Kotsay caps Yo's gem with walk off

Brewers 2, Dodgers 1
W: Saito (4-1) L: Kuo (0-2)

The Brewers have now won 18 of their last 20 games and with 39 regular season games to go, a seven game cushion in the NL Central is looking pretty good. At least to the fans they are in good shape.

"We're not anything special yet," said Mark Kotsay after his game winning hit. "We have a lot of baseball left to play."

It is comforting to know that despite their biggest lead in the division this year, the Brewers are still playing like they are chasing someone.

"We can still go after the Phillies," claimed an enthusiastic Nyjer Morgan.

The way Milwaukee is playing there is no doubt in mind they could challenge Philadelphia for the best record in baseball. The most important thing is the team knows where they are at this point in the season and they are complacent with that.

Yovani Gallardo pitched an outstanding game in front of a sold out Miller Park. For the second night in a row a Brewer pitcher eats up eight innings and gives the bullpen some much needed rest. Gallardo only gave up one earned run on four hits and had nine strikeouts to go with it. He now has 142 strikeouts on the season, one behind team leader Zack Greinke. Yovani seemed to struggle a little bit in the early parts of the game, but as the innings built up he seemed to get stronger.

The Dodgers struck first in the second inning when Aaron Miles singled home Matt Kemp.

Milwaukee came storming back in the bottom half of the second. After Jerry Hairston singled and Jonathan Lucroy walked, Gallardo got down a great sacrifice bunt on a 0-2 count. With runners on second and third, Corey Hart hit a ground out to the third baseman whose only out was at first.

Gallardo and Dodger starting pitcher Chad Billingsley both settled down after that. Another run was not scored until the ninth inning.

Takashi Saito pitched a 1-2-3 ninth and for the second time in three days it was good enough to garner him the win.

Prince Fielder started out the bottom half of the inning with a walk. Los Angeles chose to make a pitching change and replace Hong-Chih Kuo with Mike MacDougal. Casey McGehee welcomed the substitution with a single to right field on the very first pitch he saw. The usually free swinging Yuniesky Betancourt put the bat on his shoulder and took four straight balls. With the bases loaded pinch hitter Mark Kotsay smacked the first pitch he saw to center, which fell right in front of the center fielder. For the second time this year Kotsay walked off and made Milwaukee winners.