Catching Up...

It's a been a few days since either of us has posted, and with good reason. South Side Rob has been bowling a lot and has a bunch of other obligations. I've got a 15-week old daughter, but more than that I've been spending the bulk of my free time at night (after my wife and baby go to sleep) getting the Home Run Derby standings sheet ready to go and watching DVR recordings of Brewer games from earlier in the day/evening.

It's been a tiring few days.

Having said that, let's ride on a few news updates that I'm sure you've all heard by now, but what you haven't had yet is comments from our little peanut gallery here:

• The Brewers' record currently stands at 6-3 after the first 9 games of the year. This includes a 2-1 series win over the Scrubs (on the road), a 3-game sweep of the Giants and a 1-2 series loss to the Reds. Any of us would take 2 out of 3 all season long. That equates, for those of you that don't want to do quick math, to a 108-54 record for the season. 100 wins? Yeah, I think that'd be just fine.
• Dave Bush has begun the year with two losses, and until a couple of hours ago those were the only two losses on the young season. Carlos Villanueva was tagged with the loss today. The most frustrating part about that? Villanueva had a no-no for a while in this one before melting down a bit and giving up five consecutive hits. The Reds never looked back. The reason I bring these losses up...
• Yovani Gallardo will be rejoining the team in New York this weekend (however he will not be officially activated off the DL right away) as an insurance policy in case of losing a starter to bad weather and you need an extra starter next Monday in a potential, hypothetical make-up game. Either way, Gallardo is going to officially rejoin the Milwaukee rotation sooner than later (barring setbacks) because he's healthy and hasn't had any setbacks yet. It's assumed by the majority of people that Dave Bush becomes the odd man out. Whether that means he goes to the bullpen and somebody that's currently in said bullpen gets sent down, waived or traded remains to be seen. Personally I think the reason that Bush was made the #3 in the first place was so that Gallardo could be slotted right into that spot when returned from the DL.
• Speaking of the DL, Opening Day starter Tony Gwynn Jr. was officially placed on the DL yesterday (retroactive back to April 6th) because the team was tired of playing a hitter down. To take his place, Milwaukee called up Hernan Iribarren from Class AAA Nashville. The former 2B, current CF, has always hit well (.324 in AAA last year, if memory serves) and is a lefty-hitter to boot. He's also got some speed. I had hoped that Gabe Gross' days of starting for this team were over after last night's game, but lo and behold there was Gross in the 2-hole playing CF today. Weird that the Brewers lost with Gross in the lineup...

That's a little catch-us-up. So, what's next?

The Brewers head to the aforementioned New York City today to begin a three-game set with the Mets at the soon-to-be defunct Shea Stadium. Tomorrow sees lefty Manny Parra take the ball and attempt to shut down a team that many have picked to win the NL East this year.

One of the biggest reasons that they've been tabbed as such is because of off-season acquisition left-handed pitcher and perennial Cy Young candidate Johan Santana. Guess who draws Santana in this series? That's right...we've got an ace of our own that is currently living up to the expectations that have followed him (dogged him?) throughout his career...one Ben Sheets. Now that is a game that I plan on watching live.

But we are on a three-city road trip for now. After the Mets, we visit the Cardinals and these same Cincinnati Reds before finally returning home to Miller Park on April 21st for a three-team, seven-game homestand. Let's get back to Miller Park with a winning record...what do you say? All we have to do is go 4-5 on the trip. We should be able to do that, right?

Well, for now I've got to fly. It's time to get back to dissecting this loss a bit better.

Until next time...

GO BREWERS!!!!!