[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 4-2 (week), 52-29, 1st place, MGL (season).

July 5-7, versus Brooklyn: 1-0, 12-10, 3-4

Coming out of the All-Star break the Brewers first take on the 2nd place Brooklyn Aces, the team most likely to be their prime rival for MGL supremacy this season.
And in the first game the fans in Denver see a pitching duel between Sadahige Kawasaki and Brooklyn lefty Shannon Petrik. Kawasaki (5-5, 2.54) prevails, hurling 7 1/3rd scoreless innings and giving up just 3 hits. He got an assist from Jason Gottula, who pitched the last 1 2/3rds, flawlessly, to pick up his 7th save. RodRod went 3 for 4 in the victory and Joe McPhillips hit his 14th double.

A very different game on Tuesday evening for game 2. The pitching match-up of Cheol-han Lee against Aaron McNally did not produce the kind of outcome one would expect. Cheol-han gave up 4 runs on 9 hits over 6 2/3rds innings while the reigning back-to-back Triple Crown winner and Pitcher of the Year McNally gave up 7 runs (6 earned) on 11 hits in just 6 innings of work. Zacarias Martell helped lead the Brewers to victory in the slug-fest, going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Walter Hackler (1-0, 5.63) got the win in relief with Tim Shore getting the final 2 outs for his 10th save.

In the final game of the series, the Brewers came back late to erase a 3-0 deficit but then saw Brooklyn win it in the 11th inning. Steve Green gave up 3 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings in a no-decision for him. Damian Hahn (0-1, 3.27) suffered the loss, in spite of pitching pretty well. Joe McPhillips went 2 for 4 with 1 run scored and 1 driven in.

July 8-10, at San Francisco: 3-10, 11-3, 2-1.

The Brewers then head west to take on the streaking San Francisco Velocity, who came into the series having won 6 straight.
And in game 1, the Velocity make it 7 victories in a row with an easy win over Denver. Matty Helm (6-1, 2.72) gives up 4 runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3rds innings to take his first loss of the season. And reliever Antonio Nieves goes the rest of the way, allowing 6 more runs on 7 hits. Nieves promptly gets sent back to AAA the next morning. Brett Taranto went 2 for 4 in the loss, hitting his 8th triple of 1976.

The Brewers flip the script in game two as they walk away with an easy victory, sparked by a great game from lead-off hitter Josh Schaeffer. Schaeffer went 2 for 3, scored 3 runs, drove in 2 more, and walked 3 times to raise his WPK best bases on balls total to 67. Brett Taranto continued to rake, going 2 for 5, hitting his 20th double, 9th triple, and driving in 4 runs to raise his team-leading total to 57. And Joe McPhillips contributed a 3 for 4, 3 RBI game, including hitting his 15th double. The Brewers got a fine start from Sekien Hamasaki (7-3, 2.96), who is building a case for more regular starts. Hamasaki gave up 2 runs on 7 hits over 7 innings pitched, striking out 7 and walking just 1. He also went 2 for 4 at the plate, scoring twice.

The Brewers get another series victory by scoring 2 late runs to over-take the Velocity in a low-scoring affair in game 3. Erik Sloan pitched well, giving up just 1 run on 6 hits over 6 innings, but did not get the decision. The win went to Walter Hackler (2-0, 4.09) and Tim Shore got the save, his 11th. Brett Taranto went 2 for 4 and drove in what would prove to be the winning run with an RBI single in the 8th inning.

Notes from around the league: What's gotten into those El Paso Dawgs? Long the most bedraggled organization in the WPK, the Dawgs are finally having their day. They now lead the SJL over Columbus by 3 games (51-30 to the Whalers 48-33.) Milwaukee (45-36) is in 3rd place, 6 games out.
The Brewers now lead the MGL by 6 games over the red-hot L.A. Spinners (46-35.) The Brooklyn Aces fall back to 3rd place at 45-36, 7 games off the mark. And the San Francisco Velocity, at 43-38, are next, 9 games behind the Brewers.