Monday, June 05, 2006

Padres-Brewers Preview

The Milwaukee Brewers have picked the worst time to meet one the hottest pitching staffs in the major leagues.
The Brewers will try to halt an eight-game losing streak when they take on the San Diego Padres in the start of a four-game series at Miller Park on Monday.
With a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, San Diego (30-26) has won four of five - three via shutout. Two nights earlier, the Padres won a rain-shortened six-inning game from the Pirates 7-0.
On Tuesday, Chris Young and Trevor Hoffman combined on a two-hitter in a 2-0 win over Colorado.
''The last two games, things have gone my way,'' said Young, a 6-foot-10 right-hander who held Pittsburgh without a hit for 5 1-3 innings Sunday. ''Things might turn (for the worse), but right now, things are good.''
Young allowed two hits over eight innings and Hoffman pitched a perfect ninth for the save against the Pirates.
''Back-to-back games like that is pretty impressive,'' San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said of Young. ''He did a super job again.''
Clay Hensley (4-3, 3.82 ERA) will take the mound for the Padres looking for his third win in as many starts. Since losing to Seattle on May 20, the right-hander has allowed just three runs in 14 innings while posting wins over St. Louis and Colorado.
''Everybody did the job - this was a total team effort,'' said Hensley, after allowing two runs and eight hits over six innings in a 3-2 win over the Rockies on Wednesday. ''I got in some jams, but my change was working big-time for me.''
Hensley faced Milwaukee on May 9, but did not get a decision in a 5-4 loss. He allowed four runs and eight hits through five innings.
While San Diego is surging, Milwaukee (26-31) is sputtering. After losing 8-4 to Washington on Sunday, the Brewers are in the midst of their longest losing streak since a 12-game slide from Aug. 18-30, 2004.
''We can come up with 95 different excuses and reasons why,'' said Brewers manager Ned Yost, whose team has been outscored 64-21 during their skid. ''The bottom line is we're not winning. And that's it, you either get it done or you don't get it done and we're not getting it done. There's no excuse for that.''
Right fielder Geoff Jenkins in hitless in his last as 15 at-bats, as is rookie first baseman Prince Fielder. Jenkins also is day-to-day with a concussion after running into Fielder while chasing a foul popup Sunday.
Left fielder Carlos Lee leads the team with 18 homers and 44 RBIs, but is hitting only .182 (3-for-33) in his last eight games.
Chris Capuano (5-4, 3.33) will try to put May behind him when he starts for the Brewers. In six starts last month, the left-hander was 1-2 with a 4.38 ERA after going 4-2 with a 2.36 ERA in six April starts. Batters hit .304 against him in May after posting a .179 average in April.
Capuano closed out May by giving up season-highs of six runs and 11 hits including three homers in a 6-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
''I could have been a little bit sharper, but other than that, I'm kind of at a loss. We didn't deserve to get (beat) that bad, '' he said.
Capuano lost to San Diego on May 10 after yielding three runs and six hits over six innings of a 3-0 defeat. He is 2-2 with a 3.42 ERA in his career against the Padres.