Bring out the brooms!

The Brewers have a shot tonight at their first sweep of the season after defeating Pittsburgh again last night, 7-5. It was a hard-fought win, but the Brew Crew once again displayed that "get it done" determination and battled back, and are now primed for their first Pittsburgh sweep since 2003.

Our boys in blue had white-hot bats last night, collecting 16 hits over 8 innings. My favorite outfielder, Brady Clark, went 3-5 last night, as did Geoff Jenkins and Rickie Weeks. Two others, Damian Miller and Corey Koskie had two hits apiece, and every other starter managed at least one hit, except Prince Fielder and Chris Capuano. Capuano, however, did deliver a nice sac bunt that advanced Miller to second. He also threw 87 pitches over six innings, striking out 7, allowing only two runs, and no walks to notch his first win of the season. (only 19 more to go!) I'll have to be sure to wear my #39 jersey every time he pitches!

Gabe Gross, acquired in December in the Lyle Overbay trade, announced his presence with authority last night. While he technically entered the game on Monday in the Cirillo pinch-hit fake out, last night marked the first time he actually swung the bat in a Brewer jersey, and boy oh boy, did he make an impression. Bob Uecker declared that the Brewers needed more insurance runs, because "the last policy ran out," and Gabe Gross delivered, blasting a 420-foot, 2-run bomb to center field. Gross is now the 5th player in Brewer history to homer in his first at bat. Congratulations Gabe, and welcome to Milwaukee!

Although the outcome was sweet, everything wasn't peaches and cream for the Brewers last night. The umpires, once again, left their glasses at home. Wally Bell made the calls at home plate, and while his strike zone was a bit more consistent than Hirschbeck's the night before, he still missed a few really sweet pitches. Must have gotten some of that dirt in his eyes too.

Mark Carlson, who made such horrible calls at second base on Monday, made the same bad calls at first last night. Capuano threw gorgeous pickoffs to first, but according to Carlson, the runner was safe. Again, ball in glove + foot on bag does not equal an out in Carlson's book. The throws were there by split seconds, but the point was, there were there, and Carlson blew the call twice. At least he's consistent.

In contrast, Larry Young decided Brady Clark was out at second base when he tried to steal, even though it appeared to me, (and most of the other 15,514 people in attendance last night), that Brady was safe. There didn't seem to be any doubt that Brady made it, but I guess Young thought that he should have been standing and brushing the dirt off of his pants by the time the tag was made to be really sure he was in there.

Prince Fielder again struggled at the plate, fanning in three of his five at bats. From what I've read, no one is worried yet, but 0-9 isn't a great way to start off the season. Rickie Weeks also posted his first error of the season last night, overthrowing to first, but luckily veteran catcher Damian Miller was there to save the day, making the throw to get the runner at second.

Our guys did manage to catch a couple of breaks last night. Some key errors by the Pirates allowed us to get runners on base, and eventually score. Derrick Turnbow caught a rocket in the 9th, which held the two runners in place, and then easily finished out the game to post his second save in as many attempts.

Smart base running was also a factor last night. Third base coach Dale Sveum did an outstanding job of directing the runners, and that is going to be key for the team this year. So many people want to see the big home runs and doubles and triples, but small ball wins games, and that’s what our guys need to focus on this season. Granted, we did have a couple of home runs on Monday and one last night, but as evidenced by the Pirates’ loss (even though they had two home runs last night), long balls don’t always get it done. They’re certainly exciting and make it fun to go out to the park, but I’m glad to see that Yost and the rest of his coaching team are going back to basics, and focusing more on the fundamentals.

Now about these new LED panels on the club level. I’ve read that some of the players aren’t too jazzed about them, and the more I see them, the more I agree. Some of the displays are ok, but some are very bright and distracting. Unless you’re sitting in the outfield boxes or bleachers, you can pretty much forget about watching the pitch counts. The scoreboards tracking pitches were visible from anywhere in the stadium last year, but that information is now displayed solely on the LED panel directly above the press box. Fan that I am, I like to keep track of the pitch count, and percentages of strikes to balls, so I found myself having to lean forward and look back at the panel to see what was going on. I found this very annoying, not only because of the inconvenience, but it forced me to take my attention away from the game. A call to the ballpark confirmed that I’m not alone in my opinion. Apparently there have been several complaints about the location of this scoreboard, but a simple reprogram can fix the problem. The gentleman with whom I spoke told me that a new layout is already being discussed, and the IT team is still working out the kinks in the “new toy.”

I don’t think I’m going to make it out to the stadium tonight, but you can bet I’ll be watching at home with my broom at the ready! A sweep would be a fantastic way to start off our season, so let’s all cheer our guys on to victory! Go Brewers!