Miscues haunt Brewers in hard-fought loss
April 30, 2011A day after hitting three towering home runs, the Brewers couldn't generate much offense, losing, 2-1, to the Astros on Saturday to fall back to .500 for the season.
Stat Of The Night: Wandy Works Wonders
April 30, 2011So the Brewers have faced Wandy Rodriguez twice this season, with nearly opposite results: They beat him last weekend in Milwaukee, and were shut out by him for eight innings tonight in Houston.
As it turns out, that shouldn't be all that surprising. Even before tonight's outing, Rodriguez's career numbers were much better at home:
| Location | G | ERA | WHIP | HR/9 |
| Home | 91 | 3.48 | 1.246 | 0.87 |
| Away | 90 | 5.06 | 1.489 | 1.16 |
With that said, location hasn't really mattered when the Brewers have faced Rodriguez over the last two seasons. Since Opening Day 2010 they've faced him five times and only scored more than one earned run once:
| Date | IP | H | ER | BB | K |
| 6/30/2010 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 7/31/2010 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 8/6/2010 | 6.1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 4/24/2011 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| Tonight | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
The Brewers haven't fared real well against Bud Norris (tomorrow's starter) either. He's 2-0 with a 3.09 ERA against Milwaukee over four starts.
Narveson looks for improvement in rubber game
April 30, 2011The Brewers and Astros face off Sunday in the rubber game of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park. Bud Norris gets the call for Houston, opposed by Chris Narveson.
Brewers 1, Astros 2: Ron Roenicke’s post game comments
April 30, 2011
On Wandy Rodriguez:
"I know he's been tough and, you know, he hits spots. He's got a great curveball that he can throw in any count. Usually keeps it down well. And we got some hits off him. We had a couple chances. Brauny had a couple doubles there, gave us a chance. But you know, he's a good pitcher. He mixes up stuff well. He's not afraid to throw the fastball in or out."
On Prince's home run:
"That's huge to get us there and get us back out on the field again. That felt great. We all felt great, with Kameron coming in. We still had Ax. So, you know, that's huge for Prince to tie it up there."
On Carlos Gomez's baserunning, and getting thrown out at third:
"He's an aggressive guy. You have to read it instictually, and he didn't read it right... I want these guys being agressive. It's just tough once you shut it down, and then they bobble the relay coming in, its tough to get it going again."
Asked about losing a lot of tough games so far this season:
"We have lost some tough games, a lot of close games we've lost. You know, there's a lot of little things that you look at in these games that make the decision on the outcome. Somthing that maybe we don't right, or maybe that we have an opportunity offensively and we don't come through, or the other team, they do a good job hitting and they get that one run. But when we get it tied up or we get it close, I feel really good about our team. And right now, we just have't been finishing the games."
On the Crew's .500 record:
"We're playing good enough ball. We could be a lot better than that."
Brewers tie it in the ninth, but still lose to Astros 2-1
April 30, 2011
W: Brandon Lyon (3-1)
L: Kameron Loe (2-2)
HR: Prince Fielder (6)
MVP: Prince Fielder (+.257)
LVP: Kameron Loe (-.377)
Win Expectancy Graph
The first inning looked good mildly good for the Brewers. Ryan Braun extended his on-base streak to 25 games with a solid double to left-center. He might have scored had Carlos Lee not robbed Prince Fielder of a hit. It looked like the Crew might have Wandy Rodriguez's number again.
It also looked like Bad Randy Wolf showed up again based on his first inning results. After striking out Michael Bourn, he allowed a single to Jason Bourgeois (who then stole second, and then third) and walked Angel Sanchez. He got Hunter Pence to hit a slow roller to Casey McGehee, who airmailed it, and Pence reached on the error. The error didn't really matter though, as the run would've scored anyway. Astros up 1-0.
Rather unexpectedly, that was pretty much it from the Astros' offense for the rest of the night. Randy Wolf only allowed 3 more hits over his remaining 6 innings. That was also pretty much it from the Brewers offense for the rest of the night. They got their hits (6 in fact, off Rodriguez), and it seemed like any minute they would finally break through. But it didn't happen. Their best chance to score was when Carlos Gomez doubled in the eighth inning, but was then thrown out trying to get to third on a bobble in the outfield.
It looked like the Crew was going to go down without a fight. But then Prince Fielder stepped to the plate and tied the game with one swing of the bat. But alas, our euphoria was short lived. After Kameron Loe got two easy outs in the bottom on the ninth, he walked the next two. It looked like he had strike three on Bourgeois, but the home plate umpire disagreed. Bourgeois singled on the next pitch to give the Astros the win.
Braun, Fielder impress Roenicke in April
April 30, 2011First-year Brewers manager Ron Roenicke is getting a first-hand look at the explosive punch of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, who both homered in the same game on Friday night for the 29th time since they became teammates in 2007.
Setback could cost Saito month or more
April 30, 2011The news wasn't too good on Saturday concerning Brewers right-hander Takashi Saito, who strained his left oblique on Thursday in a rehab assignment for Triple-A Nashville.
Brewers’ rotation for next week takes shape
April 30, 2011With Zack Greinke set to make his Brewers debut on Wednesday, the club's rotation for next week is taking shape.
Greinke will debut on Wednesday vs. Braves
April 30, 2011All systems are go as Zack Greinke will make his Brewers debut on Wednesday at Atlanta with a pitch count at 90 or less.
Game Thread #26: Brewers (13-12) at Astros (9-17)
April 30, 2011Scroll down to see today's lineups/pitching matchup. Randy Wolf is taking on Wandy Rodriguez! Go Brewers!