The Scouting Report:
Game 1:
Erik Sloan picked an unfortunate time to have perhaps his best start of the season as it came in a game when the great Brooklyn Ace (in more ways than one) Aaron McNally shutout the Brewers to get a 1-0 win.
Sloan went the distance for the visitors, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 4 and not walking a batter. The Brewers only managed 4 singles off McNally, whose record this year is not indicative of just how tremendous he has once again been, but
Antonio Acuna did pick up his 20th stolen base in this one.
Game 2:
And the Brewers Ace,
Sadahige Kawasaki, was outpitched by Jose Hernandes in game 2 as the Aces won again and secured at least a series win.
Sadahige was mostly good but had a tough 5th inning and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits over his 7 innings pitched for the loss. The Brewers were held to just 4 hits for the second straight game, with
Jose Figueroa (.329/.348/.383) collecting 2 of them in his 3 official at-bats.
Joe McPhillips' (.309/.398/.493) 27th double was the lone extra base hit for Denver.
Game 3:
And after a first inning bench-clearing brawl (reported earlier) the Brewers, perhaps a bit fired up, managed to get a narrow victory in game 3 to avoid being swept in Brooklyn. Starter
Sekien Hamasaki wasn't bad- giving up 3 runs on 4 hits (and 4 walks) over 6 1/3rd innings- but didn't get a decision. Left-handed reliever
Nick Schroeder pitched a very fine inning and two thirds for the victory and
Tim Shore worked out of a jam in the 9th, striking out the dangerous Tommie Signor to get the final out with runners stranded on the corners, for his 28th save.
Bobby Erbakan (.304/.352/.495), having a good second half, led the offense with a 3 of 4 performance, hitting his 15th double and his 20th home run, tied with
Antonio Acuna for the team lead again in this category.
Val Guzman (.314/.403/.519) only collected one hit but it was his team-best 33rd double of the season.
Notes from around the league:
In the pitching hotbed of Columbus, the young guys- Kevin DeRouen, who is 17-5 with a 2.65 ERA and Jay Crosby, 17-5, 3.14- are getting much of the attention- but veteran 2-time SJL Pitcher of the Year Jim Norris is somewhat quietly having another great season also, and Friday evening the 28-year old left-hander tossed a 4-hit shutout against El Paso, striking out 11 and walking just 1 batter.
Columbus, largely on the strength of their world-class rotation (last year's SJL Pitcher of the Year, Luis Ramirez, is 17-9 with a 3.07 ERA at the top of the rotation), is in 2nd place, but at 82-43 they have now fallen 5 games behind San Antonio (87-38), winners of 6 straight. Philadelphia (76-49) is still in 3rd place, but once again 11 games out of first and with September approaching they are starting to run out of time.
Speaking of running out of time- the Chicago Fire (47-79) and the Houston Cavaliers (47-77) have both been mathematically eliminated from contention in the SJL in the past few days.
In the MGL, the Brewers, having lost 3 of their last 5 games, see their lead over 2nd place L.A. (71-55) shrink slightly to 14 games, while 3rd place Detroit (70-56) are now 15 games out. Brooklyn, who just took 2 of 3 from the Brewers, sit in 4th place with a 69-57 mark, 16 games back.