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Counsell missed out on NL Manager of the Year

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Craig Counsell – Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell led the Brewers to their first playoff berth since 2011, winning the National League Central crown.  But Counsell fell short in the voting for National League Manager of the Year, as the Baseball Writers gave the honor to Atlanta’s Brian Snitker.

Snitker picked up 17 of 30 first-place votes to 11 for Counsell.  Counsell is the fourth Brewers manager to finish runner-up, joining Tom Trebelhorn, Phil Garner and Ron Roenicke.  No Brewer manager has ever captured the honor.

Snitker helped take the Braves from 72 wins a year ago, to 90 wins this past season.

Counsell’s Brewers won eight straight games to finish out the regular season, overtaking the Chicago Cubs for the Central Division title. [Read more…]

Yelich And Counsell Are MLB Award Finalists

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Christian Yelich

Finalists for Major League Baseball’s postseason awards are out and Milwaukee‘s Christian Yelich and Craig Counsell are among them.

Yelich headlines the National League MVP class after leading the league in hitting with a .326 average.  He clubbed 36 home runs and drove in 110 runs.  He got red-hot in the second half of the season.  In the final 65 games, Yelich hit .367 with 25 home runs and 67 RBI.

If he wins, Yelich would become the Brewers’ fifth-ever MVP.  Ryan Braun last won it in 2011 while Rollie Fingers captured the award in 1981 and Robin Yount did it twice, in 1982 and 1989.

Colorado’s Nolan Arenado and Chicago’s Javier Baez are the other two finalists for the award.

Counsell is one of three finalists for the National League Manager of the Year award.  He led the Brewers to a franchise best 102 victories this season.  The 96 regular season wins tied for the most in franchise history.  The Brewers have never had a manager of the year.

Counsell is joined by Colorado’s Bud Black and Atlanta’s Brian Snitker with the winners to be announced next week.

Rookie of the Year award winners will be announced on Monday, managers on Tuesday, Cy Young winners on Wednesday and MVP’s next Thursday.

 

Brewers facing elimination after game 5 loss to Dodgers

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Milwaukee Brewers manager went with another bullpen game on Wednesday afternoon, but this time, they ran into a dominating pitching performance as Clayton Kershaw led the Dodgers to a 5-2 win in Los Angeles.

Kershaw held the Brewers to a run and three hits in seven innings as the Dodgers took a 3-2 lead in the NLCS.  It puts the Brewers in a must win scenario in game six on Friday night at Miller Park.

Kershaw’s outing came after he didn’t make it out of the fourth inning in game one of the series at Miller Park.

Wade Miley started for the Brewers but faced just one batter before Craig Counsell went to Brandon Woodruff out of the bullpen.  After Miley walked the first hitter, Woodruff hit Justin Turner but struck out David Freese and got Manny Machado to ground into an inning-ending double play. [Read more…]

Brewers grab NL Central Division title in a playoff

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Craig Counsell’s celebration interrupted by questions from a reporter.

The Milwaukee Brewers finished the season with eight-straight wins and the eighth is the one that won the Central Division title over the Chicago Cubs.  It was a battle like many others this season between the two teams and when the smoke cleared, it was the Brewers coming out on top, 3-1 over the rival Cubs.

The win gave the Brewers the best record in the National League at 96-67 and guarantees them home field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.  The Cubs, with a 95-68 record, the second best in the National League, but it gets them nothing more than a spot in Tuesday nights wildcard game.

If the Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies in tonight’s wildcard game, they would meet the Brewers in Milwaukee in the first round NLDS starting Thursday night at Miller Park.

The Brewers went 20-7 since the first of September and trailed the Cubs by five games on Labor Day and 3 1/2 games on Sept. 18.  At that point in time, most followers believed the Brewers were playing for a wildcard.  But the Brewers themselves never gave up on the division.

The Cubs hosted game number 163 because they won the season series 11-8.  Chicago fans invested heavily in their team by purchasing tickets at Miller Park during the regular season.  Brewers fans did the same for game 163 on Monday.  They were plentiful and boisterous throughout the game. [Read more…]

Brewers 90th win draws them closer to playoffs

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Eric Thames File Photo: by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Eric Thames tripled and scored on a throwing error in the eighth inning and the Milwaukee Brewers went on to knock off the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Monday night.

Ryan Braun homered and Christian Yelich drove in a pair of runs as the Brewers won for the fourth time in their last five games and for the 90th (90-67) time this season.  They moved three games in front of the Cardinals for the top wildcard spot in the National League.  The Brewers also drew to within 1 1/2 games of the Central Division leading Cubs in the Central Division after the Cubs fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1.

The Brewers went with a bullpen by committee to secure this win.  It started with Dan Jennings getting the first out of the game by retiring Matt Carpenter for his only batter faced, and it finished with Corey Knebel slamming the door in the 9th for his 16th save.  In between, the Brewers used seven other pitchers for a total of nine for the game.  Corbin Burnes (7-0) got two outs for the win. [Read more…]

Cubs return the favor to the Brewers and earn a 2-game series split

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Junior Guerra – File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

One day after being blanked by the rival Milwaukee, the Chicago Cubs responded by beating the Brewers 8-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Junior Guerra entered the game with a career 1.74 ERA against the Cubs, but he allowed seven runs and nine hits before departing in the fourth.

Ryan Braun, who clubbed two home runs just one day earlier, left Wednesday’s game with a tight right ribcage.  It comes after Braun had been swinging a hot bat.  He had been hitting .388 with four HR’s and 12 RBI over the last 16 games.

The Cubs scored four runs in the first three innings against Guerra.  Anthony Rizzo lined a two-run home run in the first.  Jason Heyward doubled in a run in the  third, followed by David Bote scoring on a Guerra wild pitch to make it 4-0. [Read more…]

19 hits isn’t enough for Brewers

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Manager Craig Counsell

The Milwaukee Brewers collected 19 hits on Sunday, yet still fell to the Atlanta Braves 8-7.

Brewers starter Chase Anderson struggled from the start and made it through just four innings before manager Craig Counsell was forced to go to the bullpen.  It’s the second straight outing that Anderson has been unable to make it to the fifth inning and protect a lead.

Corey Knebel, who is no longer working in a closer capacity was entrusted with the fifth inning and he proved he wasn’t able to handle that spot either.  He allowed a run after a pair of one-out doubles by Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis.

Rookie Corbin Burnes coughed up a two-run homer in the sixth and Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies finished off the Braves comeback with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the seventh off of Dan Jennings.

The 19 hits were offset by the Brewers going 4 for 14 with runners in scoring position and leaving 13 runners on base.  They fell to 17-30 in day games and are now 4-15 on Sunday’s. [Read more…]

Brewers throttled by Dodgers in series finale

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The Milwaukee Brewers finished their eight game road trip out west with a 5-3 record and they’ll take it.  But they finished with two straight losses, including Thursday nights 21-5 blowout loss to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers had 18 hits and clubbed seven home runs.  Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin (10-4) gave up three of the long balls, allowing eight earned runs and not making it out of the fifth.

The 21 runs scored by the Dodgers is the most ever scored against a Brewers team.  With the hits and runs piling up, manager Craig Counsell once again went to a couple of position players to mop up, Hernan Perez and Erik Kratz.

The Brewers did score first after Christian Yelich doubled and eventually scored on a pair of wild pitches from Clayton Kershaw. [Read more…]

Peralta wins his Miller Park debut

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Freddy Peralta

22-year-old Milwaukee Brewers rookie Freddy Peralta tossed seven innings of one-hit ball while striking out 10 in a 5-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

Peralta, who had previously used his fastball about 85% of the time, threw more curve balls on Tuesday night and he was throwing them for strikes, improving to 3-0 on the season.

With Zach Davies set to make at least one more rehab start on Friday night in Appleton, which means Peralta will get another start for the Brewers when he faces the Reds in Cincinnati on Sunday.  After that, who knows.

“That hasn’t been a conversation,” manager Craig Counsell said.  “If he keeps pitching like that, it’s going to lead to more starts, for sure.”

Christian Yelich got things rolling with a home run in the first inning, swinging on a 3-0 count.  Ryan Braun and Jesus Aguilar also went deep.  Aguilar clubbed his 17th home run of the season.

Brent Suter (8-4) pitches the series finale for the Brewers this afternoon at Miller Park.

Brewers struggle to score runs, suffer 3rd straight loss

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Craig Counsell

The Milwaukee Brewers racked up nine hits on Wednesday, but managed just one run in a 3-1 loss to the Indians in Cleveland.  The Indians swept the two-game series.

Carlos Carrasco scattered eight hits, seven of them were singles.  He walked just one while striking out 10 Brewers.

The Brewers scored first after Christian Yelich led off the second inning with a double.  He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Travis Shaw RBI single.  But that would be it for the Brewers offense.

After Cleveland tied the game in the fifth, Brewers manager Craig Counsell removed starter Chase Anderson (4-5), going with Jeremy Jeffress to get out of a jam.  That plan failed after the normally dependable Jeffress surrendered the go-ahead run on a Jose Ramirez RBI double.  Jeffress then walked Edwin Encarnacion and Yonder Alonso, forcing in a third run to close out the scoring.

Counsell was ejected in the eighth inning, his third ejection this season.

The Brewers fell to 1-4 in the month of June.  They’re off today and open a 3-game series in Philadelphia on Friday night.