Home MLB Brew View: The Empire strikes back

Brew View: The Empire strikes back

by Mark Baker

I came in to this series with a little hesitation. It’s the Brewers at Yankees three-game match up and the first time the Crew have visited Yankee Stadium for over a decade. Technically, the first time ever at the new Yankee Stadium.milwaukee-yankees

With inter-league in danger of becoming old-hat and overplayed there are at least a few inter-league matches which are not seen often. The Brewers – Yankees is one of them, having met only once before in Inter-League play back in ’05 in Mil-town. Back when the people of Milwaukee were cheering for the AL in the All Star Games, the Crew and the Evil Empire met on a fairly regular basis, for a while in the late 70s and early 80s even going as far as to call each other rivals. That was of course back when the Brewers were known as much more of a power house than in recent years.

The Yankees are always going to be a challenge for any team. Though their ability to put a W on the board wanes and waxes, no team should take them lightly. It almost goes without mentioning that they are, and have been for as long as I’m sure any of us can remember, one of, if not the, most popular and talked-about teams in the Major League. This season is no different. As the voting window for the All Star Game draws to a close the Bronx Bombers have more players in the line-up than any other team, a pattern which seems to crop up almost every year.

As for the Brewers this Inter-League business has always been a bit of a downer. It seems to be the Milwaukee way to perform excellently at home but find road games something of a problem. They have the best home game win record in MLB, but just last week were the second worst for away games. Unfortunately, this series is another one on the road and it certainly showed!

The first game, on Tuesday, was a crushing defeat for the Crew. With a final score of 12 – 2 the Yankees completely dominated. The Brewers were plagued by little mess-ups which could have changed the flow of the whole game and were generally not on form against a strong New York offensive barrage.

On Wednesday the Yankees beat the Brewers 5 – 2. Nick Swisher and Ryan Braun looked like they were competing for hits, bases, and RBIs. Jorge Posada sent one just over the right field wall with an eager fan causing some controversy as the umps had to review the video footage for details. Posada was eventually awarded a homer. It was a fun game to watch despite my Brewers losing. I’m sure Yankees fans enjoyed it too.

Thursday bought another win for the Yanks, this time 5 – 0. CC Sabathia faced his old team, having been with the Brewers just five years ago. He managed to put old allegiances aside and struck out an impressive 13. Mark Teixeira reached his milestone 300th home run in the bottom of the 3rd.

This was only the third shutout win so far for the Yankees but it does continue a healthy winning streak for them. All in all the result wasn’t much of a surprise for me so I can’t say I’m too dissapointed. I just hope that the Brewers get back on form as the NL Central leaders against the Twins again in this next series. The Twins are also old rivals from the American League days and Minnesota being the next-door neighbour to Wisconsin has always produced a vigorous one-upmanship between the two states’ sport teams.

Happy Baseball watching!

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5 comments

Bruce July 1, 2011 - 3:43 pm

Go Yankees!! Thank you for the update. Hope to see more Yankees on the top of the league.
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Borgie July 1, 2011 - 3:54 pm

I just hope that the Brewers get back on form as the NL Central leaders against the Twins again in this next series.
– Feel the same way about the brewers…
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Derex December 27, 2011 - 7:36 pm

You’ve got to be kidding me-it’s so traspnaenrtly clear now!

Reply
Mark Baker December 28, 2011 - 1:36 am

Sorry, what is transparently clear now?

Reply
les swainsbury July 1, 2011 - 3:56 pm

Go Yankees, nice item Mark, well written

Les

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