Marcum's grand slam not enough in Brewer's loss

From: Monday, July 4, 2011
Diamondbacks 8, Brewers 6
W: Demel (2-2) L: Axford (2-2) SV: Hernandez (4)

Shaun Marcum's first career home run was a grand slam, one he will never forget. Unfortunately, he will have to remember it with a Brewers loss.

The Brewers had once again built an early lead just to watch it turn into an ugly loss. Milwaukee had a 6-1 lead going into the fifth, but Arizona scored in every inning to close out the game in their favor. Corey Hart led off the fourth inning with a home run and Shaun Marcum finished it with a grand slam. What could have been the Fourth of July Miracle, the day the Brewers got it going again, quickly turned into the Fourth of July Catastrophe.

Marcum gave up four earned runs, on seven hits, in six innings pitched. He had five strike outs but surrendered two home runs. It should not have mattered though because he did a lot with his bat. His grand slam should have picked up the entire team and made them realize that this was an important game to win. Not just for the sake of first place, but so Marcum could remember the day with complete fondness.

LaTroy Hawkins came in for relief of Marcum but allowed one earned run on two hits. Kameron Loe was accredited with one earned run on four hits. John Axford came in with the game tied in the ninth and had his worst performance in a long time. He gave up two earned on four hits to lose the game.

"It's a long season and we struggled early on in the year," Marcum said. "We're going through the same kind of funk right now, but good teams find a way to get out of it, and I'm pretty confident we'll be one of those teams."

I sure hope Marcum is right because if this "funk" continues, the Brewers are in a world of trouble. The St. Louis Cardinals are in first place by themselves with the Pittsburgh Pirates coming right up behind the Brewers. There is no room for error right now, even if it is only the beginning of July.