Ryan Braun has pulled within 32,925 votes of Kosuke Fukudome for the final starting National League outfield spot. If everybody watching votes 25 times, he’ll be an All Star starter. Voting ends July 2nd. Vote Braun at WWW.BREWERS.COM or WWW.MLB.COM up to 25 times per email account.

There are still good seats available for Fourth of July weekend at Miller Park. We hope you’ll make plans to join us as the Brewers take on the Pirates.

The Brewers hit the exact halfway point of the season with a winning record and still in the playoff hunt. Eighty one games down, eighty one to go. I think everyone is encouraged with the quality of play especially after a very difficult first half schedule.

Amazingly, only five of the 16 teams in the National League have winning records. Three of those are in the NL Central. Milwaukee began the road trip 6.5 games back of the Cubs and are now just 4.5 games back. Anytime you can make up ground on the road, it’s a bonus.  

The last leg of this 10-game, 11 day road trip starts Monday as the Crew begins a four game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Brewers will face Doug Davis, Randy Johnson, Michah Owings, and Brandon Webb. 

All four games of the Arizona series will be on FSN Wisconsin with Ryan Schaber producing, Michael Oddino directing, and Brian Mikolajek handling the sunscreen and heat index.

Brewers Live will be “live” at Summerfest before and after the games so stay up late and enjoy West coast baseball this week!

Here are some of my D-Backs notes to get you ready for the series:

– The Diamondbacks are 9-13 since they last played the Brewers on June 4 and are 2-7 on their recently-completed nine-game road trip versus AL teams. They averaged just 2.4 runs per game in those contests, hitting .209 as a team.

– Chris Young has eight RBIs in his last 11 games since being moved from leadoff spot.

– Brandon Webb became the first 12-game winner in the major leagues Saturday.

– Brandon Lyon had his streak of 15 consecutive save conversions broken when he gave up two runs to Florida in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss Sunday. It was Lyon’s first blown save since April 6. He is 15 of 18 in save opportunities this year.

– Eric Byrnes is 2-for-22 with no RBI and no runs scored since returning from the disabled list last Monday.

– The Brewers swept three games from Arizona in Milwaukee in early June, and have won nine of the last 11 games in the series overall.

– The Crew’s 24-13 record since May 20 is tied for best in the majors with Detroit.

– Russell Branyan is tied for the NL lead with nine home runs in June (with Hanley Ramirez, Fla; and Mark Teixeira, Atl).

– In seven road starts this year, Dave Bush is 1-5 with a 7.09 ERA, compared to 3-2 with a 3.18 ERA in seven home starts.

Have a great week!

-BA