Brew Crew makes history with sweep of Cardinals

Baseball Betting Lines

07/24/2008 - St. Louis, MO (Baseball Betting) - Ryan Braun clubbed a two-run homer with one out in the top of the ninth inning to lift the surging Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals and complete their first-ever four-game sweep in the Gateway City.

Ryan Franklin, who came on in the eighth for St. Louis, fanned Ray Durham to begin the ninth, then served up a single to J.J. Hardy before Braun drove an 0-1 fastball over the wall in left-center for his 26th home run of the season. Prince Fielder followed with a double, but Franklin retired Corey Hart and Bill Hall to end the inning.

Salomon Torres struck out the side in the bottom half to notch his 19th save.

Braun finished 4-for-4 with a walk for the red-hot Brewers, who have won eight games in a row. Hardy was 3-for-5 and scored twice, while Fielder went 2-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.

Ben Sheets gave up three runs -- two earned -- on four hits in seven innings for Milwaukee, which remains a game back of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. The comeback made a winner out of Eric Gagne (3-2), who tossed a scoreless eighth.

Rick Ankiel and Albert Pujols knocked in the runs for the Cardinals, whose four-game slide comes on the heels of a five-game winning streak. Skip Schumaker had two hits and scored a run.

St. Louis starter Todd Wellemeyer went five innings, surrendering two runs on five hits while walking five. Franklin (3-4) was charged with his fifth blown save. The loss dropped the Cardinals four games behind the Cubs.

The Cardinals quickly got on the board in the opening frame. Schumaker had a lead-off single and later swiped second before scoring on a two-out single from Ankiel.

In the third, Adam Kennedy walked to begin the frame, moved to third on an Aaron Miles double and came home on Pujols' sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Milwaukee answered with a run in the top of the fourth. After Braun drew a lead-off walk and Fielder ripped a base hit past the glove of Pujols, Wellemeyer induced a 5-3 double play from Hart. The right-hander then had difficulty locating the strike zone and walked three consecutive batters to force in a run, though, St. Louis countered in the home half.

Ryan Ludwick worked a one-out walk and, after Jason LaRue went down swinging, Wellemeyer lined a single that Hart misplayed in right, allowing Ludwick to race all the way home and Wellemeyer to move up to third, where he was stranded after Kennedy lined out softly to center.

The Brewers loaded the bases with one out in the fifth on singles by Hardy, Braun and a walk to Fielder. Hart then grounded into a fielder's choice to make it a 3-2 game.

Hart grounded into another twin-killing to wipe out a Milwaukee rally in the seventh.

Game Notes

The Brewers have homered in 20 straight games, breaking the franchise record set from June 11-30, 1996....With the win, Milwaukee completed its longest undefeated road trip in club history (7-0)...The Brewers hold a 9-4 advantage in the 2008 season series...Milwaukee left 11 men on base, while the Cardinals stranded four.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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