Some things to read while layering up.
Things are heading in the wrong direction this morning for the Milwaukee Brewers, who dropped a 6-1 decision to the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night for their second consecutive loss. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com has the recap, if you missed it.
The Brewers are now 0-2 against the Cardinals this season and 5-16 against them since Opening Day 2013. It definitely feels like this opponent has the Brewers’ number, but Ron Roenicke told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that they’re not in his team’s head at this point.
With that said, I wonder if we’re overreacting a bit to a single bad day. Those three earned runs were the first Henderson had allowed in seven outings this season. In fact, the entire bullpen had been riding an 18 1/3-inning scoreless streak before last night’s outburst, and last night was only the second time they’ve allowed a run after the sixth inning all season (h/t @joe_block on both counts).
In fact, it’s worth noting that we may be overreacting all around. @AdamMcCalvy has a reminder that the Brewers are still in first place this morning, and are still the only NL team with 10 or more wins.
Other notes from the field:
- This is only the 15th time in franchise history the Brewers have been held to three hits or less in back-to-back games. It last happened in 2010, and has only happened four times since 1992. It’s never happened in three consecutive games.
- The Brewers have also struck out 23 times in the last two games (h/t @AndrewGruman). They have 118 on the season, which is still only the 10th-most in the NL.
- Tyler Thornburg pitched a 1-2-3 seventh in relief of Marco Estrada, and has now retired the last 17 hitters he’s faced (h/t @Haudricourt).
- Yesterday was Jackie Robinson Day around baseball, and every player on every team wore No. 42 in honor of the 67th anniversary of his breaking baseball’s color barrier. Carlos Gomez talked to Adam McCalvy about Robinson’s impact for players from outside the United States.
- Marco Estrada hit Yadier Molina with a pitch last night, and Cardinals reliever Kevin Siegrist hit Carlos Gomez later in the game. Plunk Everyone has more on these events.
- The Polish won the Sausage Race.
Wisconsin TV viewers may miss this game, and it sounds like Ryan Braun will as well. @AdamMcCalvy says he’s getting a day to rest his ailing thumb.
As of this writing, I haven’t seen today’s full lineup, but Jonathan Lucroy could also get a day off in an early day game after a night game. He’s second on the Brewers with a .382 on-base percentage this season, and Ben Tannenbaum of The Brewers Bar notes that his plate discipline has taken a nice step forward in the early going. He’s swinging at just 40.9 percent of pitches in 2014, a new career-low.
I’ve already mentioned Jim Henderson’s rough outing from last night, but even with that factored in, Brewers relievers have an MLB-low 1.42 ERA on the season. Jeff Wiser of Beyond the Box Score says the bullpen has been great but “some serious regression should be in order.”
Through 14 games, Wei-Chung Wang has pitched exactly one of the bullpen’s 38 innings. That single outing was a scoreless MLB debut on Monday, though, and Adam McCalvy talked to to Brewers pro scouting director Zack Minasian about watching a player he scouted pitching in the majors for the first time.
Ryan Braun had one of the Brewers’ three hits last night, the 1170th of his career. Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball has a look at him as a long-shot candidate to reach 3,000 for his career.
Braun turned 30 in November, so he’s now slightly above the average age on this Brewers team. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs used playing time to produce a weighted average age for every MLB team and has the Brewers at 29.2 years, which is slightly above the middle of the pack.
In the minors:
- The affiliates went 2-2 last night with Brevard County outfielder Tyrone Taylor picking up his ninth double in the Manatees’ 7-1 win over Lakeland. Brad Krause of Miller Park Prospects has short recaps from all of yesterday’s action.
- As part of Jackie Robinson Day, yesterday’s Brevard County/Lakeland game was played at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla.
- @alecdopp notes that Damien Magnifico pitched eight innings for the Manatees in that game and allowed a single run on five hits.
- Yesterday’s biggest news in the minors may actually have come off the field: Third baseman Nicky Delmonico, who missed all of spring training while dealing with personal issues, is expected to report to Maryvale this week and will be assigned to a team as soon as he’s ready to play. Delmonico, who the Brewers acquired from the Orioles in last season’s Francisco Rodriguez trade, was listed as the 12th-best prospect in the Brewers organization in Baseball America’s preseason rankings.
- Wisconsin had its game postponed due to snow and cold conditions for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, but I was still able to talk to Midwest League Player of the Week Clint Coulter for this piece at Brew Crew Ball. Coulter entered play yesterday tied for the league lead with four home runs, and has reached base safely at least once in each of his nine games this season.
- Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has interviews with Brewers special assistant to the GM Dan O’Brien and Sounds manager Rick Sweet.
- Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com will be making a farewell visit to Huntsville on June 5 as part of his annual tour of minor league ballparks. The Stars will be moving to Biloxi for the 2015 season.
Around baseball:
Angels: Placed right fielder Kole Calhoun on the DL with an ankle sprain.
Astros: Designated pitcher Lucas Harrell for assignment.
Blue Jays: Designated pitcher Marcus Walden for assignment.
Mets: Placed outfielder Juan Lagares on the disabled list with a hamstring strain.
Let’s go around the NL Central:
- The Reds and Pirates split a pair of games yesterday, with Pittsburgh picking up an 8-7 win in the completion on Monday’s suspended game and the Reds avenging the loss with a 7-5 victory in the regularly scheduled contest. Mike Leake picked up the win in the second game, pitching 6 2/3 innings and hitting a two-run homer.
- The Cubs’ scheduled game with the Yankees was rained out. They’ll play a day-night doubleheader today.
- The Cardinals, as you likely know, beat the Brewers 6-1.
| Team | W | L | GB | Today | Matchup |
| Brewers | 10 | 4 | — | vs Cardinals, 12:10 pm | Wily Peralta vs Joe Kelly |
| Cardinals | 9 | 5 | 1 | @ Brewers, 12:10 pm | Joe Kelly vs Wily Peralta |
| Pirates | 7 | 7 | 3 | @ Reds, 11:35 am | Francisco Liriano vs Johnny Cueto |
| Cubs | 4 | 8 | 5 | @ Yankees, 12:05, 7:05 pm | Jason Hammel vs Masahiro Tanaka (Game 1) Travis Wood vs Michael Pineda (Game 2) |
| Reds | 5 | 9 | 5 | vs Pirates, 11:35 am | Johnny Cueto vs Francisco Liriano |
Today in former Brewers:
- Nyjer Morgan was off to a nice start with the Indians, posting a .484 on-base percentage over nine games and stealing three bases, but was optioned back to Triple-A yesterday to make room for outfielder Michael Bourn’s return from the DL.
- Prince Fielder is hitting just .185/.279/.296 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging) in his first 14 games as a member of the Rangers, and Baseball Tonight has a story on his slow start.
- Fielder did, however, hit his first home run of the season last night. The ESPN Stats & Info blog has more on the event.
- Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker has a look at the prospects on the Brewers’ 2008 Huntsville Stars team, including Mat Gamel, Matt LaPorta, Alcides Escobar, Angel Salome, Cole Gillespie and Jeremy Jeffress.
Finally, with help from the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- 1995-99 Brewer Fernando Vina, who turns 45.
- 1972 Brewer Jim Lonborg, who turns 72.
- Seattle Pilot Garry Roggenburk, who turns 73.
- Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer Rich Rollins, who turns 76.
Plunk Everyone also notes that Vina’s 157 career HBP are easily the most ever for a position player born on April 16. Rollins is second on that list with 39. Jim Lonborg also hit 105 batters in his career, leading all pitchers born on this date.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to draw some more (h/t PocketDoppler.com).
Drink up.
Don’t forget to follow Kyle on Twitter @BrewFrostyMug, and check out and “like” the Mug’s new Facebook page. The Frosty Mug runs mornings Monday-Friday and is brought to you by Legends of the Field, a sports memorablila company you can trust.
