After an extremely disappointing four-game sweep at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, its been nice to see the Brewers show some life.
The two wins put Milwaukee firmly back on track and in second place in the NL Central. Now its certainly too early to be scoreboard watching, but you never want to see your team fall into a hole. They haven't been scoring many runs (their run differential is -12) but they have been slugging.
Thus far this season, its been a tale of the catchers, as backup catcher George Kottaras already has three HR and is batting over .400 (while slugging 1.250) and Lucroy is batting .310.
Last night the Brewers gave away the lead, but came back in the 9th and won on Kottaras' pinch-hit, two RBI double. Mat Gamel scored the winning run while eluding a tag sliding into home.
Tonight's game will be more controversial, as it seems clear that while Nyjer Morgan was called safe at home plate, he appeared to be tagged on his behind and should have been called out, ending the inning.
The Brewers had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th and Ryan Braun at bar. Braun, however, popped up to shallow center and I remember thinking there was no way the Brewers would send Morgan home from third.
It turns out I was right, but Morgan had a mind of his own - he took off from first and attempted to slide around the tag at home. He ran through the stop sign of third base coach Ed Sedar and was called safe at home, winning the game for the Brewers.
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That's at least the third time in recent memory that I can think of where a player has just blatantly ignored Sedar's commands and headed home anyway.
The inning included quite a bit of "managering" from Ron Roenicke. Lucroy led off with a walk and Morgan was brought in to pinch run for him. The camera showed Kottaras with a bat in his hand, but it was Cesar Izturis who stepped to the plate. He was meant to sacrifice Morgan to second, but his bunt was popped up and easily caught for the out. Morgan stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Weeks was intentionally walked and then Kottaras was put in the game with another chance to win it all. Weeks stole second and Kottaras eventually walked, bringing Braun to the plate. His short pop fly to center was really not deep enough to try to score from third, but Morgan apparently didnt care and broke from home. The replay showing Ed Sedar, big eyed and with the stop sign up with both hands as Morgan ran home was pretty hilarious and priceless.
The Brewers go for the sweep of the Dodgers tomorrow at noon.
