Stick a fork (or splintered bat) in ‘em

Today did not go all that well for the Brewers. After two stellar games against the San Francisco Giants, the Brewers could not stop the Giants bats for a third day, and fell 9-2. The loss officially ended Milwaukee’s playoff chances. The Brewers are 14 back of the Reds and Cincinnati has only 12 games to play.

The game turned on a first inning ball three call. Chris Narveson had gotten into some trouble and had runners on first and third with two outs. Pat Burrell was at the plate and worked the count to 2-2. He took a pitch that was right down the middle, just above the knees and it was called a ball. Fox Trax showed it to be a strike. It wasn’t even a borderline strike. It was sort of a meatball. Burrell would eventually walk and the next batter, Jose Guillen, hit a grand slam. After that, Milwaukee failed to rally and handed Barry Zito his first win in two months.  

Ryan Braun provided most of the highlights for the Brewers. He climbed the wall in left field to rob Cody Ross of a home run in the first. Later Braun would hit a two-run home run in the sixth.

Even though it was a bad day for the Brewers, it could have been worse. Cubs outfielder Tyler Colvin was struck by a splinter off the bat of teammate Welington Castillo. Castro was on third base and was running toward home when the broken bat speared him. Colvin is in stable condition and should make a full recovery, fortunately. As he did not turn into a pile of dust, I'm pretty sure that Colvin is not a vampire.

And Brett Farve threw three interceptions for the 0-2 Vikings. Farve's day seems like something worse, too. (I am lighting a candle right now to ward off the bad karma I may have just brought to the Packers.)

Giants 9, Brewers 2

Game played 9-19-10