NEXT GAME: September 3, 2008
TV: SNY | RADIO: WFAN 660, WADO 1280
Milwaukee Brewers (80-58)New York Mets (78-61) 
@
Miller Park
2:05PM EDT
UNOFFICIAL LINEUPS:
2B Rickie Weeks
SS J.J. Hardy
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
RF Corey Hart
CF Mike Cameron
3B Bill Hall
C Jason Kendall
P Dave Bush
SS Jose Reyes
LF Daniel Murphy
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Ryan Church
2B Luis Castillo
C Brian Schneider
P Oliver Perez Pitching matchup
MIL: RHP Dave Bush (9-9, 4.12 ERA)
Dave Bush held Pittsburgh to one run in 6 2-3 innings of a 3-1 win Friday night. Bush was 4-0 with a 2.12 ERA in five August starts - all Milwaukee wins. The Brewers have won 10 of the right-hander's last 12 outings, and Bush is 7-2 with a 2.73 ERA in that stretch.
Bush vs. Mets (lifetime, 2-0, 3.86):
Carlos Delgado .667, HR, 3 AB
Brian Schneider .500, 10 AB
Endy Chavez .333, 6 AB
Luis Castillo .286, 7 AB
Ryan Church .250, 4 AB
Jose Reyes .250, 4 AB
Carlos Beltran .000, 2 AB
David Wright .000, 2 AB
Damion Easley .000, 1 AB
NYM: LHP Oliver Perez (9-7, 3.90 ERA)
Oliver Perez held Florida to two runs - one earned - and three hits in six innings of the Mets' 5-4 win Friday night.
The Mets have won nine of the last 12 games started by Perez, who's 4-2 with a 2.42 ERA in that stretch.
Perez vs. Brewers (lifetime, 3-1, 5.09):
Jason Kendall .500, 4 AB
Corey Hart .444, 9 AB
Ray Durham .429, 7 AB
Gabe Kapler .375, HR, 8 AB
Craig Counsell .250, 12 AB
J.J. Hardy .214, HR, 14 AB
Ryan Braun .167, 6 AB
Rickie Weeks .167, 6 AB
Mike Cameron .143, 7 AB
Bill Hall .111, HR, 18 AB
Prince Fielder .091, HR, 11 AB
Scouting Report:
Brewers: Bush was caught in a heated pitching duel with Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny on Friday, but Bush was able to escape PNC Park with his ninth win of the year. The quality outing also improved his August record to 4-0. Bush continues to show signs of improvement on the road and is gaining more and more confidence from his manager, Ned Yost. Bush will attempt to keep the good vibrations going against the Mets, whom he is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA against in his career.
Mets: Despite walking five batters on Friday against the Marlins, Oliver Perez allowed only two runs, but he could not muster a win. The five walks weren't even the trouble -- a solo homer, an error and a sacrifice fly amounted for all the damage off Perez. But it was enough. Perez now hasn't won in three starts, marking his longest streak since early June. He'll look to right himself against the Brewers, who tagged him for six runs in 4 1/3 innings back in April.
TIDBITS:
The Mets' bullpen now has pitched 13 consecutive scoreless innings -- three Sunday, three Monday and seven Tuesday night.
The Mets have hit home runs -- 19 altogether -- in their 13 most recent games.
Carlos Delgado might have deserved a tip after his two-run home run in the eighth inning Monday gave the Mets a lead that led to a 4-2 victory. It didn't work that way. When Brian Stokes, Carlos Muniz and Pedro Feliciano asked for their check at the Capital Grille here Monday night, they were told that the Mets first baseman had paid it.
This Date in Mets History
September 3rd:
Jim Hickman became the first Mets player to hit three home runs in a game. He did so in a 6-3 victory at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in 1965. All three came off Ray Sadecki, who pitched into the seventh inning. Hickman, who drove in four runs, singled off Nellie Briles in his final at-bat, in the eighth inning. Six other Mets have hit three home runs in one game: Dave Kingman in 1976, Claudell Washington in 1980, Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter in 1985, Edgardo Alfonzo in 1999 and Jose Reyes in 2006.
In 1978, Lee Mazzilli became the first Mets player to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game. Mazzilli hit his first right-handed off Tommy John to lead off the game, and his second left-handed off Charlie Hough in the seventh inning of the Mets' 8-5 victory over the Dodgers in Los Angeles. No other Mets player accomplished the feat until Howard Johnson in 1991. "Switch" home runs in the same game have come 17 more times in club history, most recently June 30 of last year (Carlos Beltran). No National League team has had as many as 17 instances.
For the second time in three games, Jim Edmonds hit a final-pitch home run to beat the Mets on this date in 2000. The 11th-inning home run against Rick White produced a 4-3 loss, one of six losses in a seven-game sequence that began after a Braves loss had catapulted the Mets into first place in the National League East and given them the best record in the game, 79-54. The Mets didn't hold that best-record distinction again so late in a season until 2006.
And on this date last year, Pedro Martinez made his season debut 11 months after surgery to repair his torn rotator cuff. He pitched five innings in what became a 10-4 Mets victory and gained his first victory since Aug. 9, 2006. The victory was the Mets' fourth straight and fifth in a sequence of nine victories in 10 games that put their division lead at six games.
NEWS AND NOTES:
• CF Carlos Beltran returned to the lineup in Milwaukee, a day after leaving in the ninth inning with a right knee injury, which he suffered sliding into plate umpire Ed Rapuano. Beltran indicated he’s not 100 percent, but the knee doesn’t feel unstable. “I feel sore, but I went out there and ran in the outfield and caught some flyballs,” Beltran said. “I can tolerate what I feel.” Beltran said he’d be fine to play in Wednesday’s matinee as well.
• LHP Billy Wagner came through Monday’s 25-pitch bullpen session at Shea Stadium feeling healthy. The closer is expected to face batters in a simulated setting this weekend before being activated from the disabled list next week.
• RHP Brian Stokes has allowed two runs in 16 innings since moving to the bullpen. He contributed two scoreless innings against Milwaukee.
• RHP Luis Ayala has emerged as the Mets’ closer with Billy Wagner on the disabled list. Ayala recorded his fifth save since joining the Mets. Asked to protect a one-run lead in the 10th inning, Ayala survived a two-out double by Brewers rookie Brad Nelson.
• CF Carlos Beltran has five home runs in his past nine games. The Mets have homered in 13 straight games dating to Aug. 20.
• RHP Ben Sheets said he still felt some soreness in his left groin but remained hopeful of taking his next scheduled start Saturday against San Diego. Sheets exited his start Monday against New York after five scoreless innings with left groin tightness.
• RHP Jeff Suppan has been named the Brewers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for the second consecutive season. Suppan donates $100,000 a year to Brewers Charities, and he and his wife, Dana, are involved in several other causes.
• 3B Mat Gamel and SS Alcides Escobar were named co-recipients of the organization’s minor league player of the year award. RHP Jeremy Jeffress was named the pitcher of the year. Gamel and Escobar, who played at Class AA Huntsville, were among 10 players summoned from the minors for the final month.
• 2B Rickie Weeks hit his fifth leadoff homer of the season and the 11th of his career. Weeks matched his career high with four hits.
• LHP Manny Parra collected two doubles and now has six extra-base hits for the season. Chicago RHP Carlos Zambrano leads all NL pitchers with nine extra-base hits, and Arizona’s Dan Haren has seven.
GAME PREVIEW:
Chavez contributing in part-time role
MILWAUKEE -- The Mets are to oppose a right-handed starting pitcher Wednesday when they complete their three-game series against the Brewers and their three-city excursion to Philadelphia, Miami and Fonzie's favorite city. Dave Bush is the opponent. So Ryan Church almost certainly will be back in the lineup -- he didn't start Tuesday night -- and Endy Chavez almost certainly will be back on the bench.
Church's return to active duty and the emergence of Fernando Tatis, Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans has limited Chavez to cameo appearances late in games. He pinch-runs, is double-switched into the lineup or is inserted to upgrade the defense.
He was double-switched into the seventh inning Tuesday and had the kind of impact he frequently has, throwing out a runner at second base in the eighth and driving in the decisive run in the Mets' 10-inning, 6-5 victory.
And now he sits.
"I have to work more now before the game to stay as sharp as I have to be," Chavez said. "I have to be able to perform like I do when I play a lot."
But manager Jerry Manuel likes to use his two rookie outfielders -- Murphy and Evans -- to cover left. And if Church is out of the lineup because the opposing starter is left-handed, Chavez won't be the one to take his place. Tatis will.
"I don't get to do as much as I did," Chavez said. "But we are winning, so that part is good. If you win a lot, it makes it easier to be on the bench."
