Rickie to DL; Capellan Called Up

Rickie Weeks' wrist is acting up again and the Brewers have placed him on the 15 day disabled list. It's really too bad because when healthy Rickie is a pretty special player. Hopefully he can come back after 15 days but I'm not holding my breath. This injury doesn't seem to be going away. The Brewers are really going to miss him in the lineup because this means we'll be seeing more of Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino.

The only good news to come out of this is Jose Capellan being called up. Capellan lost his spot in the bullpen to Greg Acquino, started complaining and was then passed over in favor of Chris Spurling to come to Milwaukee after Acquino went to the DL. Capellan posted a 3.86 ERA for Triple-A Nashville.

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Prospect Watch: Vinny Rottino

Vinny Rottino was the last man left off the Brewers opening day roster. He's now playing for Triple-A Nashville. Through 43 games Rottino is batting .285 with 5 Home Runs and 22 RBI. He has a .363 On Base Percentage with an .820 OPS and 5 errors in the field. He's been pretty solid but with the recent callup of Ryan Braun to the majors it doesn't look like Vinny will be called up any time soon.

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Brewers Doing Well in All-Star Voting

The early votes for the all-star game were recently released and Brewers players are doing surprisingly well. Prince Fielder is currently 2nd in votes at 1B for the National League while J.J. Hardy is in 2nd at SS. Rickie Weeks is in 3rd at 2B and Johnny Estrada is 3rd at catcher. The Brewers usually never do well in the voting but their quick start has seemed to help them a lot. Make sure to go to mlb.com and vote for the crew.

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Brewers Just Keep Losing

The Brewers lost their 6th game in a row today, a 2-1 loss to the Braves. It seems whenever the pitching is good there's no hitting and when they're hitting they have no pitching. The Crew is going through a tough stretch right now and things need to turn around quickly.

Ben Sheets gets the start tomorrow and needs to play the role of stopper. Capuano turned in a fine effort today but got zero support. This team needs to start scoring runs and not relying on home runs so much.

I think Yost needs to change the lineup a little bit. There's no way Estrada should be batting 5th. When Estrada isn't hitting he's worthless. He doesn't walk at all. He currently has a .296 OBP. That's pathetic. He needs to be moved down to 8th. This is the lineup I would like to see.

1. Weeks
2. Hardy
3. Jenkins
4. Fielder
5. Hall
6. Braun
7. Gross/Hart platoon
8. Estrada

This lineup would be versus right handed batters. I like J.J. batting 2nd because he's one of the few guys on the team that draws walks. Jenkins has proven himself this season and could definitely handle batting the third the way he's been going. With a .291 average and 10 Home Runs he shouldn't be batting 6th in the lineup. Fielder is an obvious choice to bat cleanup. Hall isn't doing too hot right now but he's proven. He shouldn't bat 7th in the lineup, that doesn't help his confidence. Braun looks promising but he's just a rookie. 6th is a good spot for him. Hart needs more PT and I really like Gabe Gross. Gross may only be batting .226 but he's got an OBP of .373. Gross can hit for power and get on base, he just needs more playing time. Estrada gets the 8th spot because he just isn't doing much right now. I'm sure Damian Miller would post better than a .296 OBP, Johnny needs to up his game.

The Crew is only 5 games over .500 now and they had been 14 over. There is no way this team should be playing this bad. Things need to start getting better.

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Braun Hits First Career Home Run

While most of the Brewers lineup has been struggling as of late Ryan Braun has been hot with the bat since joining the team. He went 3-4 versus the Padres Saturday night and hit his first career Home Run. Braun already has more Home Runs since joining the team than the platoon of Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino had the entire month of May. Braun looks like a professional at the plate and has seemed very relaxed. He hasn't looked nervous or out of place at all which is nice to see.

Despite Braun's recent performances the Brewers have still lost both games in which he has played. The rest of the lineup needs to kick it into gear, specifically Billy Hall and Johnny Estrada. They haven't been doing much of anything lately.

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The Future of Dave Bush

After allowing 7 runs Friday against the Padres, Dave Bush has an ERA of 6.13. That obviously doesn't cut it at the major league level. The loss moves Bush down to 3-5 on the season. For the season Bush has pitched 61.2 innings allowing 73 hits while walking 12 and striking out 46. He currently has a WHIP of 1.29 and an opposing batting average of .333. That's almost Elmer Dessens like.

These numbers are worse than any other year in Bush's career. He has never had an ERA over 4.49. Granted 61.2 innings is a small sample size, Bush has had too many innings this year where he's just blown up. He has had zero consistency on the mound this year.

The question is, what do you do with him? Do you continue to send him out there and hope he improves, or do you look to someone else to take his spot in the rotation? A possibility would be having Bush exchange spots with Carlos Villanueva. Move Villanueva to the rotation and have Bush take over the long relief role. Or the Brewers could bring up Yovani Gallardo, their highly touted Triple-A pitching prospect to take Bush's spot in the rotation. Gallardo has been dominating Triple-A but I would be surprised to see him up this early in the season.

I think Bush will get one more start to prove himself. If he performs well in his next start he'll remain in the rotation. If he falters the Brewers will move him to the bullpen and Carlos Villanueva will take his place. For Dave Bush it's time to step up.

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Braun Strong in Debut but Brewers Fall

Ryan Braun made his much anticipated debut in San Diego Friday night and turned in a solid performance. Braun went 1-4 with a sac fly and 2 RBI. He made good contact each time he was at the plate and looked like he belonged at the major league level. He is going to be fun to watch.

Braun's performance was not enough though as the Brewers fell to the Padres by a score of 8-6. Dave Bush got rocked for 7 runs and his ERA is all the way up to 6.13. Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy keep on hitting though as each of them homered. Both have 15 Home Runs which leads the National League.

During the 8th inning both Geoff Jenkins and Ned Yost were tossed. Jenkins struck out looking, started to argue with the umpire and then as he walked towards the dugout was tossed. This prompted Ned Yost to come out. Yost started to speak to the umpire calmly and then all of a sudden went off into another tirade. It's nice to see Ned support his players.

Claudio Vargas will take the mound today versus Justin Germano to try and end the crew's current 3 game losing streak. Vargas currently has a 3-0 record with a 3.68 ERA.

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Braun Gets the Call

Ryan Braun is coming to the show! It was reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tonight. He is expected to be in the lineup Friday against the Padres. It's about time. After nearly two months of nothing at third base Braun is here to upgrade the position. You could take .100 points off Braun's Triple-A average and he'd still be hitting better than Counsell/Graffanino.

The news of Braun being called up should make every Brewer fan happy but there is some sad news today. Elmer Dessens is being sent to the DL to make room for Braun. Dessens 6.60 ERA and .369 opponent batting average will be missed.

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Prospect Watch: Ryan Braun

Ryan Braun is back in the lineup for the Nashville Sounds and is just tearing it up. Since Braun has returned to the lineup from an injury just a few days ago he's already hit 2 Home Runs. On the season Braun is batting .354 with a .426 on base percentage and a 1.152 OPS. He has 10 Home Runs with 22 RBI and 4 stolen bases. Braun has committed only 3 errors on the season.

Braun better be in the Brewers lineup on June 1st. Craig Counsell and Tony Graffinino have a combined 1 RBI in the month of May. That's just not acceptable. The Brewers offense has been scuffling as of late and Braun could give the lineup a nice boost.

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Brewers to be on Soap-Opera

Yesterday in L.A. Jeff Suppan, Bill Hall, Chris Capuano, and J.J. Hardy filmed their roles on "The Young and the Restless." The episode is to air on June 20. If the episode gets youtubed I'll be sure to post the scene they appear in. I'm sure it'll be amazing.

The dugout has posted an online aim chat log of the four. J.J. Hardy expresses his feelings for Jeff Suppan in it. Link

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Prospect Watch: Yovani Gallardo

Yovani Gallardo continues his dominance in Triple-A. In his last outing Gallardo struck out 10 batters in 6 plus innings of work while allowing only 1 run to pick up his 6th victory of the season.

On the season Gallardo is 6-1 with a 2.14 ERA. He also has 76 strikeouts which leads the minor leagues. Gallardo = stud. Dave Bush and Claudio Vargas are decent pitchers but I don't know how long Yo can stay down in Triple-A, he's a special talent.

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Ann Carroll a Hot Topic

"Brewers Live" host, Ann Carroll seems to be a hot topic amongst Brewers fans. 90% of the people finding this site through google get here searching for her so we've decided to start Ann Carroll Watch. Ann screws up a lot so we'll keep track of her mess ups. If you catch her mess ups on "Brewers Live" or during Brewers games send them to brewersfanatics@yahoo.com or just leave a comment and we'll post them. Some notable mess ups of hers include mentioning the Cubs defeating the Brewers after a game in which the Brewers lost to the Phillies. Talk about the ultimate insult. Another screw up was prior to a Brewers/Mets games when she said Jeff Suppan was pitching but she couldn't name the Mets starting pitcher so she sent us to a commercial break. Pretty painful to watch but funny at the same time. Send in her mess ups and we'll keep track of them.

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Welcome Back Rickie

Rickie Weeks returned to the Brewers lineup Monday night against the Dodgers and ended up with a 4 hit game. Not too bad for your first game back. In fact, it was Weeks' first career 4 hit game. Nice to see Rickie back and playing well.

Also this just in.... Prince Fielder is really really good. Prince hit 2 homers in the 9-5 victory. The Prince now has 6 multi-homer games in his career. He has 14 on the season.

The lineup is starting to heat up after going cold last week. Things are looking up for the crew and they'll look to keep it going with Ben Sheets out on the mound today.

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Prospect Watch: Hernan Iribarren

Hernan Iribarren is the top rated second baseman in the Brewers farm system. Last year Iribarren played in the Future's Game. Currently he is playing for Double-A Huntsville. Through 39 games Iribarren is batting .264 with a .341 on base percentage. He has 17 RBI and 8 stolen bases with 3 errors in the field.

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Jenkins Huge in Win over Twins

Geoff Jenkins came up huge for the crew today in a 6-5 win over the Twins. He hit his 200th career home run, a 3 run shot to tie the game at 5-5 and then hit the game winning RBI off of LEFT handed pitcher, Dennys Reyes for his 5th RBI of the game. Very nice to see Jenkins hit a left handed pitcher. He's starting to turn in a fine season. Jenkins is now batting .310 with 9 Home Runs and 24 RBI.

The Brewers really needed someone besides JJ Hardy and Prince Fielder to step up. They've been the only guys doing anything offensively lately. This was a very big win today and hopefully it builds this teams confidence for the upcoming road trip.

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Yost's Classic Battle with the Ump

Here's the video of Ned Yost going at it with the ump in Philly. You've gotta love the 360 f bomb. Classic...

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Why Must Hall Only Play Centerfield?

Today Rickie Weeks was given the day off so both Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino were in the lineup. Bill Hall was also given the day off so Tony Gwynn, who is swinging a hot bat could be in the lineup. I know Bill Hall is a centerfielder now but why can't he move back to Third Base for games like these? Graffanino and Counsell should never be in the lineup together. Counsell is currently batting .227 while Graffy is a wopping .211. Are the Brewers ever going to take advantage of Hall's versatility anymore? If Craig Counsell, Tony Graffanino, Tony Gwynn, Gabe Gross, Kevin Mench, and Corey Hart can all play multiple positions why can't Hall play Third or Second Base every once in a while? If the Brewers want to put the best lineup possible on the field moving Hall to the infield once it a while wouldn't be a bad idea.

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Sheets Brings his A Game

THANK YOU BEN SHEETS. The Brewers needed Sheets to stop the losing streak and he came out today and brought his best stuff of the season. Sheets went 7 2/3 innings allowing 2 runs and striking out 8. It was very nice to see Sheets racking up the K's. Sheets now has 4 wins on the season. 4 wins for BEN SHEETS and it's only mid-May. Today's performance lowered his ERA to 3.86. Hopefully this is a shape of things to come for Sheets and he can continue winning. This will be the year Sheets removes the label that he isn't a "winner".

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Get Rid of Ann Carroll

The Brewers need to get rid of Ann Carroll, the host of "Brewers Live". She is just awful. I have never seen someone so bad. She screws up nearly every sentence. You could find some random person off the street who could do a better job than her. I find myself changing the channel when she's talking. She needs to go. Here's a video from a previous stint of hers showing how genius she is.

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Time for Sheets to Step up

After tonight's loss in Philly the Brewers have lost 4 games in a row. Ben Sheets takes the mound tomorrow and he needs to be a stopper. He is this teams ace but this season he has not pitched like it. I have been one of Sheets' biggest supporters when people say he isn't a winner. Over the years Sheets has pitched great and gotten very little run support. This year when he's won it's because of the run support. Sheets only has a 4.10 ERA this season and his strikeout numbers are way down. He needs to stop the teams losing streak, bring his ace stuff to the series finale and prove the doubters wrong or soon he'll have another doubter...

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Ranking the Brewers Catchers of the 2000's

Ranking the Brewers catchers since the year 2000 seems like a daunting task. It seems as if the Brewers have brought in an endless supply of amazing catchers. Names like Keith Osik, Paul Bako, and Chad Moeller are some of the legends that come to mind. All of these guys would make Bill Schroeder proud. So without further ado here are the Brewers top catchers of the 2000's.

1. Johnny Estrada - Johnny is by far the best hitter of the group. He may not know what a walk is but he makes very good contact.

2. Damian Miller - The real life Jake Taylor. Miller may be old but when called upon he gets the job done. He also does a very good Geoff Jenkins impersonation.

3. Eddie Perez - While on the Brewers Perez posted a .271 batting average. Eddie Perez = domination

4. Mike Rivera - Rivera proved to be a pretty good hitter in his short stint with the crew, now he's got an OBP under .300 for Triple-A Nashville.

5. Gary Bennett - Bennett provided solid defense for the crew to compliment his .224 batting average. He also won a World Series ring last year. Gary Bennett is a winner.

6. Chad Moeller - Chad Moeller hit for the cycle. He made Ben Sheets. What has Sheets done since Moeller left? Enough said.

7. Henry Blanco - Blanco may not be the greatest hitter but his defense gets Bill Schroeder drooling.

8. Paul Bako - This gritty battler has played for nine different teams in his legendary mlb career.

9. Raul Casanova - 3 years of catching with the Brewers in the 2000's. How many guys can say that?

10. Keith Osik - Osik knows how to draw walks. He posted a .342 OBP with the crew. That's higher than Johnny Estrada's. Hmm... maybe this list should be reversed?

Honorable Mention

Javier Valentin
Robert Machado

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Whats Gotten Into JJ Hardy?

JJ Hardy has just been on a tear all season and many people are wondering where this came from? Through 39 games Hardy is batting .325. Did anyone expect that kind of average from Hardy? But that's not all. Hardy also has 12 home runs, which ties him for the NL lead with teammate, Prince Fielder. Then he's got 37 RBI which is good for first in the National League. Hardy has never hit more than 12 Home Runs at any level and he already has 12 this year, and we're only halfway through May! JJ has always been smooth with the glove but the way he's swinging the bat now he looks like a lock for the Mid-Summer Classic. Hopefully he can continue his hot start.

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Prospect Watch: Angel Salome

Angel Salome, the Brewers #1 catching prospect is currently playing for High-A Brevard County. Salome is off to a slow start this year after returning from an injury. He's currently batting just .214 with 2 Home Runs and 8 RBI in 42 AB's. This is Salome's first year in Brevard County after spending all of last year in Low-A West Virginia.

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This Team Needs Braun

The Crew needs Ryan Braun, and they need him soon. Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino have just been awful swinging the bat. A playoff calibur team should expect more out of third base than guys who can't even hit .230. While Graffy and Counsell do provide solid defense Braun has shown signs of improvement defensively in Triple-A. The only bad thing about Braun right now is that he's hurt! He hasn't been in the lineup in over a week. Hopefully he gets healthy soon because the Brewers need him in Milwaukee.

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Prospect Watch: Will Inman

Will Inman, currently with High-A Brevard County is considered to be the Brewers #2 pitching prospect behind Yovani Gallardo, and has been absolutely dominant this season. Inman, 2-2, has pitched 42.2 innings with a 1.27 ERA and 49 strikeouts. I have no idea how he is only 2-2. The way he has been pitching he should move up to Double-A Huntsville this season.

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Coco is a Saves Machine

Francisco Cordero got his 5th save in as many days in the series finale against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday. He is now 15/15 in save opportunities with a ridiculous 0.54 ERA. The Brewers have the day off Thursday and it's a good thing so Coco can finally get some rest. Hopefully they'll need him Friday when the Brewers face off with the Mets.

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Prospect Watch: Ryan Braun

Ryan Braun has been on a tear at Triple-A Nashville. The third baseman is currently batting .358 with 8 Home Runs and 17 RBI. In the field he has only committed 2 errors. Braun's bat was ready for the show out of Spring Training but his defense is what kept him from making the Brewers opening day roster. With his improvement on defense and the way he's swinging the bat he should be in Milwaukee sooner rather than later.

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Prospect Watch: Yovani Gallardo

Yovani Gallardo, the Brewers' #1 pitching prospect is off to a hot start down in Triple-A Nashville. Gallardo currently has a 4-1 record and a 2.19 ERA with 51 strikeouts in 37 innings pitched. Don't expect to see him in Milwaukee soon though unless an injury occurs in the starting rotation.

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The Crew is on Fire!

The Brewers are winners of 6 straight games after sweeping the Washington Nationals. The Crew is now 24-10 on the season and in first place. Here's a video I found on youtube that shows their dominance.

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