News
Crew not out to avenge '08 NLDS loss
Milwaukee (4-8) at Philadelphia (5-6), 6:05 p.m. CT
Ryan Braun (right) said he didn't think returning to Philly would provide "any added motivation." (AP)
By Kit Stier / Special to MLB.com
04/19/09 7:33 PM ET
The Brewers won't have revenge on their minds when they begin a three-game series against the Phillies in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Their sole intent will be to get their season moving in a positive, winning direction.However, no one could blame the Brewers for wanting payback. They were swept at Citizens Bank Park in a key four-game series last September, then lost to the Phils in the first round of the playoffs.
"It definitely killed us last year," recalled right fielder Corey Hart, who like any member of the 2008 edition of the Brewers, can vividly recall going into Philadelphia with a four-game lead in the National League Wild Card race and leaving town tied. "We were feeling awfully good and went in there and got turned around. It would be nice to go in there and have a good series, but we're just trying to figure out how to play good baseball right now." Milwaukee pulled out a 4-2 victory against the Mets in New York on Sunday to improve to 4-8. So the Brewers have taken a step forward. But it was a long four-game series last September. Milwaukee lost the first game of the series, 6-3, got rained out on the second day, lost, 7-3, on Saturday and then got swept, 7-3, and 6-1, on Sunday. Manager Ned Yost lost his job the next day. But the Brewers recovered in time to win six of their last seven games. They won the NL Wild Card on the last day when Ryan Braun slammed a two-run homer in the eighth inning to decide a 3-1 win over the Cubs, and the Mets lost to the Marlins in New York."What happened last year has no bearing on this year, but at the same time, obviously it's something you remember," Braun said. "Hopefully it's something we learn from. But I don't think it's any added motivation, going back there other than the fact that we don't want to experience that same feeling again."
Hart had nearly erased the memory of that September wipeout when a reporter brought it back into vivid color. "We made the playoffs, so I just kind of put it aside," Hart said. Braun recalled that the Brewers went into Philadelphia last September on the same kind of downward trend they're currently riding. Milwaukee was on a stretch of losing seven of 10 games when the team arrived in Philly. "It was just a matter of timing, I think," Braun said. "Their pitchers were throwing the ball really well. Their hitters were locked in. We were scuffling. It was one of those things where we couldn't do anything right and they were playing about as well as they'd played all year." Hart said Philadelphia might prove a good place to get well, to turn things around for an offense that took the field Sunday ranked No. 15 in the league. "It's a great place to hit," Hart said. "For pitchers, it might be tough, but for us, it's a great place to hit and it's a great place to get confidence going, because the ball carries in a small yard. But we're not really swinging the bats well, so we're just trying to put things together and get on kind of a roll. "Those kinds of parks are good places to go," Hart added. "But they have tough pitching. So it's one of those things that would be a nice place for us to go and have a good series." Pitching matchupMIL: LHP Manny Parra (0-2, 6.97 ERA)
Parra allowed three runs on only three hits in six innings of his last start against the Reds, but his pitch count reached 66 by the end of the third and two of the three runners who scored reached on walks. He was more efficient beginning with a five-pitch fourth, throwing 18 pitches in the fifth inning and 14 in the sixth thanks to an Edwin Encarnacion double play. With Parra at the 103-pitch mark after that frame, the Brewers were forced to dip back into the bullpen. Still, it was an improvement for Parra, who lasted only 4 1/3 innings in his season debut because of walks. His changeup remains a developing pitch; he surrendered a go-ahead homer to Jerry Hairston on one, but also used it to induce Encarnacion's double play. Commanding that pitch is the key to Parra's success. PHI: RHP Joe Blanton (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Blanton is still searching for his first victory of 2009. After a rocky season debut against the Braves on April 8, the right-hander improved Thursday against the Nationals, giving up eight hits and three earned runs while striking out five and walking one in six innings. The big blow was a three-run homer to Adam Dunn in the first. In two starts, Blanton has surrendered 17 hits and 10 earned runs. Tidbits
Catcher Jason Kendall is playing hurt. "He's not going to say anything about this, but he took a foul ball off the forearm," manager Ken Macha said, adding he wasn't sure when the injury occurred other than it was before the Brewers arrived in New York on Friday. "He's been out there playing a little dinged up." ... When Macha saw that the Indians had scored 22 runs, including 14 runs in the second inning, at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, it brought back some old memories for the Milwaukee skipper. "I don't know if [Mets manager] Jerry Manuel is going to remember this," Macha said. "I certainly do. We were both managers in the Arizona Fall League and his team sent 23 hitters up one inning against us. I think they got 18 runs. I think it was 1994. I had Tempe and Jerry was managing Mesa. It wasn't like they were hitting home runs, either. The field was the old Cubs' field. It was like a brick. I think Mark Grudzielanek had three hits in one inning." He recalled using three pitchers in the inning. "Pitchers were on a pitch count in the Fall League," Macha said. "I brought in this kid, Ryan Henderson, who was with the Dodgers' organization. He hit a guy and got thrown out of the game. He wasn't trying to hit the guy. The umpire said, 'C'mon, they're getting all the hits.' I said, 'I don't have any pitchers left.'" Tickets
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• Wednesday: Brewers (Dave Bush, 0-0, 5.40) at Phillies (Joe Blanton, 0-1, 9.00), 6:05 p.m. CT
• Thursday: Brewers (TBD) at Phillies (Cole Hamels, 0-1, 11.17), 12:05 p.m. CT
• Friday: Brewers (Yovani Gallardo, 1-1, 4.58) at Astros (TBD), 7:05 p.m. CT
Kit Stier is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
