Brewers D'Backs Game 2 Recap

The Score:
Brewers 7 D'Backs 1

MVPs of the Game:
JJ Hardy: 2/4; HR, 2 RBIs, 2 R
Mark Reynolds: 2/3; 2B, RBI, BB

Game Recap:
Seth McClung pitching six innings of one run ball and almost garnered himself a nod as player of the game in my book, especially because had the first two hits of his career, both against future Hall of Famer, Randy Johnson. The Brewers offense struggled badly early in the game as always, but McClung was able to keep them close by locating his fast ball and getting a big double play to stop a vital threat in the third. Ryan Braun rewarded him by smoking an 0-1 hanging slider deep into the left field bleachers giving the Brewers a lead that they would never relinquish.

Tuesday's game only lasted two hours and twenty minutes, and that had a lot to do with Randy Johnson, who struck out eight over 6.1. His first K against Mike Cameron pushed him into second place for all-time strikeouts, moving ahead of Roger Clemens... thank God. Johnson continued to mow down the Brewers batters, embarrassing him with the slider I'm so used to seeing and it was just as nice live, even as sedated as I was. But Seth McClung was just as lights out in clearly his best start of the year. McClung went six innings, giving up only one run and six hits while striking out four. But the key... the key, as it is for all Brewers starters, was Seth did not walk a batter and pounded the strike zone, throwing 53 of his 79 pitches for strikes.

When McClung walked off in the 6th, he probably didn't think he was going to get a victory over Randy Johnson, but he would have been wrong. The first sign was Johnson walking Mike Cameron on four straight pitches, which for me, showed Johnson was floundering. Ryan Braun made him pay with his two run shot, giving the Brewers a 2-1 in the sixth. The Brewers weren't done yet and Bob Melvin wasn't smart enough to pull his pitcher whose stuff was clearly not biting as hard and not hitting the spots he wanted.

After a scoreless inning from Tim Dillard in the 7th, JJ Hardy lead off with a single to the opposite field. After a soft fly by Jason Kendall, Joe Dillon walked to the plate for yet another pinch hit. Dillon's double down the right field line would barely score Hardy from first. The throw to the plate would allow Dillon to move to third, and score on a sac fly by Rickie Weeks giving the Brewers a 4-1 lead. Prince Fielder would tack on a solo shot in the eighth off of Max Scherzer and JJ would follow up with a 2-run shot of his own. This allowed Brian Shouse to pitch two perfect innings of relief and pick up his second save of the year.

Game Changing Play:
The four pitch walk of Mike Cameron really sticks out in my head. Randy Johnson just didn't look the same after that and taking advantage of that was important, making Ryan Braun's two-run blast last night's GCP.

Notes:
I'm going to admit the predictions analysis from now on and just do a notes section. I'll continue to make my predictions in the series preview, but I've realized that it's just not necessary to go through each one and tell you if I was right or not. Instead, I'll just throw up some notes from the game that I couldn't cover in the game recap or perhaps discuss some of the problems the teams has been having.

- If you think the Brewers are playing great baseball, you're only partially right. Their offense may be scoring runs, but they're not going to win consistently unless they start believing in the walk. The Brewers only walked once against Randy Johnson and twice against Doug Davis. I will keep ranting and raving about on-base until I see it. Just ask the Cubs how they score millions of runs. It's not just because they hit the ball hard, but because every single guy on that team has an OBP higher than the league average.

- Bill Hall got booed loudly last night. If there's anything you should gather from this, it's that Milwaukee is a blue-collar town and doesn't put up with whiney players who demand trades when they play like shit and aren't willing to live up to it.

Who's on Tap?:
I'll be attending today's day game pitting Manny Parra against Micah Owings. Should be a good one. Let's see if the Brewers can finish the home stand 8-1.