Last weekend, the Brewers headed to Boston to begin a 15-game interleague gantlet that includes a road series against the New York Yankees, a home series against Tampa Bay and the usual home-and-home "regional rivalry" with Minnesota.
The team the Brewers are chasing in the NL Central race, the St. Louis Cardinals, don't play the Red Sox or Yankees in interleague play, home or away.
How fair is that?
"That's one of the complaints about interleague play," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. "Interleague play has made the schedule even more unbalanced."
While the Brewers play Boston, New York and Tampa Bay -- the three best teams in what is generally recognized as the best division in the majors -- the Cardinals will be playing Toronto, Baltimore and Tampa Bay. St. Louis also has its home-and-home regional rivalry with Kansas City, which isn't as pathetic as in past years.
During this portion of interleague play, the Cardinals break off for a three-game home series against Philadelphia, one of the top National League clubs featuring a star-studded rotation. St. Louis earlier played a two-game home series against the Phillies, winning both games.
The Brewers have a four-game home series against the Phillies in September, so they will play them seven times in 2011 (they won two of three in Philadelphia in April). The Cards have a four-game series in Philly in September, giving them nine games against the NL East power.
Defending NL Central champion Cincinnati does not play Boston in interleague play, either. The Reds do play the Yankees but have that series at home.
This is the problem people have with interleague play. If the Brewers do poorly against the Red Sox and Yankees and then finish a couple of games behind the Cardinals, the complaint department will be open for brisk business.
Because interleague attendance yearly exceeds the average regular gate, it's not going away. As Commissioner Bud Selig often says, "If our customers tell us this is what they want, who are we to deny it?"
Good business practices don't always add up to competitive equality, however. The Brewers have their work cut out for them, and we won't know for a few weeks how this all plays out.
"I look at it as a challenge for our guys," said Melvin. "I think they're going to enjoy the opportunity to play those teams in their park. But it's a rough stretch. Those are pretty good teams with high payrolls.
"It would be nice if one of those series (Boston or New York) was at home. Our fans would have liked that. I guess they couldn't work it out.
"You never know how it's going to work out. Cincinnati went to Cleveland (earlier) and got swept. You can get a team while it's hot or get a team with injuries.
"I hear more debate and discussion about (interleague play) than just about everything. 'Is it good for the game?' I'm hearing more of that this year than in the past."
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Cupboard is not bare
It's no secret that the Brewers traded away many of their top prospects over the past few years to acquire established big-league pitchers CC Sabathia, who led them to the playoffs in 2008, as well as Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke last winter.
Along with promotions of other top prospects to Milwaukee, those moves left the Brewers thin at the top of their system. But scouting director Bruce Seid is irked whenever he hears the Brewers' farm system is barren.
"Yeah, I take it personally," he said. "I haven't seen every organization, but I do believe we have some guys who are going to be major-league players, and quality ones."
Seid noted that seven Brewers minor-leaguers at the Class A level made midseason all-star teams. At Brevard County, right-hander Nick Bucci, outfielder Khris Davis and second baseman Scooter Gennett were honored. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had infielder Chris Dennis, right-handers Austin Ross and Tyler Thornburg and infielder Mike Walker selected.
Class AA Huntsville had five midseason all-stars -- right-handers Wily Peralta and Michael Bowman, lefty Dan Meadows, outfielder Erik Komatsu and infielder Steffan Wilson.
"From a perception standpoint, one or two guys have their opinions and others may pile on," said Seid, referring to national media outlets. "But we're able to withstand that perceived notion, and the reason why is because we look at what's on the field. What's on the field was brought on by what we've done in scouting and player development.
"You go in cycles. Our cycle was to develop this major-league team from what we've done over the last 10 years. By doing that, our farm system is a little lighter at the top, and it may be that way for a couple years.
"But we have infused a few players into the system the last couple of years. Granted, which ones are going to wind up being cream of the crop, we don't know that yet. But at least they're performing and showing some skills."
The Brewers did try to fill in some of the blanks at the top of their system with this year's draft, including their two first-round picks, advanced college pitchers Taylor Jungmann (Texas) and Jed Bradley (Georgia Tech).
"We're real satisfied with the guys we got," said Seid. "The first two guys are legit guys that are (future big-league) rotation guys. I don't want to put a timetable on them; they'll dictate that.
"I would say with what they bring, if things go well when they get in pro ball, they have a chance to be in our rotation in the next few years."
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Delayed arrival
The top prospect the Brewers traded for Marcum, infielder Brett Lawrie, was set to join Toronto last weekend from Class AAA Las Vegas when he was hit on the left hand with a pitch.
Originally, it was thought Lawrie would be out only a couple of days. But when the swelling went down, a bone scan revealed a non-displaced fracture that will sideline him a minimum of three weeks.
"He has been returned to (extended spring training in) Florida to keep his overall conditioning as best possible and when he's able to regain activity, we'll get him back to Las Vegas, which is likely three weeks," said Jays manager John Farrell.
In 52 games at Las Vegas, the 21-year-old Lawrie was batting .354 with 19 doubles, four triples, 15 home runs and 49 RBI. He had a .415 on-base percentage and .677 slugging percentage.
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A noble gesture
The Texas Rangers used their 33rd-round draft pick on University of Georgia outfielder Jonathan Taylor, who has been paralyzed from the waist down since a March outfield collision with teammate Zach Cone. The Rangers selected Cone in the supplemental first round.
Taylor fractured two spinal vertebrae in the collision and it is not known if he will walk again. That didn't matter to the Rangers, who wanted to recognize Taylor for his fight to walk again.
"We felt like it was the right thing to do," said Texas amateur scouting director Kipp Fagg. "Zach's coming into our family, and he and (Taylor) are really tight. We thought it was the right thing to do from the family aspect of it."
The Rangers hope to have Taylor and Cone come to Atlanta's Turner Field next weekend as guests for their interleague series against the Braves. Fagg called Taylor "a good college player" who could have played pro ball.
"The way he's talking, he thinks he might come back," said Fagg. "He's a good, hard-nosed kid. What happened is a big tragedy."
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It happens to everyone
No one is slump-proof. Just ask Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most prolific hitters over the last 10 years in the major leagues.
After the worst May (.210) of his career, Ichiro began June with five hits in 40 at-bats (.125). He had four extra-base hits since the start of May and had yet to hit a home run this season, earning a very rare night off Friday.
Opponents are showing no respect, playing shallow in the outfield to take away bloop hits and in the infield to guard against the infield rollers that long have been his bread and butter. The 10-time Gold Glove winner also has looked bad in the field, prompting some to wonder if he's finished at age 37.
In his 10 previous seasons with the Mariners, Ichiro has accumulated 200 hits, made the all-star team and won a Gold Glove every year. This year, he might go 0 for 3 in that regard.
Not mentioning Ichiro specifically, manager Eric Wedge recently said, "We have got some of these veteran players that need to be doing better. People that we are counting on need to be doing better. It's as simple as that."
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As good as it gets
Jonny Venters isn't a starting pitcher or closer. But it's starting to look as if Atlanta's primary set-up man should be a lock for the all-star team.
Entering Saturday, Venters had posted a 0.47 ERA, a half-run better than any other reliever, in a whopping 33 appearances.
"He's the best pitcher in baseball," catcher Brian McCann said simply.
After posting a 1.95 ERA with 93 strikeouts in 83 innings over 79 appearances as a rookie in 2010, Venters has been even better. Understandably, he's being touted for the all-star team, an honor that usually goes only to starters or closers.
"I've heard people talking about it," said Venters. "I think it's kind of cool just to be in that conversation, to be considered. That's awesome."
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AROUND THE BASES
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
MLB: White Sox 1B Paul Konerko
Chicago's veteran slugger took an 11-game hitting streak into Saturday, during which he was batting .476 (20 for 42) with six home runs and 14 RBI. He had collected at least one extra-base hit in nine consecutive games, a club record.
BREWERS: 1B Prince Fielder
Fielder has been carrying the offense the past couple of weeks. He entered Saturday with 18 RBI over his last 15 games and was batting .391 (18 for 46) over that span. He had six homers in eight games, and eight of his last nine hits had been for extra bases.
WEEK AHEAD
Giants at Diamondbacks: Tuesday-Thursday. NL West leaders battle.
Red Sox at Rays: Tuesday-Thursday. Chance for Rays to gain ground.
Indians at Tigers: Tuesday-Thursday. Tigers have closed fast.
Rangers at Braves: Friday-Sunday. Texas boppers vs. Braves' arms.
BREWERS THIS WEEK
The Brewers begin the week with their first 2011 visit to Chicago for a four-game series against the downtrodden Cubs. Then it's off to Boston to begin a 15-game interleague gantlet that includes a road series against the Yankees, home series against the Rays and the usual home-and-home battle with the Twins.
DID YOU KNOW?
The lowest draft pick to play in the majors was infielder Scott Seabol, selected in the 88th round (1,718th overall) of the 1996 draft by the New York Yankees (the draft is now limited to 50 rounds).
Seabol saw duty with the Yankees in 2001 and in 2005 with St. Louis for a total of 60 big-league games.
YOU FIGURE IT OUT
In the past, Ronny Cedeno never played well enough, particularly in the field, to warrant being a No. 1 shortstop. But he has been one of the bright spots for the Pirates this season, putting together a 42-game errorless streak that ended last week.
Cedeno's defense has surprised everyone, including Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle.
"If you tell me you saw this coming, where Ronny would have a roll like this, well, I didn't see it," Hurdle said. "I think Ronny's found a way to slow his heartbeat down and just play the game.
"And I think there's a trust from the coaching staff that I don't know that he's felt before. He knows we believe in him."
Perhaps, but that didn't stop the Pirates from looking for a shortstop replacement all last winter.
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