[BirdWatcher]

Next the Brewers host the Charlotte Sting for 2 games at Centennial Stadium.
The Sting, after years of futility, are seemingly a team on the rise. In their first six years of existence, the Sting never finished better than 8th place (in a 10-team league). Last season they rose a bit to 6th but still finished well under .500. But the expectation for this year is that could at least reach the break-even mark and they are off to a solid start. The Sting are 3rd in the league in batting average but closer to the middle of the pack in all other offensive categories. But with a much improved bullpen- led by free agent acquisition Jamel McNeil, arguably the most talented reliever in the game but also the most despised player in the WPK- they are 3rd in runs against in the MGL and have the best bullpen ERA.

The Sting and the Brewers played to a 3-3 draw after 9 innings in the first game but the Sting then broke through for 4 runs in the top of the 12th against Eric Singer and the Brewers could not counter and lost 7-3. (The starting pitcher for the Sting was former Brewer Adam Getchell, marking the third game in a row where the Brewers faced a former teammate in that role- prior to this it was Joey Brown and Lani Malolu of Phoenix.)

The Brewers dropped a tight one in game 2 as the Sting prevailed 3-2 and swept the short series to move 1 1/2 ahead of the Brewers in 2nd place (Denver drops to 4th behind the surging Brooklyn Aces.) Lefty Matt Helm got his first start for the Brewers this season and pitched quite well- allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 9 hits over 8 innings pitched (4 K, 2 BB) but was handed the loss to fall to 1-1 with a 1.40 ERA. Jamison Bash hit his 4th HR of the season in the loss.