[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 6-1 (week), 47-24, 1st place, MGL (season).

The final full week of June was a good one for the Brewers.

June 22-23, versus Charlotte: 13-4, 8-6.
The Brewers get the 3-game sweep of Charlotte. In the middle game of the series, Joe McPhillips once again shines, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs and 4 RBI and hit his 7th HR of the season. A good start for Harry Lyerly (4-3, 3.12), who gave up 4 runs (1 earned) on 7 hits over 8 innings.
The Brewers nearly blew an 8-0 lead in the final game of the series but were able to hold on for the 8-6 win. Guess who the Player of the Game was? Yup, that's right. Joe McPhillips- who went 2 for 4 with 2 runs and 3 RBI, hitting his 10th double and 8th HR. Cheol-han Lee (9-2, 3.30) got the win, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 9 hits over 7 2/3rds. Tim Shore came in to get the final 2 outs for his 4th save as a Brewer. Zacarias Martell (.347/.418/.520) continues his fine season, hitting his 5th HR of 1975 and driving in 3 runs.

June 24-26, at Baltimore: 5-1, 2-4, 5-0.

The first game against the Lords in Baltimore is another great start from team captain, Matt Helm. Helm (6-1, 2.44) didn't give up any runs in his 8 innings pitched, allowing just 6 hits, striking out 5 and walking 1. The two big hitting stars for the Brewers in this one were RodRod (.365/.412/.506), who went 2 for 5, hitting his 3rd HR and driving in 4 runs, and Chad Brown (.294/.329/.362), who was 4 for 4 and hit his 8th double.
In the middle game of the series the Brewers suffered their only loss of the week. Erik Sloan (4-3, 3.48) wasn't horrible- he gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits in 7 innings pitched. But he didn't get much run support and was saddled with the loss. Sepi Koller, recently called up from AAA Chester, picked up his first hit as a big leaguer and then followed it up with his second, which was also his first double.
The Brewers got a shutout in the third game of the series, Steve Green (7-2, 3.59) combining with two relievers Jeremy Walker and Tim Shore to keep the Lords off the board. Green gave up just 4 hits in 7 2/3rds innings pitched, striking out 7 and walking 2. Sepi Koller hit his first WPK homer as a pinch-hitter in the 9th inning. And Joe Willemse (.308/.333/.406) hit his first homer of the year and went 2 for 5 in the game.

June 27-28, at Phoenix: 5-3, 10-4.

Brewer slugger (no, just kidding, he's really mostly a singles hitter) Joe Willemse was the big star in game 1 at Phoenix. Willemse came into the game as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning with the bases loaded and 2 outs. The hope was that the slap-hitting contact specialist Willemse might sneak a grounder through the infield to score at least 1 run. The Brewers were trailing 3-1 at the time and were just looking to get things back to even. Instead Willemse watched the first pitch pass by for ball 1 and then liked what he saw with the next pitch. He sent it sailing into left-center stands, some 442 feet away, for a Grand Slam, giving the Brewers a lead they would not relinquish. His big clutch hit helped give Sadahige Kawasaki (9-3, 2.71) another victory. Sadahige gave up 3 runs on 6 hits in 7 2/3rds IP. Jeremy Walker pitched the final inning and a third for his 4th save.
In the second game of the series, the last game of the week, Joe McPhillilps (.326/.420/.637) was at it again, going 3 for 5 with 2 runs, 2 RBI, and hit his 9th HR and 11th double. Harry Lyerly (5-3, 3.11) picked up another win, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 IP. And Sepi Koller (.462/.579/.846), after a bit of a slow start, has been hitting well, and went 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and hit his 2nd double in the win. And how about Zacarias Martell? Martell (.342/.415/.522) was 3 for 5 in this one, drove in 3 runs, hit his 12th double and 1st triple of 1975.

And I didn't even mention Andrew Kennedy and barely mentioned Rodrigo "RodRod" Rodriguez, who both had very good weeks and remain probably the best pure hitters on the team.

Notes from around the league: The Columbus Whalers cooled off just a bit but still have an impressive 51-20 record, leading the SJL over 2nd place Boston (45-26) by 6 games. The reigning SJL champs, Jacksonville, sit in 3rd place but with an uninspiring 39-31 record, 11 1/2 games off the pace. What about the two expansion clubs? The Chicago Fire sit in 10th place (out of 12) with a 30-40 record that isn't really that bad for a first year club. But the woeful Houston Cavaliers have now lost 10 straight and have a WPK worst 18-53 record.
The Brewers have won 8 of their last 10 but unfortunately for them the same is true of the Brooklyn Aces (44-27), who remain just 3 games back in 2nd place. Baltimore is 38-32, in 3rd place, 8 1/2 back. And the L.A. Spinners, at 38-33, are 9 out.