Brewers Marlins Game 2 Recap

It's almost a breath of fresh air to come back and write here. I'm not officially healthy yet, but I'm better and have a lot more time on my hands now that exams are done, so here's to trying to stick with the crew.

The Score:
Milwaukee Brewers 4 Florida Marlins 3

Players of the Game:
Prince Fielder: 2/4; HR, 3 R, 2 RBIs
Mark Hendrickson: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER. 3B, R

That's right. Prince Fielder was responsible for every run the Brewers scored tonight.

Game Recap:
Today's game followed the theme the Brewers have followed all year and unfortunately, years past as well: That being the inability to put games away. Florida did everything in their power to hand the Brewers this game on a platter. Both Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez muffed balls in the 2nd inning, but the Brewers only managed one run on a gutsy suicide squeeze by Carlos Villanueva and Prince Fielder. The Brewers would follow up with two more runs in the 3rd, but then fell apart failing to get on base 12 of the next 13 plate appearances.

Luckily, Carlos Villanueva was dealing. Following a leadoff homerun by shortstop Hanley Ramirez, Carlos tossed six innings of one run baseball, finishing the game with a 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5 K line. But because nobody on the Brewers besides the 4-5-6 hitters could do anything productive, he would ultimately not get the win. Salomon Torres would give up a run in the top of the 8th on a double play ball, and would get the victory on a bomb to dead center by Prince Fielder. Gagne finished the game by striking out three of the four batters he faced.

Game Changing Play:
No doubt about it: Prince's bomb. It was a beauty to watch in person.

Things to Note:
- Ryan Braun nearly tossed out Mark Hendrickson on a sac fly to the warning track. The throw was a pea that one hopped the plate. Kendall's tag was late, but nothing like a flat foot on-line rocket to make your day a little brighter.

- The Brewers walked only twice in the game and had only 7 hits, which marks the 4th game in a row they have failed to hit the 10 hit mark.

- After today's game, the Brewers are batting a whopping .245/.313/.391, which is 25th/24th/19th out of 30 teams. If that's not alarming, I don't know what is.

- Bill Hall has taken four walks in his last two games, which tripled his season total. And oddly enough, his approach has lead to quite an improvement at the plate.

- In his first 'rehab' game, Mike Cameron went 1/4 with a walk and 2 runs.

- If you haven't watched the Brewers this season, check them out. Every one on the team is trying to rock a sick porn star mustache. My favorite being Corey Hart's, who looks pretty ridiculous.

Who's on Tap?
Manny Parra squares off against Rickey Nolasco. Let's put it this way, Nolasco is a career 5.03 ERA pitcher with a 2:1 K:BB ratio. If the Brewers want to get over the hump, they have to destroy pitchers like this. Parra has struggled in every single one of his outings. With Cameron returning next week, a pitcher has to get sent down. While his numbers are better than Bush's, some seasoning for Parra may help him develop that much more quickly.