10.03.2011

The Milwaukee Brewers are One Win Away from the NLCS


In front of yet another sold-out crowd at Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-4 Sunday afternoon to give themselves a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five National League Division Series for their hometown fans.

In fact, they're the only team to have a 2-0 lead in the playoffs thus far, with every other series tied at 1-1. Oddly enough, this marks the first time in franchise history that the Brewers hold a shutout lead in a postseason series.

Ryan Braun was at it again for Milwaukee, nailing a two-run homer in the first inning before Paul Goldschmidt answered with a solo shot in the second for the Diamondbacks. Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks then drove in a few runs in the third for a 6-1 lead, but Chris Young and Justin Upton each hit homers in the fourth in fifth, respectively, in an attempt to chip away at Milwaukee's rather comfortable position.

Jonathan Lucroy, who his teammates call "Mr. Squeeze", drove in the go-ahead run with a bunt during the Brewers' five-run sixth that busted the game wide open. Corey Hart, Nyjer Morgan, and Braun each singled to chip right back and eventually earn the win for the Brewers.

Brad Ziegler, who came in for Arizona with one out in the sixth inning, not only surrendered four runs on three hits, he walked two, and made a throwing error that moved runners into scoring position. He allowed seven straight batters to get on base and failed miserably at getting anyone out. Oh yeah, and he balked too. As a result, he now has a 108.00 postseason ERA. Yikes... at least he didn't hit anyone I guess.

The series will resume in Arizona for Game 3 (and Game 4 if necessary) with Shaun Marcum taking on rookie right-hander Josh Collmenter at 9:30pm ET Tuesday night on TNT. Even if the Brewers drop the next two games, they're guaranteed to return to shadowy Miller Park for a possible Game Five. Yay Homefield Advantage!

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Thank you Brad Ziegler.

Sooze said...

Yeah, he kind of fell apart huh.

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