You are who you are

Milwaukee might have gotten the lead on Saturday night by playing Padres baseball but they kept it by playing Brewers baseball.

The Brewers built a 3-0 lead in the third inning, stringing together singles, walks and a sac fly. The lead was short lived, however, as Chris Narveson suddenly was unable to find the plate in the fourth inning, allowing the first four batters to reach and giving up two runs.

And then something odd happened--Ken Macha made a timely pitching change. Rather than let Narveson completely implode, Macha went to the bullpen and brought in Mike McClendon. McClendon gave up a walk and a single that tied the game (run charged to Narveson) but he retired the next three batters without giving up any additional runs.

Milwaukee came back to score two in the bottom of the fifth inning on a walk, a stolen base and a couple of timely singles, prompting Padres announcer Dick Enberg to say that the Brewers were playing Padres baseball.

Ryan Braun upped the lead to three runs with his 17th home run of the year, and first in 22 games, in the sixth inning. Braun's home run turned out to be the difference in the game when Matt Stairs came in to hit a pinch-hit, two-run shot to close the gap to just one run. After the Stairs homer, in what has become a pattern for Macha, he put in Axford to get the final five outs. Ax closed the door to secure the Brewers fourth straight victory.

Brewers 6, Padres 5
Game played 8-21-10