Series Preview: Brewers at Bosox

Milwaukee Brewers (20-21)

NL Central: 5 GB
Streak: L2
Last 10: 4-6
BA: .241 (14th in NL)
RS: 177 (12)
HR: 39 (8)
ERA: 4.54 (12)
RA: 198 (6)

3 game Interleague Series at Fenway Park
Game 1 Friday 705
Suppan (2-2, 4.63; 3-3, 4.78 vs. BOS) vs. Matsuzaka (6-0, 2.45; NR vs. MIL)
Game 2 Saturday 355 FOX
Bush (1-4, 6.06; 0-3, 9.00 vs. BOS) vs. Wakefield (3-2, 4.25; 5-2, 3.19 vs. MIL)
Game 3 Sunday 135 TBS
Villanueva (2-4, 6.00; NR vs. BOS) vs. Beckett (4-3, 4.21; 0-2, 9.53 vs. MIL)

Key Brewers:

-LF Ryan Braun .286/21R/10HR/30BI/.316OBP Last year's Rookie of the Year has proved to be no fluke by picking up right where he left off, and he just inked a monster contract (8yr/45mil) to validate his efforts

-1B Prince Fielder .255/5HR/23BI/.362OBP/.411SLG% The big bopper (literally) decided to turn vegan in the off season, and sausage-loving Brewer's fans are livid, noting the subsequent lack of meat in his diet has left his game mighty thin

-C Jason Kendall .283/16R/10 2B/12BI/.366OBP Who could imagine that a catcher whose foot was dislodged from his ankle a few years ago would be leading a team in on base percentage?

- RF Corey Hart .302/17R/9 2B19BI/.356OBP This is the Corey Hart who plays right field for the Brewers, not the one who sang "(I wear my) Sunglasses at Night", right?

Ex-Sox:

-RP Eric Gagne 1-2, 6.27, 1.88WHIP, 10SV, 5BS Worst GM of the Year award has to go to Doug Melvin for signing this washed-up mental case to a $10 million dollar deal in the off season. Amazing.

-RP David Riske 0-1, 4.71, 6H, 1SV Appeared in 8 games for the Sox in '06 before they traded him to the Chisox for Javier Lopez

-SP Jeff Suppan he appeared in 27 games for Boston from 1995-97 and 2003, compiling a 12-10 record with a 5.87ERA. Most known in the Nation for being traded for Freddy Sanchez at the trading deadline in 2003. You know Freddy Sanchez, the phenom who plays shortstop for the Pirates?

-CF Gabe Kapler .284/13R/4HR/13RBI/.522SLG% I'm sure the Faithful will be happy to welcome back Kapler in his first return to Fenway since retiring after the 2006 season, before deciding to come back to manage and ultimately play again

PREVIEW:
It's the beginning of Interleague play 2008; can I get a "hip hip, hooray!" from everyone.

(crickets chirping)

You all know about interleague play by now, the novelty invented by MLB to bring different teams and unseen superstars to ballparks in the opposite leagues.

Instead what we get are uninspired mismatches like this one, where a team that no once outside of Racine follows comes to the Hub of the sports universe touting a team full of uninteresting, underachieving players who are embroiled in a division playoff race from a league nobody cares about.

Nearly brings a tear to my eye.

Although I have to admit it is nice every once in a while to get away from the same AL foes and drub a club from "the senior circuit", just for a change of pace.

But I'll have to say as far as must-see series at Fenway go, this one is a definite 'give away your season tickets to the buddy who's been buggin you for months' weekend.

As we all know, Boston comes into this series on a down note, losers of four straight games and six of its last eight contests. JD Drew is ailing (again); Clay Buchholz is disabled (whew); and the offense, and the pitching staff cannot seem to hold a lead no matter how many runs the offense scores.

To top it all off, there's rain in the forecast tonight so the first game of the series has a good chance of being delayed.

But there is a silver lining for Boston. Bartolo Colon had another impressive performance in the minors yesterday and will most likely make his Red Sox debut next week.

Wait, guys, come back...

Fact of the matter is Boston had better either sweep or at the least take 2-of-3 from the disappointing Brewers, who will be making the first trip to Fenway since joining the NL in 1998.

The pitching matchups are certainly in Boston's favor, with the Sox top three throwing in the series while Milwaukee ace Ben Sheets will miss the set, and lord knows how awesome it will be when and if Eric Gagme takes the Fenway mound for the first time since last year.

So with an off day under their belts, home cooking in their tummies and a scrub team invading their turf, this had better be a productive series for the second place Sox.

I mean how much longer can we stand hearing "trailing the first place Devil Rays" before the madness kicks in?