Brewers Secure Series Win in Philly, Move Into First Place

Brandon Kinztler earned his first Major League win on Monday

After dropping three straight to the Nationals this weekend the Brewers won the first two games of their series in Philadelphia against the NL East leading Phillies. Combined with a Reds loss to the Diamondbacks, the win puts the Brewers in first place for the first time this season (shared with Cincinnati). The Nationals entered this weekend's series with a record of 5-7 while the Phillies were sitting at 10-4 before Monday's contest. The assumption before the road trip began was that the Brewers should be able to win series against the Pirates (which they did) and the Nationals (needless to say, they didn't), and would probably only win one while facing the Phillies and dual-aces Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Baseball is an unpredictable sport, and one thing is certain about the 2011 Brewers: like any team, they're going to have their ups and downs, but when they play well, they are a force to be reckoned with.

Brewers Season Already Over For the Second Time

After winning seven of the nine games vs the Braves, Cubs, and Pirates, the Brewers faltered this weekend in Washington vs the Nationals. Defensive miscues and a rough inning by Chris Narveson in which he handed Nats pitcher Tom Gorzelanny an RBI walk sealed the loss on Friday. Yovani Gallardo struggled in game one of the doubleheader on Sunday, giving up two three-run home runs, while Marco Estrada, meanwhile, pitched well in game two only to watch the bullpen lose the game. The offense just didn't get it done all weekend, hammering out eighteen singles of their twenty total hits on Sunday. All in all, the Brewers played poorly this weekend, pushing their record back below .500 (7-8).