Highlights-Lowlights: Brewers-Phillies (4/8-4/10)

This is SnoTap's version of recap of the two, three or four game series Milwaukee Brewers will play this season. We focus on the positives and negatives with topics about the game and topics that were nowhere near close to part of the game. 

Honestly, I could make the entire team the highlight and this is getting a little repetitive yet as Icona Pop once said, "I DON'T CAAAARE."  

Highlights
Ryan Braun - The boss man is back in town. Ryan Braun swam in Philadelphia's boos this week as he hit three home runs on Tuesday afternoon with seven RBI's. Braun struck out three times on Wednesday, and then tripled driving in two big runs in the eighth inning. He added a sacrifice fly yesterday. Braun went from hitting .150 on Monday to .281 on Thursday with three home runs and 10 RBIs. I love the point to the dugout and yes we can pretend he pointed to Philadelphia's crowd.

Carlos Gomez - Third straight appearance for Gomey, but it is for good reason. He finished the six-game sweep with 14 for 31 which is incredible. Gomez is on a complete tear right now. In five of the six games, Gomez had multiple hits and in three of them, he had three or more hits. Gomez is white hot to begin the season picking up where he left off in his All-Star campaign of 2013. He also making Ron Roenicke look like a genius for hitting him first in the order. I know we all hate that.

Jim Henderson - It appears Henderson is returning to form a bit. He came in on Tuesday afternoon with the Brewers up by six, and he pitched strong throwing around 95 to 97 miles per hour. It appears Henderson is getting his swagger back a bit, and that's important for this Brewers team. Henderson only makes this deep bullpen even deeper and better.

Jonathan Lucroy - He doesn't have the home run or RBI numbers that stand out right now, but Johnny Luc is ripping the cover of the ball. There is only one game this season where Lucroy did not have a hit. Four of those games feature Luc with multiple hits plus in five of the last six games, he has at least one extra base hit. Lucroy is one of the more underrated players in all of baseball, and he is scorching hot right now which is nice as he is typically known for a slow start.

Mark Reynolds - Many people questioned the move for the Brewers to get Reynolds. There are still some that believe he isn't the answer at first this season. But Reynolds separated himself from the platoon in the last couple of games. Last night was the first game since Saturday where he didn't at least have one run scored. Couple things I like about Reynolds early is he had some clutch hitting, and he can sneakily steal bases

Will Smith - Don't worry I will not make any sort of puns about Will Smith I promise. But he is pitching well to start to the season for Milwaukee. That's important with being brought in from Kansas City and having some expectations given he was traded for Nori Aoki. Only real concern is he has tendency to walk a better here or there which could get dicey for him in an appearance.

Tyler Thornburg - He continues his hot streak. I am laughing at myself for throwing him into the lowlight category against Atlanta. Roenicke made the comment it looks like he wants to close, which is a horrible idea only for the fact it limits Thornburg. He can be a guy that pitches two or three innings, hell he could pitch four if need be. Putting him as a closer wouldn't be an awful idea as his stuff is so tough to pick up in one inning, but the point remains about limiting his ability.

Lowlights
What to do with Wang - Milwaukee kept Wei-Chung Wang on the roster because they would have to give him back to Pittsburgh if he went to the minor leagues. They kept him here to avoid any issues. You would think Milwaukee would have pitched him with multiple run leads this week, but they didn't. At some point, he needs to pitch for this team. It would be the ultimate troll move if they pitched him at some point against Pittsburgh this weekend.

Philadelphia's bullpen - I know what's it like to have a team with a bad bullpen, and that is exactly what Philadelphia has this season.  Usually, there is no coming back from a piss poor bullpen. In three games, the Phillies pen gave up nine runs disabling any sort of comeback by the team late in the game.

Kyle Lohse - Is it okay to be a little worried about Lohse?  First two starts have not been the best stuff from the veteran stater. He really struggled on Tuesday walking five batters in five innings. In 2013, Lohse only walked five batters once in a May start against Pittsburgh. It is early so let's not push the panic button yet but it's worth mentioning.

Ryan Howard - Hate to say this, but it feels like Howard is heading down a path with his career. We have seen this before with big first baseman. That at some point everything stops working the way it supposed to and things go to shit. That's what we are seeing from Howard right now.

Charlie.