Game of the Week: May 13: MIL @ PHI

[Commissioner Erick]

Milwaukee Brewers (33-9) @ Philadelphia Phillies (24-15)


MIL: Brock Straub (5-1, 1.55)
PHI: Alex Valencia (1-2, 6.82)


Brewers 3 Key Stats

3: Brewers with 10+ homers: Some of Milwaukee’s depth pieces haven’t provided the power Milwaukee expected this year, but their top sluggers have produced this year. Rodolfo Rivera, Mike Perches, and Nick Rollins all have double figure long balls. Rivera is the defending MVP, so that’s expected, but Perches is flashing the huge power he showed as a rookie in 2025 when he hit 48 homers. Rollins’ production is the most exciting of all. Besieged by injuries, he’s stayed healthy and crushed the ball with 12 homers and a .317 average, tremendous production from a middle infielder. If he can stay healthy, Milwaukee will have a huge weapon this postseason.

2.91: Milwaukee’s ERA: The Brewers have been the best run prevention team in the NL. With their pitching talent, that’s not a surprise, but they’ve also gotten great pitching from less heralded Brock Straub. He has a 5-1 record this year with a 1.55 ERA. He’s allowed only three home runs this year, and helped by a .214 BABIP, he’s produced a 1.01 WHP. He’s also done so against good opposition, facing the Dodgers once and the Cardinals three time already this season, accounting for half his starts. The Phillies are another top outfit Brock Lobster gets a chance to shut down today.

.651: Danny Tammaro’s OPS: Tamarro’s had a rough season so far with a .179 average and a .358 slugging percentage. He had a strong 2029 and 2028 that put him back as a centerpiece of the Brewers team after an injury filled 2027 and a disappointing 2026 left his outlook murky. This year, he’s off to another rough start. Thankfully, his competitors for the outfield are also struggling. Danny Weatherwax is hitting.175 and Wombat Dulihanty is batting 1-19. The Brewers will need someone to emerge as a third outfielder to achieve their goals this season.


Phillies 3 Key Stats

.857: Philadelphia’s OPS: The Phillies are absolutely raking as a team. Seth Beer is batting .296 with 10 homers, Allen Whitmore has taken a leap with a .981 OPS his sophomore season, and Luis Robert is batting .386 with more walks than strikeouts. The record for NL OPS in a season is .862 by the 2025 Chicago Cubs. That record may be in jeopardy the way the Phillies are hitting the ball.

.380: Destiny Galemberti’s average: When Charlies Galemberti steps to the plate to the year, it’s been his destiny to get a base hit. He leads the NL in average, he leads the NL in on-base percentage, and he leads NL second basemen in OPS. He hasn’t hit a homer, but he’s still been a weapon at the bat, leading the league with five triples, and also clubbing 12 doubles. He struggled as a rookie but showed flashes, but this year, he’s displaying why he was a Top 10 prospect.

4: Wins in 11 games against teams with winning records: The Phillies have cleaned up against bad teams, going 20-4 against teams with losing records. Milwaukee is not one of those teams. The Phillies have split six games with the Mets, dropped a three game set in Kansas City and were swept in St. Louis, and at home by the Twins. The NL East is weak enough where the team can eat against clubs with losing records, but this will be another test to see if the Phillies are true playoff contenders.


Questions for the GMs:

For Luke Grimmelbein, you’re not getting production out of your third outfield spot right now. Who will get the start today and why?

Grant Stein got off to a terrific start to the year, but he’s been scuffling in May. Does he need a day off to recharge?

Danny Weatherwax hasn’t hit to begin the year. Are you concerned with his production thus far?

For Matt Grubs, your team has been excellent to start the year, but has struggled against top teams. Why has your club struggled against the best of the best?

Allen Whitmore appears to have taken a nice jump. What does the future have in store for him in Philadelphia?

Bobby Witt Jr. has gotten off to a tough start offensively and is now your Third Baseman. Are you concerned with his rough start at all now that he’s a position that usually requires more offense?


TRIVIA: Who are the only two pitchers to have more than 15 wins in a single season for Philadelphia?

[brewersgm]

May 1, 2023 11:34:07 GMT -5 Commissioner Erick said:

Questions for the GMs:

For Luke Grimmelbein, you’re not getting production out of your third outfield spot right now. Who will get the start today and why?

Grant Stein got off to a terrific start to the year, but he’s been scuffling in May. Does he need a day off to recharge?

Danny Weatherwax hasn’t hit to begin the year. Are you concerned with his production thus far?

1. Danny Tammaro will be out there today. We'd like to get him going and hope a hitters park like Citizens Bank will help. We expect Danny and Will to get it going at some point. Will missed a lot of spring training with injury and is working his way back in.

2. Yes. Grant will get the day off today. We'll be starting Nick Rollins at 3B and Noah Campbell at 2B.

3. Danny is still providing great defense in the outfield and has a 116 wRC+ vs lefties. He's on pace for about the same WAR as last year. I think he's just had too many ABs vs right handed pitching which we are working to reduce to put him in a role he's more comfortable with.

[Grubs - Philly]

Your team has been excellent to start the year, but has struggled against top teams. Why has your club struggled against the best of the best?

I don't know that there's one answer. Our pitching hadn't settled down against the Twins and the offense went cold last week. We'll see if the bats pick up the second half of this month.

Allen Whitmore appears to have taken a nice jump. What does the future have in store for him in Philadelphia?

Allen's a valuable piece of our lineup, more so because of his versatility. We sent Matt Saucedo Mike Salcido (impact player) back to San Francisco in part because Whitmore can play so many positions.

Bobby Witt Jr. has gotten off to a tough start offensively and is now your Third Baseman. Are you concerned with his rough start at all now that he’s a position that usually requires more offense?

Bobby needs to justify his paycheck to stick around and he's not doing that right now. His defense is keeping him in the lineup. We don't have a ton of other options, but we're actively exploring.

[Commissioner Erick]

Brewers 6 - Phillies 4 (10)


WP: K. McMahon (3-1)
LP: B. Haugaard (0-1)


The Philadelphia Phillies got a superb performance from left fielder Luis Robert. Still, it wasn't enough to beat Milwaukee. The Brewers won the game, 6-4. Robert was 3-5 with 2 home runs. The winner was Kenny McMahon in relief. His record improves to 3-1. Brett Haugaard took the loss. The win elevated the Brewers to 34-9.

Noah Campbell, the slick-fielding shortstop , had a direct impact on the outcome. Campbell contributed a 2-run single in the top of the tenth inning to put Milwaukee up, 6-4.

"You can't get too high when things go well, or too low when things go bad. Right now, I'm just happy we got the win," Campbell told the Milwaukee Times.


Questions for the GMs:


For Luke Grimmelbein, Wombat pinch hit for Elih Marrero in the 9th, forcing Nate Sprague to double switch out for Mike Perches. Did you agree with Sprague subbing in for Perches, or would you have preferred a straight substitution.

Some slightly bad home run luck aside, Brock Straub was terrific again. Why has he been so good this season despite more modest reports from scouts?

Grant Stein was on the bench for you when Noah Campbell stepped up with two in scoring position. Were you interested in perhaps pinch hitting Stein for Campbell before Campbell's big hit?

For Matt Grubs, Luis Robert has really hit the ground running this season without showing any rust despite signing after the season started. Why has he been able to get off to such a torrid start?

Royce Lewis hit fifth for you despite not being a traditional run producer. Why are you hitting him there?

What did you think of Valencia's outing?


TRIVIA: Who has the most single-season RBIs among Second Basemen?

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 1: Matt correctly guessed Franklyn Kilome and Matt Bumgarner

[brewersgm]

May 2, 2023 18:57:16 GMT -5 Commissioner Erick said:

Questions for the GMs:


For Luke Grimmelbein, Wombat pinch hit for Elih Marrero in the 9th, forcing Nate Sprague to double switch out for Mike Perches. Did you agree with Sprague subbing in for Perches, or would you have preferred a straight substitution.

Some slightly bad home run luck aside, Brock Straub was terrific again. Why has he been so good this season despite more modest reports from scouts?

Grant Stein was on the bench for you when Noah Campbell stepped up with two in scoring position. Were you interested in perhaps pinch hitting Stein for Campbell before Campbell's big hit?

1. A straight sub would probably have been a better decision. I think my manager bot wanted to make sure to get the lefty on righty matchup with Dulihanty hitting against Masucci, it just didn't work out.

2. I think that's part of it right there. He's been good in his career and exceptional this year because he rarely gives up home runs and rarely walks anyone. He doesn't have overwhelming stuff but hitters have a hard time squaring him up and he can trust his defense to take care of the balls that get put in play. It's a formula we've seen players like Tyler Alexander (Brock's idol) use to great success.

3. In most circumstances yes, however Stein had the full day off today as he needed some time to reset. Even then, Noah has scored the winning run in a World Series Game 7. He knows what he's doing out there in big moments.

[Commissioner Erick]

good answers!

[Grubs - Philly]

Luis Robert has really hit the ground running this season without showing any rust despite signing after the season started. Why has he been able to get off to such a torrid start?

Initially, Robert started only against lefties, whom he generally abuses to great effect. With Stud's injury and Luis' success, he's getting full-time reps.

Royce Lewis hit fifth for you despite not being a traditional run producer. Why are you hitting him there?

My manager bot has been making some interesting lineup choices as of late, but this isn't one of them. Royce has better ratings against lefties and has been a solid RBI man for us. He had a good game for us even though he didn't plate any runs. I'm not certain he'll stay fifth, since he has bizarre reverse splits this year, but I don't think having a guy go 2-for-5 in front of Bobby Siegel is a bad idea.

What did you think of Valencia's outing?

I think it's typical of a young pitcher who wasn't able to refocus after getting derailed by a freak infield single. Valencia was cruising until Tammaro's 64 mph hit. He walked Rivera after that (allowing a sloppy stolen base in the process) and then served up a homer to Nick Rollins. I'm pleased he was able to get it together to close out the inning, but overall it was a frustrating day for Alex.
Little did he know what lurked in his next start...

[Commissioner Erick]

Trivia 2: Zigmo correctly guessed Rougned Odor