BrewCrew drops 5 Straight to Finish 1-5 in First Full Week in MLB

After Opening the season with a thrilling victory, the BrewCrew has dropped every game since.  The bats finally came alive on Tuesday night versus the Athletics.  Led by Chris Sanderson's 2 Homeruns the offense posted 6 runs.  Unfortunately, the Brewers pitching let the team down in that one, allowing 8 runs including 3 in the bottom of the 8th Inning.  The Crew was back to its light hitting selves on Wednesday, as they made Mike Pelfrey look like a Cy Young candidate for the Seattle Mariners in a 5-1 Loss at Miller Park.


Now that we are a week into the season we can get a better feel for the way the team is shaping up.  Here's  a look at Whos Hot and Whos Not:

Hot:
Chris Sanderson - .292  3 HR 6 RBI

Not:
Shawn Kelly - .000 Avg*
Ian Sumner - .000 Avg

* To make matters worse for Kell, his younger Brother "Joe" Ryan Kelly smacked a HR in his first at-bat of the year on Tuesday night, and was heard coming back to the dugout yelling, "There is that so hard??"

The BrewCrew is faced with the tall task of turning things around here in a short season. " We understand we had a rough week, but we gotta do what we can to forget about it and finish the season strong.  Guys are coming around with the bats, we just gotta put a complete game together" Said SS Bob Bixby.  The Brew Crew will get its next chance as Ryan Baker takes on the Texas Rangers in Arlington.

Great Effort, Same Result

The BrewCrew showed quite a bit of heart and some actual competency at the plate in last nights gam against the Angels.  After Conor McDonough let up a homerun in the top of the first to Angel Pagan, The BrewCrew refused to go down without a fight.  Led by Chris Sanderson's 2 Run Homer in the Bottom of the 3rd, the Crew came charging back and looked determined to get their second win of the season in the books.  The Angels, however, had other plans, tying up the game at 2-2 where it would stay for 6 hard fought innings.

The Game went into extra innings in which both teams came up with rallies that would not produce that elusive winning run, Including Tim Wirzburger's unbelievable individual effort where he roped a single, stole second, and was sacrificed to third with 1 out.  The Crew couldn't plate him, and when Tom Bixby took the mound for his 3rd inning in the top of the 11th, he was tagged for three hits, the last being a 3 run homer that was the nail in the coffin for the SudBuds.

The loss on the field was not the only concern for the BrewCrew as injuries have begun to pile up.  Jeff Walgreen strained his bicep in pregame warmup, not exactly sure how this happens but rumors were swirling about a pregame arm wrestle with DJ Richmond, for the heart of the young blonde sitting behind the dugout.  DJ apparently won the battle, but lost the war as he injured his knee diving into second base on a successful stolen base. Early indication from the trainer is he may need a month to heal and DJ will not comment until further diagnosis.

Despite all of this negativity, there were bright spots in last nights game, as Tim Wirzburger, and Chris sanderson turned in Multi-hit nights and the Brewers rallied a few different times throughout the game.  As long as they can start pushing a few more home, they will be ok.

Next Game:
ar Oakland (3-1)  10 pm EST

BrewCrew Falters in 6-0 Shutout at Minnesota

The Brew Crew took a short flight to visit their American League neighbors of the north the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.  However, you would have thought they were operating on 12 hours of jetlag the way they swung the bats.   Joulys Chacin embarrased the BrewCrew with a complete game shutout fanning 12. The Crew is struggling mightily at the plate as one would expect for these youngsters. Even the once immortal DJ Richmond has yet to record a hit since his Opening Day Laser Show.  However many would argue, at least DJ has a hit. Which is more than the starting catcher/cleanup hitter, Ian Sumner can say.  Sumner is a measely 0-9 but fear not, he leads the league in most muscle used per swing. Unfortunately hes not the only zero point zero zero zero average on the team, Shawn Kelly refuses to let Sumner face the ridicule alone going a slim 0-for-8 these first 3 games. "Look we are in a funk right now," said Kelly, " No one said this would be easy, we just gotta comeback and grind out a win tomorrow." The BrewCrew better spend some quality time in the batting cage when they get back to Milwaukee.

The Lone Bright spot in this game was the first 5 Innings of lefty Tim Wirzburgers start.  The Southpaw was dazzling the Twinkies, throughout the game until the timeless stars of yesteryear, Try Glaus and Andruw Jones, figured out his changeup.  The pair decided to channel 2001 combining to go 5-8, including the 2 run bomb by Glaus to open the scoring in the 6th.  Jones would also go 3-4 with 2 doubles a triple and 2 RBI. 

It was not a pretty a pretty night for the Boys in Brew but hopefully they will get back into the swing of things in Milwaukee on Sunday as they host the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Next Game:
Sunday LA Angels at Milwaukee 1 pm

Lackluster Home Opener

The BrewCrew followed up their exciting Opening Day Victory with a relatively uneventful 2-1 loss in their Home Opener on Friday.  The Brewers came out strong with Ryan Baker on the hill facing Clay Bucholz and the Kansas City Royals.  Unfortunately Ryan Baker's great pitching was not enough.  Baker went six strong striking out 7 and was lights out until the 5th inning when Aubrey Huff launched a 2 run double over Jeff Walgreens head in left, plating the only 2 runs the Royals would need.  The BrewCrews lone run came on a Jeff Walgreen solo shot into the right field bleachers. The Brewers were rarely able to put bat on ball against Bucholz and Co. throughout the night and showed their you as they chased breaking pitch after pitch.  " I Dont know what happened, said DJ Richmond " we just couldnt get the bat on the ball, me included, all we can do is forget about it and come out next game ready to go"

And thats the best advice anyone could give, the BrewCrew will have to show some better patience at the plate. The pitching staff appeared to hurl as well as they could and Baker dueled with Bucholz as well as he could for 6 innings. With a little more run support, the Brewers will be in business.


Next Game
 at Minnesota 7pm Saturday

Opening Day Brings Big Win and Big Loss

The BrewCrew stepped up like a team experienced well beyond their years on Opening Day yesterday.  The young, new look Brewers grinded out a 1-0 victory over Adam Wainwright and the Detroit Tigers at Comerica park.  

The Brewers bats gave Wainwright all he could handle early in the game being very patient and working high counts, however were having trouble generating runs. Finally, Chris Sanderson as able to put the Brewers on the board with by legging out an infield single scoring DJ Richmond (the offensive star of this game) in the 4th inning. " I saw Chris chop down on it up the middle and took off luckily he beat the throw down the line said Richmond. "We had been getting good at bats we just needed to put one on the board first and we did" It looked as though the Brewers were going to add insurance in the 5th until a base running gaffe that led to an unconventional 8-6-3-4-5-6 double play.  From here on out the Brewers bats would be held relatively silent. 

The Big news in this game surrounded the pitching for the BrewCrew. Eamonn McDonough had pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings when all of a sudden something gave.  McDonough was in obvious pain and had to leave the game. Even worse, an MRI has revealed it is a torn rotator cuff, and though initial reports say he will be out for 6 months (about 5 month at longer than this season) the training staff will do what they can to have him pitch again.  As for last night, Brewers fans were left holding their breathe as their ace went down with injury and Ryan Monahan came storming out of the pen, in hiis patented style,only to drop his glove as he was running to the mound creating a very akward moment when he reached the coach on the hill. (This really happened it was both strange and hilarious).  But fans fear not Monahan strung together 4 2/3 stellar innings getting into real danger just once. That's not to say there weren't a number of 300 ft outs, but when called upon on short notice it was an awesome performance. The rest of the bullpen combined to hold the lead in the 8th and Russell closed out the 9th 1-2-3.  Alt the very least, we learned the BrewCrew can handle the stage and if they can get some timely hitting to match their pitching, it could be a fun month.

Our PBR Player of the Game:

DJ Richmond

3-4, 2B, 1R, 1 SB

"I was just seeing the ball well today, had those,, Opening Day jitters I guess early on, but I settled in after that and just enjoyed it"

Next Game:

Opening Day in Milwaukee vs. the KC Royals

BrewCrew unveiled

With Opening Day just around the corner, the new BrewCrew roster has been unveiled. Not a whole lot of surprises on the roster but here it is: 

DJ Richmond 2B

Don Richmond Sr.  RP

Bob Bixby  SS

Jim Bixby. SP

Tom Bixby. RP

Tim Wirzburger SP/OF

Connor McDonough SP

Eamonn McDonough SP

Shawn Kelly  RF

Ryan Kelly P/IF

Chris Sanderson  CF

Matt Morris  3B

Jeff Walgreen  LF

Foley Walgreen C

Sean Scanlan  1B/OF

Ryan Baker SP

Ricky McKinnon 1B/DH

Ryan Rooney RP

+ a variety of friends and family that won't read the blog and those who read won't know anyways

Now that the Rosters set, and Opening Day just around the corner, iit is near time to Play Ball!

Below you can see the most recent footage of many of our Sluggers in action.

Unprecedented! Welcome the BrewCrew!

When the (virtual) MLB revealed an indefinite strike prior to the start of this season, it was understood that this wouldn't be a typical summer, but, what is about to unfold is unprecedented even in the Bud Selig Era.  The (virtual) MLB is set to institute a 29-game shortened Season in which for the first time ever, Teams will be allowed to participate in a "Fantasy Draft" for this season only.  The schedule will be a sprint to the playoffs in which every team will play every other team once, no league prejudice, the only thing that matters is, as always, win your division or wild card and make a run at baseball's Holy Grail.  The path is changed, but the Goal is the same.

One Team that has taken a completely unique approach to this upcoming chaos is the Milwaukee Brewers who have opted out of the league-wide Fantasy Draft and instead have decided to sign a team full of amateur players.  They believe the familiarity and teamwork that this group can display will give them an edge in a season that will provide other teams little time to gel as a unit. So who are these Amateur Stars being cast into the brightest spotlight? Well that remains to be seen as the rosters will be officially released tomorrow, but speculation says that it will be the same group of 20-somethings + a few elders and youngsters that have comprised such fan favorite franchises as the Hawaii Fury and Boston Shamrocks. Same familiar names you may see include, Bixby, Kelly, Richmond, Sanderson, etc.

Some ask Why these kids would be willing to travel to Milwaukee to play for an abbreviated season in which many predict they will get crushed by the competition.  Well for one, we understand that  a years supply of PBR's have been made part of the offer, but in all seriousness Bob Bixby had his own opinion,"I think the question is why not, this is the opportunity of a lifetime to take advantage of, ....being a pro ball player and getting a shot at a World Series. It will take a lot of hardwork and practice but I think we got the chemistry to do something special... make history."  Many in the media have also pondered how the new team of kids with little more than high school baseball on their resume would be received. After all replacing fan favorites and talents like Ryan Braun is no easy feat. When asked about being welcomed by the new fans and replacing Braun, expected starting Right Fielder Shawn Kelly said," Who?? Nah im not worried about replacing him, and let me tell you something, I dont need 'roids to do what he did."

It Appears this new team that Bixby has already dubbed the "New Aged BrewCrew" is ready for primetime in what will surely be an exciting rest of the summer. And as for any concerns about the kids handling the pressure of a new city with high expectations, they sure are handling the hype well and as DJ Richmond put it, " Sure free beer for a year sounds good....Maybe we could work out something, free Beer for Life if we bring back a World Series?"

Also, dont forget to be on the lookout for the official roster in the coming days.