What an exciting game to watch today as the Brewers took game one 4-1. As a former player it has a profound effect on my emotions. I am so happy for my friends out there but I yearn to be out there with them. I also love the fans. So many screen shots today of fans pulling hard for the Brewers! It was also nice to see the lady fan right behind home plate jumping up and down with every strike and positive Brewer play!
Lets go over some Game 1 observations.
Starting pitching:
Yovani was dominant out there today. He started to get tired in the 7th inning and had a string of balls that were up and hit well. Then in the 8th he gave up the home run. That had the effect of waking a sleeping dog as Yo reached deep and struck the next three batters out. Why is Gallardo so good? His fastball and curveball both come out of the same arm slot. He is able to pound the zone down with a steep angled fastball that makes his 80-86 mph curve ball deadly.
Kennedy made only one mistake: Pitching to Prince with a base open and two outs. No disrespect to my friend Rickie Weeks but there is no reason to pitch to Fielder in that situation.
Axford:
Great getting ahead and staying ahead. 95+ all day, right at them. Great look for him. His facial hair, um, as long as he pitches like this ... great look for him.
The good:
Fielder and Braun carried the offensive load for the Brewers today. Ryan had all great at bats battling to get his hits. Fielder as always makes teams pay in big situations. I wouldn't pitch to Prince with runners in scoring position the rest of the postseason. I would make someone else beat me.
The concerning:
In the fourth when Braun, Fielder and Weeks set up the Brewers for a huge inning the rest of the lineup was over aggressive. This worked into the 20-game winner Kennedy favor. I feel that if the crew was a bit more conservative after Harriston's sac fly that they could have knocked out Kennedy in the fourth and made the Diamondbacks get in their bullpen. This would have put a lot of stress on there pen the rest of the series.
What winning game one does for the Brewers:
Gives them huge leverage. A swagger based team like the Brewers will feed off of momentum and that is exactly what they have. I look for the rest of the line up to heat up and continue leading to another win tomorrow.
Seth McClung pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2007-2009, but broke into the Major Leagues with Tampa Bay in 2003. The West Virginia native is now a pitcher in Taiwan.
McClung, a popular player during his time in Milwaukee, remains connected to Brewers fans through this blog on OnMilwaukee.com.
"Big Red" will cover baseball in a way only a player can, but he'll talk about other sports, too. The 6 foot, 6 inch flamethrower will write about life outside the game, too.
