franchise. Even with this season’s success, the Brewers remain 305 games under at 3,471-3,776.

Today in former Brewers: Casey McGehee is one of five National League candidates in the “Final Vote,” which selects one last player from each league to appear in the All-Star game. McGehee has never been an All-Star.
 
And today in baseball economics: Longtime Giants minor leaguer Garrett Broshius is now an attorney, and he’s suing Major League Baseball and all 30 teams to get a minimum wage for players in the minors and overtime for their long hours. Many players in the minors are making less than $10,000 per season, and their schedule and required activities make it difficult for them to find offseason work (h/t BBTF).

Finally, with help from the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:

• 1970-72 Brewer Ken Sanders, who turns 73 (Today In Brewer History).
• Seattle Pilot Bucky Brandon, who turns 74.
• 1959-61 Milwaukee Brave Al Spangler, who turns 81.

Plunk Everyone notes that Brandon’s 23 career hit batsmen are the fifth-most ever for a pitcher born on July 8, while Spangler’s 11 career HBP are tied for the fifth-most ever for a position player born on this date.

Today is also the sixth anniversary of CC Sabathia’s Brewers debut in 2008 and the 35th anniversary of outfielder Ben Oglivie hitting three home runs in the Brewers’ 5-4 win over the Tigers in 1979. Follow the links for those events’ respective entries in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take a nap.

Drink up.

Don’t forget to follow Kyle on Twitter @BrewFrostyMug, and check out and “like” the Mug’s Facebook page. The Frosty Mug runs mornings Monday-Friday and is brought to you by Legends of the Field, a sports memorabilia company you can trust.