My roommate said to me about a month ago, ‘Billy Hamilton is the type of guy who always does better against your team, but in reality, he’s actually an average player.’ He’s a Cubs fan, and I’m obviously a Brewers fan. But this is 100 percent true. Billy Hamilton finds a way to beat your team and only your team. He did it again versus Milwaukee in a 5-4 walkoff loss for the Crew. They stay 3.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs and drop to 1.5 back of the Colorado Rockies after they also won on a walkoff. This was not one of Milwaukee’s finer games.

Brewers big seventh inning
Homer Bailey dominated Milwaukee’s offense for six innings. That’s not a fun sentence to write because Bailey has been a gas can all season. Brewers finally got to Bailey in the seventh when Ryan Braun hit a home run then Orlando Arica came through with a huge three-run dinger to tie up the game. For both Braun and Arica, they’ve had a rough couple of weeks, and hopefully, this is a start of a hot streak for both. Braun looked good in a couple at-bats versus Washington on Sunday.

Chase Anderson’s nibble life
Not the best start from Chase Anderson. He walked in two runs. Anderson gave up a two-run double to Tucker Barnhart, but other than that, it’s not really a game where you’re worried about one of the Brewers’ best pitchers. He’s not usually a walk guy, so, I’m not ready to push the panic button here.

Should we be worried about Josh Hader?
I’m going to chalk this up as a no. There is a book on Hader nowadays which didn’t really exist when he came into the league and was dominating. The pitching coaches and catchers need to adjust the way they’re calling Hader as everyone is sitting on that first pitch fastball. Hamilton beat him on a pretty damn good pitch per what we see from MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Don’t be surprised if Craig Counsell uses Hader in a low leverage situation soon.

Scoreboard watch
Cubs fell apart with a seven-run eighth inning by Pittsburgh resulting in a 12-0 loss plus Jake Arrieta went down with a hamstring injury. Rockies won on a walkoff. Diamondbacks blew out Los Angeles, and they’re looking like locks in the postseason.

Next up
Brewers will send Zach Davies to the hill who is looking to continue his scoreless streak going away from Miller Park while the Reds send out Robert Stephenson who hasn’t been great versus the Brewers this season.

Charlie.