Milwaukee Brewers: 250 Words or Less: 7/9/11

The break can’t come soon enough.

The Milwaukee Brewers lost tonight to the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 in 10 innings. Despite still having won 3 of their last 4, they’ll be limping into the series final tomorrow.

If you missed this one entirely, you missed a very sloppy performance. If you went to the game and are notorious for arriving late, you missed the fast start; 6 runs came between the two team before the 2nd inning ended. Brewers’ starter Shaun Marcum put in too much effort early and the pitch count inflated on him fast. Only 1 Brewer starter has gone 7 innings in the last 8 games, and the Brewers are 3-5 over that stretch.

Marcum actually got beaten up a bit by the bottom half of the Reds’ lineup early on, but it was the middle portion that did the real damage against the Brewers. Marco Estrada got tagged for 5 runs in the top of the 10th, only 2 of them earned. An error by Craig Counsell extended the inning and put it out of reach.

There isn’t much else to say for the Crew. A ton left on base, and more rotten defense. The worst they can be after tomorrow’s game is 1 game behind first place, depending on the result. That said, this team will have to stop being content with mediocre baseball, because that won’t help in the second half. The Brewers have 3 days off for the All-Star break, and begin an 11 game road trip on the other side of the break.

The decision was announced mid-game for Ryan Braun to skip the final game of the series as well as Tuesday’s All-Star game. When the second half picks up, he’ll have gotten 11 full days of rest, hopefully enough to return to full strength.

 

Follow me on Twitter (@MilwaukeeBrian) and don’t miss the Brewers’ “A Simple Kind of Fan” each Tuesday from Pocket Doppler’s Brew Town Boozer.

Tags: 250 Words, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Marco Estrada, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB All-Star Game, Randy Wolf, Ryan Braun, Shaun Marcum