[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 3-3 (week), 75-38, 1st place, MGL (season).

August 8, versus San Francisco: 1-2.

The Velocity score a pair of runs in the first inning and hold on to make that enough to win the third game in the series and avoid being swept. Tough loss for Steve Green (10-6, 2.42), who gave up 2 runs (unearned) on 7 hits over his 7 innings pitched. Zacarias Martell hit his 17th double of the season and scored the lone Brewer run.

August 9-11, versus Oklahoma City: 3-0, 2-3, 7-3.

The Brewers then host the fifth place Diamond Kings.
In the first game, Sekien Hamasaki (12-3, 2.68) and the bullpen combine to shut out Oklahoma City. Hamasaki went 6 2/3rds, giving up 4 hits, striking out 5 while walking just 1. Tim Shore pitched the 9th for his 15th save. Andrew Kennedy went 2 for 2, hitting his 18th double, and drove in 2 runs.

The Diamond Kings and Brewers battled to a 2-2 tie after 9 innings and then the visitors scored in the top of the 11th and their star closer Ben Bakeman easily retired the Brewers to close out the win. Tough luck for Erik Sloan, who gave up just 2 runs on 7 hits over 8 innings without getting a decision. Walter Hackler (2-1, 3.44) took the loss. Joe Willemse went 3 for 5 in the loss.

Matt Helm (9-2, 2.88) gets another win, lasting 6 innings and giving up 3 runs on 5 hits. Ben Flynn pitches the final 3 innings for the save, his 5th, and sees his ERA improve to 4.76. Brad Tesh went 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI to lead the offense. And both Andrew Kennedy and RodRod went 3 for 5 and each hit a double, for Andrew it was his 19th, and for RodRod it was number 20.

August 14, at Charlotte: 10-5(game 1), 0-4(game 2).

After a scheduled day off on Thursday the Brewers get an unscheduled day off Friday when the first game of three against Charlotte gets postponed due to rain.
In the first game of the makeup double header, the Brewers get a big game from Joe McPhillips (who is quietly moving himself back into MVP contention), who went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 4 RBI and hit his 8th homer of the season, which helped propel them to a road win. Joe also swiped his 19th base of the season. Sadahige Kawasaki (10-5, 2.27) got the win, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits over 7 innings pitched. John Weaver pitched the final 2 innings for his 2nd save and has a fine 2.31 ERA. Brad Tesh had another good game, going 3 for 5 and Bobby Erbakan hit his 5th HR, going 2 for 4 and scoring 3 runs.

Nick McDermott, the Sting starter in the night-cap of the double-header, hasn't had a great season, coming into the game with a 2-4 record and a 4.71 ERA. But he was spectacular against the Brewers in this one and gets the complete game, 7-hit shutout. Cheol-han Lee (13-2, 3.62) took the loss, working 8 innings, giving up 4 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits. Joe McPhillips picked up his 20th stolen base, and that was pretty much it for offensive highlights for our Brewers.

Notes from around the league:
El Paso (70-43) is clinging to a 2 1/2 game over Columbus (67-45) and are 4 games ahead of the red-hot Milwaukee Cadets (66-47).
Even with a less impressive week, the Brewers hold a 7 game lead over L.A. (68-45) while the slumping Brooklyn Aces (62-51) in third place are sitting 13 games off the pace.