MILWAUKEE - GAME RECAPS

May 13th - Milwaukee 4 Pittsburgh 1 - Attendance 30,084.

We were lucky again with the starting pitchers. Last year's Olympic hero Ben Sheets would battle the Pirates' ace (not saying much, I know) Jimmy Anderson. I was hoping to see Sheets pitch as I had heard a lot about him but had yet to see him, even on TV. And I wouldn't be disappointed.

Although Sheets started slowly, giving up a walk in each of the first two innings and having minor control trouble, his teammates were helping him to an early lead. Jeromy Burnitz led off the 2nd with a home run to make it 1-0. In the fourth, Burnitz led off with a walk and Richie Sexson singled. Angel Echevarria walked to load the bases and Jose Hernandez singled in Burnitz. Catcher Henry Blanco hit a sacrifice fly and the Brew Crew were in charge 3-0.

Burnitz homers in the 2nd

Sheets was solid through 5 but with two out in the 6th, he made a mistake and Brian Giles sent it over the right field fence to bring the Pirates within 2. But in the bottom of the 6th, Hernandez replied with a homer of his own, and the lead was back to 3, 4-1 Brewers. The anemic Pirates offence couldn't get anything else going off Sheets or 3 relievers, and Curtis Leskanic closed out the 9th with a 1-2-3 inning to get the save.

Not a spectacular game, but definitely a major-league game with good pace and good pitching by both staffs. At the end of the game, the roof was closed, which added to the experience. I prefer this sort of ballgame where runs are at a premium and the defense is solid, so I give this an 8/10 on the rating scale. 

Later in the game, Burnitz loses his bat

May 14th - Milwaukee 11, Pittsburgh 8 - Attendance 26,974.　

A Monday afternoon game that had Jamey Wright against Don Wengert, who hasn't won a game since 1998. I expected a blowout, but rather got an offensive explosion from both teams. The roof was open as we entered the stadium, but a rainstorm was headed our way, so the roof was closed about an hour before game time.

In the suddenly dark stadium, the Pirates grabbed an early lead on Jason Kendall's double and John Vander Wal's homerun, followed by a single, stolen base, wild pitch, and groundout. 3-0 Bucs after 2, but Wengert is simply not good enough to hold the lead. With one out in the third, pitcher Jamey Wright singled, and this started the Brewers offense. Two more singles, a walk, and a double and it was 4-3 Brewers. They added another run in the 4th, but the Pirates came back with 2 of their own in the 5th, again started by Kendall, who singled to lead off the inning. After Giles walked,  both scored on Kevin Young's double which tied the game. Things began to look exciting, but in the bottom of the 5th Wengert got in a jam again. Two singles around a walk gave the Brewers the 6-5 lead, and that was it for Wengert. In came Terry Mulholland who promptly served up a 3-run homer to Raul Casanova. 

Reliever Will Cunnane began the 6th for the Crew, but was ineffective, giving up 3 runs on a walk, double, and single.  Ray King came in and allowed the inherited runner to score but got out of the inning on a fine defensive play by 3rd baseman Tyler Houston who turned a line drive into a double play. 

The Brewers were up 9-8 and managed to add two more in the 7th. Milwaukee's bullpen shut out the Pirates in the 8th and 9th and the Brewers won 11-8. A long game, and not a good game, this one gets only 6/10 on the rating scale. 

Oct 2nd - St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 1 - Attendance 30,980.　

This game was originally scheduled for September 11th but was postponed due to the terrorist attacks. With Milwaukee out of the playoffs for a few months now, crowd turnout was small, probably about half of the announced 30,980 and we were given some free club seats by an unknown nice guy. 

The Cards were only a game behind Houston in the NL Central, and it was a critical race as the winner of the Central would likely have home advantage throughout the playoffs. Ben Sheets started for Milwaukee while Darryl Kile was on the hill for St. Louis. In the second, NL Rookie of the Year Albert Pujols led off with a single and Jim Edmonds doubled him to third. After Mark McGwire was hit by a pitch, Rich Renteria hit a sacrifice fly to give the Cards the 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, it became 2-0 when Pujols doubled and Edmonds singled. Then in the 5th, Fernando Vina came up with two out and hit a sinking liner to left - Geoff Jenkins dove for it but missed and the ball scooted to the wall. Vina turned on the jets and was home easily with the first inside-the-park homer in Miller Park history. More importantly the Cards had a 3-0 lead. In the 6th, Pujols led off with a single and Edmonds followed with a monster shot to right to make it 5-0. Pujols and Edmonds were a combined 6/8 with 4 runs and 3 RBI.

Kile was replaced after 5 innings as the Cards were setting their playoff rotation. Mike Timlin, Dave Veres, and Mike Matthews all pitched perfect innings, and then Steve Kline came in to pitch the 9th. Richie Sexson led off and took a full count pitch deep to right to break the shutout, but that was all the Brew Crew could muster in a 5-1 loss. The Astros lost as well, so the Cards were now tied for first in the Central.

This game had some good points, including Albert Pujols setting the NL rookie record for total bases, but it seemed obvious that Milwaukee was not trying that hard - our last game on the road gets only a 5/10.