Phils, Brewers Split in Back-and-Forth Battle at the Bank

Sam's Phillies had just been routed by Colorado, and he was hoping to rebound after seeing Jacob deGrom's no-no getting spoiled by his own bullpen. I was just hoping to keep the momentum going after a fairly steady start to the season [barring that farshtunkenah Dodgers series]. We both got what we wanted, to a degree. 

Game 1: Phillies 7, Brewers 6 [F/11]

W: Adrian "The Frenchman" Morejon

L: Jhoan Duran [or The Wedding Album]

Every series I've played thus far has had at least one game go to extras. This team is just built for close games, I guess. This one didn't go as planned though. 

It was a trading paint kinda game from the beginning. Ben Lively gave up 3 runs in 5 innings, all on some sneaky contact work from Gabriel Moreno, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Marsh. Javier Assad, as I intended, got battered around in 4 innings, giving up a sacfly to both Blaze Alexander and Kyle Stowers, and a two-run bomb to Drake Baldwin. Once I gave it to one of my better bullpen hands, Anthony Bender, Sam broke it open with a 3-run Corbin Carroll bomb. But more power work from Carlos Santana [of all people, with a 1-6 split roll] and Baldwin again [off of Randy Rodriguez, still smarting from last deGrom game] knotted it up in the eighth. 

Important to note this game was that, upon an injury to Bryson Stott, Sam had to put in Jose Altuve at 2nd. 2025 was not a great defensive year for the little guy. This would weaken the Phillies' defensive edge for the rest of the series.

As has become typical for Milwaukee, once the game went to extras it became a bullpen war of attrition. This one was Sam's to win, as Edwin Diaz struck out 5 Brewers and Adrian Morejon stranded a ton of baserunners. With Jhoan Duran on in the bottom of the eleventh, Corbin Carroll got up and hit his second dinger of the game, sealing it for Philly. The Brewers were never truly out of it, but we keeled over in those last few innings when we should have taken charge.

Game 2: Phillies 7, Brewers 5

W: Fernando Cruz

L: Jimmy Herget

SV: Edwin Diaz

Something that blows my mind about this series is that the two games I prepared my toughest hitters for, to exploit obvious pitcher flaws, were the ones I didn't end up winning. I tried to batter Javier Assad and I still lost, and then the Matthew Liberatore game didn't go much better. All this for the first Brewers game of the season against a lefty starter. The previous thirteen had all been against right-handers. Perhaps fearing the lefty-bashing my team was capable of last year.

To be fair, this was somewhat founded. Against 5 and a third innings of Liberatore, the Brewers managed contact RBIs in the first, a Matt McLain solo shot in the 2nd, a Chourio RBI double in the third, and some infielding shenanigans in the 6th. Not that Gray went unscathed, as he allowed homers to Corbin Carroll [that's THREE], Alec Bohm and Michael Harris. Still struck out 7 though, a season best, but in CBP he was honestly kinda doomed.

The starting pitchers' troubles let the game even out to 5-4 Brewers after the 6th, and I was managing this as well as I could. My mistake was handing the game to Jimmy Herget in order to conserve innings from the relievers I used in Game 1. This was a mistake, as Herget got 2 guys on in the 7th and gave up a low-probability 3-run home run to Francisco Lindor. That smarted. And once again, despite my best efforts, the Brewers' lineup could not reply, especially not against Edwin Diaz, who still had our number. Another painful loss for me.

Game 3: Brewers 7, Phillies 2

W: Zack Littell

L: Jacob deGrom

Yes, folks. The DEGROM GAME was where the Brewers finally started outdoing themselves. Not against two worse cards in Assad and Liberatore. Against a generally strong Jacob deGrom performance, one start removed from a no-hit bid. This game makes absolutely no sense sometimes. 

Also completely nonsensical: Zack Littell going 8 strong against the Phillies offense. Sam just could not find Littell's 4 column, hitting basically everywhere else on the card. Littell, who's somehow become one of my best starters, allowed only 5 hits, including a home run to Money Mike Harris, and 2 walks, and striking out 3. Littell is a great 'keep it in the park' pitcher and in this game the Brewers, with the exception of Isaac Paredes in the 4th, held strong. 

Now...against Jacob deGrom...you know, THAT Jacob deGrom, the Brewers truly teed off. In the first, the usually apoplectic Isaac Paredes took him yard. In the second a procession of contact hitting scored 2 more runs. In the 6th, Heliot Ramos had a homer, on top of a 3-for-4 day for the big man. At that point, by the time deGrom left, it was 4 to 1. Then after some more contact work off of Wandy Peralta it was 6 to 1. And in the ninth, off of Fernando Cruz, Gavin Lux manufactured another run. All the while the Phils were getting NOTHING from Littell. 

In the ninth, Kyle Finnegan gave up a solo shot to Nick Castellanos. It would have been a 2-run shot had Jorge Mateo not gotten picked off stealing home.

Game 4: Brewers 11, Phillies 3

W: Carlos Rodon

L: MacKenzie Gore

It took me 16 games but the Brewers finally scored more than 10 runs. I describe this game as a power-hitting giant with amnesia. Like, we can do big things at the plate but we often forget that we can. This game, that wasn't an issue.

Inning 1, after an infield error made it 1st and 3rd [I forget if it was an Altuve error or a Lindor error, both guys were responsible for a lot this series], Wilmer Flores rocked one past the fence to make it 3-0. Then in the third Drake Baldwin, back in the lineup again, took a solo shot out. Gore still managed to strike out 6 Brewers, but the little things were getting away from this team, including some contact work in the 5th bringing another run home.

Carlos Rodon, meanwhile, went 8 strong with 10 Ks. The fun stat here is that Rodon allowed only 3 hits, which all came in the 3rd inning, resulting in Rodon's sole earned run. Aside from that third inning from Altuve and friends, Rodon's line was practically spotless. Best start of the season by far.

It was 6 to 1 when Gore was removed, thanks to a Bogaerts RBI. And then came the eighth. Against a combination of Wandy Peralta and Adrian Morejon, the Brewers loaded the bases on some walks, HBPs and FCs. Then Bogaerts singled another runner home. And with the bases still juiced, Drake Baldwin hit his FOURTH home run of the series, on a ballpark homer that, as a lefty, he was guaranteed. A grand slam made it 11-1 in the eighth. Sam was devastated, I was just surprised Rodon could keep this lineup down.

For the second game in a row, the bullpen spoiled a game that could have been ruined if the score was closer. Graham Ashcraft gave up a triple to Corbin Carroll, then an RBI double to Jonathan India, then a pair of walks, then a sac-fly to J.J. Bledar. By that point Agustin Ramirez could safely strike out to end it, but it proves just how vital clean starts are for my gameplan.

Really fun series against Sam, who I thank for hosting. Despite the 6-10 record, the Brewers are looking pretty good, and Chourio, Bogaerts and surprisingly Pedro Pages are all batting .300. We're hitting better, and have a lower ERA, than we did last year around this time, and I'm just hoping to keep splitting, or possibly even stealing series leverage one of these days, and stay afloat for a while. Try and stave off the inevitable as long as possible, a lot like last year.

This week I've got the Giants at the Schmidt compound on Monday, then a likely low-scoring chess match against the Nats at Ed's on Tuesday. The goal will be to inch closer to .500. Those two fellas will not make it easy for me, knowing the strength of their teams.