Roy Halladay, Ubaldo Jimenez, and the Brewers

,On Saturday, Roy Halladay threw the 20th perfect game in Major League history, and the second this season (Oakland's Dallas Braden was the first). Halladay was absolutely nasty, making the right pitches at the perfect time and striking out 11 Marlins. This is just another great accomplishment for Halladay, who already has a Cy Young award and 7 All Star Appearances. With a 1.99 ERA, you'd think he'd be the frontrunner for this year's NL Cy Young, but a certain Colorado pitcher is blowing away the competition...

Rockies righty Ubaldo Jimenez has been absolutely lights out this season. He is the first pitcher to 10 wins and only two months have passed in the season. His ERA is filthy; 0.78 in 80 innings pitched. That means that he has only given up 7 runs all season. He even beat 2-time reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum yesterday. It is probably inevitable that his numbers will go up a little bit, but right now a Jimenez start essentially means a Rockies win. If he keeps up this pace, he is undoubtedly headed for an All-Star Game start, Cy Young award, and even in the running for NL MVP. We could be in for a historic season watching him.

Finally the Brewers. How disappointing this season has been. Already 9 games under .500, no one is fearing the beer right now. A couple thoughts:

• John Axford looks like a keeper in the Milwaukee bullpen. He throws super hard and has the potential, with fellow prospect Zach Braddock, to be in the back end of the Brewers pen for years to come. Plus he's trying to grow a handlebar mustache.
  
• I'm excited to see what Chris Capuano has to offer, as he is getting the start Thursday in Florida. I hope he does well, as he's come so far, but I don't think he could be as bad as Chris Narveson and Manny Parra have been.
• Corey Hart is on fire. Trade him while he still has value!
• How bad is the Brewers pitching? Besides having the third worst ERA in the majors (5.36), it is so bad that Brewers hitters lead the league in many of the major statistical categories and they still can't keep up. Ryan Braun is third in the NL with a .318 batting average, Casey McGehee is first in the NL with 41 RBIs and Corey Hart leads with 13 home runs. Alcides Escobar even leads the league with 5 triples. The old addage is that pitching wins championships and that is soooo true!
• Yes, everyone is saying this, but Jeff Suppan is horrible. Plain and simple. If the Brewers have better options than him, he shouldn't be on the team. I'm obviously not the person to determine that, but at this point money should not be a factor in deciding whether he stays or not.
• Bill Hall, still making roughly $8 million from the Brewers this season, threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Red Sox on Friday night.
  

Capuano defies the odds

Chris Capuano, a former 18 game winner and All-Star for the Brewers is making his return after being away from the game for 30 months. He underwent his second Tommy John surgery in 2007, with most believing his career was over. Yet Cappy never gave up and finally got a chance to prove himself this year down in the minors. Between Single-A Brevard County and Triple-A Nashville, he went 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA in 7 starts. The Brewers were forced to make a decision today on whether to bring him up to the majors or allow him to be a free agent and sign with another team. Obviously intrigued by his minor league stats and most likely not wanting to see 3 years of commitment to him while injured get flushed away, they agreed to call him up.

With a few of the Brewers starting pitchers in flux (aka Chris Narveson, Dave Bush, and Manny Parra), it should be interesting to see if he gets an opportunity to start or if he will exclusively pitch out of the bullpen. I'd personally like to see him start over Narveson, but Macha really seems to like Narveson. The Brewers have yet to make a corresponding move, but it's likely that Marco Estrada, who has actually pitched very well since being called up, will get sent down. Personally, I'd like to see the Brewers make a statement and get rid of Claudio Vargas or even Jeff Suppan, but Brewers management doesn't really seem to work that way. I'll be at today's game, so I'm very excited to see #39 back on the field, even if he doesn't get into a game. If he does get a chance to pitch, I expect a huge standing ovation from the Milwaukee faithful.