Segura and Gomez Head To Baseball All Star Game | Two Brewers Tagged As Reserves

The lowly Brewers received a chance to brighten up an otherwise dismal season over the weekend, as it was announced that rookie shortstop Jean Segura and center fielder Carlos Gomez were appointed to the 2013 National League All-Star team. The pair will play as reserves at their respective positions at the July 16^th game at Citi Field in New York. They are the first multi-Brewer nominations since Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and Rickie Weeks took the field for the NL in 2011. That season was Braun's fourth consecutive trip to the All-Star game, a streak he continued through 2012. Injuries this season kept the Brewers poster-boy from his sixth nomination is as many years.

Segura and Gomez represent a number of historic franchise accomplishments in the All-Star game. The 23 year old Segura is tied with Fielder, Paul Molitor, and Ben Sheets as the third youngest Brewer to play in the All-Star game, and is just the fourth shortstop in franchise history to be named to the team. Highlighting the record books though is Segura's title as just the second Brewer to become an All-Star in his inaugural season in the majors. Sheets was the first to accomplish the feat, in 2001.

Segura Playing Great Baseball At The Right Time

The Dominican's appointment was viewed as well deserved by fans and critics. He is the leading half of a duo that includes himself and Gomez as the second best combined teammate hitters in the NL.  Continuing his dominance over pitchers through the Winter League into the regular season, Segura leads NL in hits and is the only player in the entire league to have at least 25 stolen bases and more than 10 home runs. He has hit 11 over the wall so far this year, and has brought in 35 runners while maintaining an above .300 average.

The 27 year old Gomez, also born in the Dominican Republic, nearly matches the stats of his younger teammate and countryman. Since coming to the Brewers in 2009, he has become the team's dominant outfielder alongside Braun, and this year has improved dramatically at the plate. He is in the top-10 in every offensive category in the NL, earning his highest marks currently as 5^th in both stolen bases and slugging percentage.

Brewers Walk On Songs 2013

Walk-on songs are tradition throughout professional sports. Wrestlers will often have a composer create a theme song for them to step into the ring with. In Europe, the popular sports of darts and snooker have become famous for their usage of entrance-music for competitors, with all thirty-two participants in the recent 2012 World Snooker Championship required to pick a tune. In darts, introduction-music is used as an hype-tool, often boasting a player's nickname or home country.

Even in the United States, music has come to play a pivotal role in our overall spectacle-sport experience. Colleges take pride in old fight-songs, while professional football teams often hire songwriters to come up with a catchy crowd favorite.

In baseball, the use of music to signal the next player at-bat has become standard. Even pitchers have their own walk-on songs. AC/DC's “Hell's Bells” was recommended to be honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame for its use as Padres reviler Trevor Hoffman's theme in 1998.

Fans had their first chance at hearing their favorite Brewers player's walk-on theme at opening day on Monday. Only Aramis Ramirez denied an entrance-song, while the rest of his teammates spanned music's genres with picks from Drake to Motley Crew.

2013 Milwaukee Brewers Walk-On Songs

Logan Schafer – Mark Morrison's “Return of the Mack”

Wily Peralta – Skillet's “Hero”

Rickie Weeks – Lil' Wayne's “Rich As...”

Chris Narveson – Motley Crew's “Dr. Feelgood”

Jonathan Lucroy – One Last Hero's “Five Last Words”

Carlos Gomez – Drake's “Started From the Bottom”

Yovani Gallardo – Fabolus “My Time”

Mike Fiers – Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls on Parade”

Marco Estrada – Killswitch Engage's “The End of Heartache”

Khris Davis – The Root's “The Fire”

Ryan Braun – Jay-Z's “A Dream”

Yuniesky Betancourt – Marky Mark's “Good Vibrations”

Norichika Aoki – Teriyaki Boys “Tokyo Drift” 

Ryan Braun 2012 Stats as of Today | Will He Be MVP of the National League?

It sure looks like Ryan Braun will make that 20-20 mark onceagain.  He’s just one stolen base away from the magic number.  I suppose that there is nothing magical to being fast on your feet.  Hitting a minimum of 20 home runs is something more akin to magic.  We have over a month of baseball to be played and Braun just might hit 35 homers for the season.  Will he have the same number of stolen bases?  That’s harder to predict. 

Since his wobbly start in 2012, Braun is batting .304, with 29 home runs.  He’s one of the bright spots on the Brewers offense.  He’s already been hit by twice as many pitches this year as compared to the entire 2011 season.  Basically, most of his numbers are close to how he performed last season, save for stolen bases, and on base percentage.  It’s tough to beat .397 in that department, but he’s darn close.

Braun Draws More Intentional Walks Compared to Past Seasons

One thing that has changed for Bran is the number of intentional walks.  Without Fielder to threaten opponents, teams have chosen to walk Braun nine times so far this season.  That’s compared to a whopping total of two last year.  When the next batter is not much of threat, you take the shot at walking Braun. 

As always, Braun is nearly error free on defense.  You don’t expect much when it comes to errors from the outfielders, and Braun has just one to his name as of today.  He may not get the MVP title in 2012, but his numbers once again prove that he’s one of the best in baseball. 

Brewers Recap of First Three Weeks of 2012 Season

We are three weeks into the new Brewers season, and I thought that I would check the current stats.  Let's see if anything pops out at us, shall we?  The Brewers are one game under .500, and have the day off.  They are on the road for a while, and I would like to use this "quiet time" to reflect. 

Who has the hot bat right now?  Carlos Gomez.  Gomez is batting .371 right now.  His at bats number 35, but you still have to say that he's seeing the ball very well.  Corey Hart has been playing well for the past three games.  During the series against Houston, he had five hits, and five RBI's.  His batting average jumped 36 points in three days.  He hit a home run in each of the past two games.  Good job Mr. Hart!

Matt Gamel is swinging the bat well.  His batting average is currently .281, with nine runs on the books.  All eyes have been on the first baseman, as we look to see if he can fill Fielder's shoes.  With just one single home run on the books, we have to say that he's more of a "get on base" guy, when compared to Prince. 

Finally, Ryan Braun is putting up fair numbers.  He's hit four home runs, and is batting .275.  He had a pretty nasty flu bug last week, but got five hits of Houston's pitchers.  He hit a pair of home runs during the series, and scored four RBI's.  Braun has just one stolen base so far this season.  The Brewers need Braun to keep up the pace, and peform.  They hit the road tomorrow, and play at St. Louis.  Brewers fans will have to wait until May 7th before the team comes home to Miller Park. 

Ryan Braun Makes The Hightlights on All Star Night

I love that catch by Ryan Braun in the fourth inning. He laid out for that one, and nabbed it. As for his batting, he's now 0-7 in All Star play. The National League won this one. It's going to be a while before we see our Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. The road trip starts tomorrow.

Milwaukee Brewers At Miller Park Lose All Three VS Phillies

The Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park have been struggling. They lost three in a row, VS the Phillies. I realize that Philadelphia is a great team but to get swept at home is not cool. Why didn't Ken Macha just use up the bullpen in an effort to pick up a win on Saturday? The team had a chance that night, but Ken was thinking too much about Sunday.

Rickie Weeks is Mr. Hot and Cold. Right now, he's Mr. Cold. I think Rickie is having trouble seeing the ball right now. Perhaps he's got to get back to basics. Learn to love the ball Rickie, and hits will follow.

Corey Hart doesn't want to take a walk. You won't see that guy at the plate with a 2-2 count on the jumbo tron. He's just swinging away. Meanwhile, Macha is thinking way too far ahead. Sometimes you have to do what it takes and use up the pitching staff. We're going down in flames here Kenny.

If I'm going to spread a bit of blame, let's talk about Ryan Braun. He went 2-12 on this home stand. Yes, he was hit by a pitch last week. I'm sure that hurts. He's gutsy to stay with it, and get in there to play against the Phillies. But Ryan, if you need some time to heal, take a seat. The pitching staff will probably blow any lead you help create. You might as well let that elbow ge back into shape. Prince Fielder didn't do much better, going 3-12, but he hit two home runs in the series. In his past ten games he bat .350. That's great, but Prince had only four RBI's in those ten games. Guess who's not getting on base?