Ok, the last couple have been a little harder and didn’t seem to get much of a response, so this week I am going to make the trivia a little easier to see if we can get some participation.

John Axford has been taking his closing business very seriously this year.  He can whip a nice 98 mph fastball and has more strikeouts that innings pitched in 2010 at the time of this post.  His number is 59 and when he first became a Brewer they were away and said he wouldn’t shave his mustache until he was back in Milwaukee (which happened a couple of days later).  The “Axman”, puts “AXclamations” at the end of Brewer wins and is starting to gain quite the following.

Where was John Axford born and in what year?

The answer to this weeks question was:   Axford was born in Simcoe, Ontario in 1983.

This weeks trivia should be a tad easier and I can even give you a hint…..Google it :)  I hope to see some answers here.  Comment even if you see the answer already, it’s nice to see the participation.  I will also be posting this one on our Facebook page and you can see that here.

Not Bad!

Watching the last 20 games or so, it was evident they Brewers are not consistent and I am not sure they can be right now.  With such a young group of pitchers and a powerful group of hitters, logic says the balance should be way off.  Of course, that does not include the random base running miscues (looking at you Braun, McGehee, Kottaras), errors on the field and occasional wild pitch (or four, yeah you Parra).

Over the last 20 games the Brewers are 11-9, with 24 home runs, 81 RBI’s and an average of .257.  Those stats are not that bad, especially for a team that might not even hit .500 this year.  But, we cannot forget things like the 156 men left on base, or the 166 strikeouts they had over the same time period.  Stats speak volumes and right now these look like they should for a team that should have a better record than the Brewers.

Not Fun!

Getting swept by the Giants hurt and I think that every single Brewer fan was about to hang up the entire season based on those 4 games alone.  But the Brewers always come back, it’s like the NBA playoffs in a way, at least to me.  The NBA finals take forever to get to, always go to 7 games and the drama just keeps building.  The Brewers are playing in a similar fashion this year.  They are playing well and winning games, all of a sudden, their record takes a nose dive and they are just about to lose some fans when…BOOM!…they are back alive and looking like a team that has already played 88 games together this year.

Still a Fan!

We get to see slides like Ryan Braun who went 0 for 19 before he finally getting out of that slump with a couple of home runs and a game winning base hit over the last week.  As fans we also get to see things like Carlos Gomez bunt for a base hit and slide head first into first base, how exciting is that?  The Brewers are no doubt an exciting team to watch, but as a fan, you are also obligated to “get through” the tough ones.

His stats over the last week are as follows:

• 7 games
• 27 at bats
• 5 hits
• 1 homerun
• 4 runs scored
• .185 avg.

Stats over the last 30 days are:

• 27 games
• 109 at bats
• 27 hits
• 3 homeruns
• 10 runs scored
• .248 avg.

Now, that is not like Braun and we all know that.  So as we see the likes of Prince getting back to normal, Casey still on  an RBI tear and Corey adding to his hitting strike every night, we just have to wonder what is up with Ryan Braun.

Last night against the Cards, it was obvious that Braun is frunstrated when he struck out late in the game and flipped his bat and helmet off while speaking to himself, maybe in the third person, as he tries to figure out why he cannot hit the ball.  His stats over the last 30 days are not all that bad, but they are trending downward.

What do you think his issue is?  Do you think that he is out of sync because of Hart hitting in the #2 spot for the last month?  Do you think it’s just a bad month and he will rebound?

Since I was not able to update last week with some trivia, I did a little more research to find something I think most fans would know AND answer.

There has been a lot of talk about Trevor Hoffman this year and the fact that he couldn’t save at Wal-Mart, but there is one very interesting stat that I came across, for 2010, that I thought was interesting.  You can find this rather easy, but to get a bit more participation, I am going to make it a multiple choice.

In 2010, only, what is the batting average for the FIRST hitter that Trevor Hoffman faces?

1. .100 – .150
2. .200 – .250
3. .300 – .350
4. .400 – .450

Well, the answer is .333 according to a post on ESPN. That means the first batter that Hoffman faced, every time he pitched this year, hit .333. That is not going to look good on any resume! Stay tuned for next weeks trivia!

What range do you think?  Leave a comment below or post on our Facebook wall.  I will update this later today, or tomorrow morning.  Good luck!

Rank out of 16 National League teams…
Batting
Avg – 6th
Runs – 4
Hits – 2
Homeruns – 3
Doubles – 2
Triples – 7
RBI – 4
Stolen Bases – 10
On Base % – 3
Slugging – 2

Pitching
ERA – 14th
Hits – 14
Walks – 16
Strikeouts – 3
Saves – 16
Walks & Hits/In – 16

Pretty obvious what the problem is. What can be done to fix it without jeopardizing the offense?

This weeks trivia questions are a bit more recent that Trivia Tuesday, Part I.  If you think you know the answer because you are a fan, not because you can search the web, simple add a comment below and we’ll see if you are right.  I will update the questions, with the right answers within a day or two of posting this.  Good luck.

What player has the record for the most strikeouts (as a batter) in one game?

The answer to this one surprised me at first.  Geoff Jenkins, against the Angels on June 8th, 2004, struck out 6 times.  I think this was the 17 inning game.

What player has the record for the most strikeouts (as a pitcher) in one game?

The most strikeouts for a pitcher in ONE game was only about one month before Geoff whiffed 6 times, and it was Ben Sheets, who struck out 18 Braves on May 16th, 2004.

There are a couple hints, that might help keep you from searching the web. Both games were in 2004 and both records were established within ONE month of each other. If you know any of your friends that might want to take a stab at this, go ahead and share the post with them.

Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and join in the fan discussions and comment on the posts we make during the games!

Block parties include appearances by Brewers players, Bernie Brewer, the Klement’s Famous Racing Sausages and famous Brewer radio personalities.  Prizes, including game tickets and autographed items are raffled off at each event.  And don’t forget that free hot dogs, soda and chips will be provided (around 300 people) by Klements, Pepsi and Sportservice.

The three block parties that are scheduled are for:

1. Saturday, June 12th from 11am – 1pm
   McCarty Park
   8214 West Cleveland Avenue
   West Allis
2. Saturday, June 24th from 11am – 1pm
   Burnham Park
   3300 West Burnham Street
   Milwaukee
3. Saturday, August 21st from 11am – 1pm
   Ellsworth Park
   600 East Ellsworth Lane
   Bayside

If you are heading to the game any of these days, why not make it a whole day and enjoy some time with Brewers at their block party?  Just one thing to note and you can read about it here, unlike previous years, the list of specific players appearances will not be provided in advance.  To me, that doesn’t make any difference, I would be happy with any Brewer that wanted to show up.

Tonight, the lineup is a tad disorganized from normal, but I don’t think it’s going to be a bad thing. There is much talk around the MLB lately, like moving the pitcher up one spot, or moving a #2 guy closer to the bottom, just to see more runs produced in those spots. Speed is a huge part of the game, as well as, having a guy that can bunt players around the diamond. If you have to move those guys around a bit, why wouldn’t you as long as it works out?

Not to mention the fact that when you have more lefties than righties, you are going to have to switch them around based on who is pitching the ball that day. Here is the lineup for tonights game against the Cubs:

• Counsell SS
• Weeks 2B
• Fielder 1B
• Braun LF
• McGehee 3B
• Edmonds CF
• Hart RF
• Kottaras C
• Wolf P

As you can see, Counsell is leading off. I say that since this guy gets hits almost everytime he is in the order, why not? That gives Ricky and Prince and shot at getting him home. If Weeks gets on that leaves 3 RBI guys to get those 2 around the bases. I know it all looks great on paper, or a blog run by a fan instead of a member of the team, but there is some logic to these decisions.

There is just too much critizism when it doesn’t work out in the Brewers favor. We’ll see what happens tonight!

What do you think about the switch? Leave your comments below and let’s discuss!

More info…

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2010/

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2010/drafttracker.jsp

Who do you think the Brewers will select at #14?

On a related note, let’s give it up for Chris Capuano. His return to the big leagues started today. The Brewers called him back to the majors after having two “tommy john” surgeries to his pitching arm. It’s hard enough to come back after one, let alone two. Congratulations to him on having another go around, another chance to pitch, another chance at doing the thing he loves to do. I hope he does well!