The Church of Baseball V

The Brewers haven't been doing so hot since the last update. Their record is now at 52-59, which means they've gone 17-23 since I last talked about them. Injuries have really hampered the team, especially injuries to their star pitcher, Ben Sheets. He's missed most of the year with shoulder tendinitis and had to come out of the last game due to 'pectoral tightness'. The folks over at Brewerfan.net are kinda worried that it's a more significant injury than that. We'll see. Besides Ben, Tomo Ohka and Rick Helling also missed significant time earlier this year.

Position players haven't been all that immune to injury either. J.J. Hardy, who began the year as starting shortstop has been out since May, after injuring himself sliding at home plate. Rickie Weeks just went down a week ago to a wrist injury, also while sliding. We couldn't forget about Corey Koskie either, who suffered a concussion while combining with Billy Hall on a great defensive play.

Just to add to the pile of things not going the Brewers way, they were unable to come to terms with All-Star slugger, Carlos Lee on a contract extension. So, a few days before the trading deadline loomed, the Crew made a deal with the Texas Rangers, sending Lee along with minor league outfielder Nelson Cruz south in return for Fransisco Cordero, Kevin Mench, Laynce Nix and A-ball pitcher, Julian Cordero. Though losing the powerful left fielder is tough to take, getting back a solid outfielder in Mench, as well as a much needed relief pitcher in Cordero (the first one) makes it easier to swallow. In addition to that move, the Brewers picked up infielder Tony Graffanino from the Royals for Jorge de la Rosa, and third baseman David Bell from the Phillies for Wil Laureano, a minor league pitcher, shoring up the Brewers infield for the rest of the season.

So, now the Brewers have a 'new look' team. Unfortunately they face an uphill battle, just to regain .500, but, it's baseball; anything can happen! Here's hoping...

TTF
Mophia