Today's recap is going to come in bullet-point form:
• It was awesome to see Ryan Braun greeted with standing ovations. It was just as cool to see him celebrate his contract extension by going 3-4 and hitting an absolute rocket of a home run. As for the contract, I like it. When you couple this extension with the contract he signed in 2008, Braun essentially has a 10-year, $145 million dollar deal. For a player of his talent, this is more than reasonable. Also, Braun's role as an ambassador to Milwaukee cannot be overlooked. How often do you see a hall of fame talent make this correct observation about Milwaukee?:
"It's truly special to me to come to work here every day, and I'm excited about being able to do that for the next 10 years. Thanks to the fans - that was the single biggest reason I wanted to stay here. To be in one of the smallest media markets in baseball and to have 3 million people to come watch us every year is incredibly special.
"The more time we spend in other cities, the more we recognize how special it is here. The fans are the single biggest factor. I'm excited, man, truly excited to be able to say I'm a Milwaukee Brewer from this point forward."
• Coming in to the season I did not expect Yovani Gallardo to be the weak link of the rotation. Aside from his, shut out vs. Atlanta, that is exactly what he's been. If you want additional cause for concern, Gallardo had a 6.28 ERA from July 27 on last season. Of course, over the same time frame his BABIP (Batting average on balls in play) was .383. This season it's .323. That tends to be around .300 for any pitcher, no matter how good they are, so I am hopeful that as Gallardo's BABIP regresses to the mean his outings will improve.
• Carlos Gomez is not a smart baseball player. This is not the first or last time I will say this, but it's true. I beginning to wonder if running the bases makes him nervous, which makes it harder for him to think, which leads him to make stupid base running errors. I suppose anything is possible.
• Last point: the Brewers offense looked great for the second time in three games. I think this is a sign of things to come.
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