Boxscore

When last we checked in on the Brewers, they were continuing to struggle along, finding it difficult to make to much headway towards .500. Well, apparently Houston was nice enough to bring a cure-all tonic with them up from Texas as the Brewers swept the Astros over the weekend.

Shawn Chacon was terrible for Houston, allowing 4 runs in his one, that’s right, one inning of work. Jack Cassel, who relieved Chacon, wasn’t much better, coughing up 6 (4 earned) in his 2 1/3 innings.

Dave Bush was stellar for Milwaukee, and Ryan Braun and Russell Branyan both homered to lead the offense.

The win puts the Brewers one game above .500 for the first time in a while. They’ll try to stay there as the Diamondbacks and Doug Davis come to town. Jeff Suppan tries to keep the Brewer’s win streak going at 8:05pm EDT.

As for Houston, they have a day off to travel to Pittsburgh.

Boxscore

The adaptive Cardinals used primarily small-ball tactics and defense to defeat the Pirates. They took advantage of five singles and a walk to score 5 runs. Then their defense and pitching made sure it held up.

St. Louis has been successful this year, taking what their given. Some days they have the home runs flying, sometimes it’s a low-scoring, pitching duel, and some days, like yesterday, they turn singles into runs. A team that follows either a small-ball or 3-run home run strategy is far too one-dimensional to do well, as the homer happy Reds have proved over the past few years.

The two teams close out their series tonight at 8:15pm EDT, with Tom Gorzelanny pitching for the Pirates and Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals.

Boxscore

So it looks like all the bloggers were right. In the week since the Reds called up Jay Bruce–whose first initial is a homophone for his first name–the team has just won and won and won some more. Apparently, the problem was Corey Patterson all along.

A day after hitting a walk-off homer, Bruce hit his second to lead the Reds to a victory and the series sweep over the Braves. Nice revenge for the sweep the Braves handed them earlier in the year.

Next, Cincinnati travels to Philadelphia to try to improve their atrocious road record. Bronson Arroyo starts against Kyle Kendrick at 7:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Brewers continue to have problems reaching .500, let alone moving past it. Manager Ned Yost has been with the team for 6 years now, and I have to think that his seat is warming up. (Not that the injuries to their pitching staff are his fault. The loss of Torrealba was significant.)

In a game that was close until the 5th, Milwaukee mustered only 6 hits and 1 run, and that on a solo shot by Russell Branyan. I was surprised to see his name pop up. Branyan had a homer, a strikeout, and two walks on the day, so it’s nice to see he’s still his same old Three True Outcomes self.

The Brewers next host the Astros tonight at 8:05pm EDT, hoping to gain some Central ground with Manny Parra starting against Brandon Backe.

Boxscore

More often than not, Roy Oswalt has struggled this year. So much so, that he was given plenty of time off for this start against the Cardinals. He was better. In fact, he ended up in a pitching duel with Kyle Lohse.

Ultimately, Lohse won, thanks to a bit more offense and the power of ex-Reds in the bullpen. Ron Villone and Ryan Franklin both pitched in relief, with Franklin getting his fourth save. Amazing to see how he’s excelled in relief with St. Louis. It makes me shake me head in wonder.

The Astros travel to Milwaukee and send Brandon Backe against Manny Parra at 8:05pm EDT. Meanwhile, the Cardinals stay at home to host the Pirates, with Zach Duke starting against Todd Wellemeyer at 8:15pm EDT.