The Streak Lives

The Brewers have now won nine games in a row.  It is the first streak of such length since 2003 when they racked up ten straight W’s.  Tonight, staff co-ace Gallardo hurled 6.2 IP giving up 3 ER.  Command issues nearly cost him in the 7^th inning when with no one on base and needing just one more strike to close the inning Gallardo suddenly lost his stuff and ended up walking the bases loaded.

Southpaw Tom Gorzelanny entered in relief and needed just three pitches to fan lefty Yonder Alonso and extinguish the threat.

Jean Segura (.377) continues his climb to stardom going 3-5 and flashing some serious leather at short stop.  His unassisted double play in the 4th bailed Gallardo out of a major jam.  That Greinke trade is looking like a pleasant surprise right now.  Despite my eternal optimism, I must admit feeling like trading a former Cy Young winner for some prospects would take a while to pay dividends.  If I weren't so naturally optimistic, I might have thought offloading Greinke for AAA and AA farmhands would certainly doom the club to a decade of mediocrity.

Thankfully, I am a glass half full kind of guy.  (Full of what, who is to say?)

John Axford pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning touching 97 on the gun and flashing a tight breaking ball on the black.  If he rights the ship the one-two punch of Axford and Henderson could prove lethal.  He still owns an ugly 9.35 ERA, but tonight’s performance was Ax’s sixth straight scoreless outing.

Jim Henderson earned his 5^th save of the season, sealing victory with a swing and miss strikeout on a 96 MPH fastball.

The Brewers currently have 4 players in the top 20 in WAR:

• Jean Segura: 1.2 WAR (6^th in NL)
• Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez: 1.1 WAR (9^th in NL)
• Norichika Aoki (or “lazy river,” in Japanese): 0.9 WAR (16th in NL)

Bryce Harper, 8th in NL WAR, is getting a lot of hype in the media again this year for his hot start—much like last year when he was all but declared a hall of famer but ended the season mired in a funk that saw his average dip from a season high of .307 in June all the way down to .270.  (Also, Kemp had sealed up the MVP with his .417 average through April.  Oops.  It’s a long season.)  No doubt the #phenom Harper is deserving of superlatives given his age and supreme talent, but Jean Segura is rivaling if not outperforming the young stud in many ways so far this year and deserves more national recognition.  It must be true that chicks—and the media—dig the long ball.