Milwaukee Brewers vs. Minnesota Twins

Two teams fighting to get to or stay at the top of their divisions took blows as they both struggled over the weekend. Both now will try to get back on track against each other as interleague rivals meet up in Milwaukee when the Brewers welcome in the Twins.

Milwaukee (37-32) was an American League city from 1970 to 1997 before being shipped to the National League. It was an easy transition for Milwaukee as they had been a NL city in the 50’s and early 60’s when the Braves arrived from Boston before heading to Atlanta prior to the 1966 season.

They left some rivals behind though, most notably, their neighbors in Minnesota (35-36), which is why the two teams have been installed as “natural” interleague rivals, like the Yankees-Mets or the Cubs-White Sox, and play two series per year.

The teams met earlier this year, a disastrous series for the Brewers, as they were swept in the Metrodome from May 22-24. That series mirrored their trip to face another former rival over the weekend, the Detroit Tigers, as they were swept out of Comerica Park after a 3-2 loss on Sunday in which all of Detroit’s runs were scored on a three-run blast by Brandon Inge.

That sweep did not help the Twins in the standings who were looking to get closer to the Tigers, but dropped two of three at home against the slumping Houston Astros over the weekend.

Minnesota enjoyed a well-needed off-day on Monday as some of their players are nursing injuries and sickness although it appears they will get back the M & M boys back for the series opener on Tuesday.

That is bad news for the Brewers, who were mashed by Justin Morneau in the earlier sweep as he went 6-for-10 with a home run and seven RBIs, as well as Joe Mauer, who is back after battling the flu.

Minnesota is expected to be missing Nick Punto and Jason Kubel, however, at least for the first game of the series.

The rest of the Twins’ lineup will be facing Jeff Suppan (5-4, 4.48) Tuesday, which will be a tough task as Suppan’s start have yielded three straight wins for Milwaukee and the club is 9-3 in his starts since April 19, including allowing three runs on seven hits over six innings last Wednesday against Cleveland. While Suppan did not receive a decision, the Brewers won the game in 11 innings.

The Twins counter with Francisco Liriano (2-8, 5.91) hoping the former pheonom is getting his career back on track after he allowed four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts over seven innings. While that is not up to his 2006 level, it was Liriano’s longest outing in nearly two months.

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