Brewers: Hardy, Sheets take tough road to opening day starts
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Milwaukee ace Ben Sheets allowed four home runs on Wednesday in his final tune-up for opening day, but he says he'll be ready to face the Cubs on Monday.
Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy has lost 10 pounds and more than a week of preparation due to a bacterial infection. But he played in a minor league game Wednesday and says he'll be ready for opening day, too.
In addition, Milwaukee heads into today's Cactus League finale with its 25-man roster all but set. In a somewhat surprising move, the Brewers outrighted catcher Eric Munson to Triple-A Nashville, leaving Mike Rivera as the primary backup to starter Jason Kendall going into the season.
Rivera appeared in 57 games over the past two seasons for Milwaukee. He made 39 starts for the Brewers in 2006, batting .268 with 24 RBIs. But he spent most of last season at Nashville and played in only 11 games for the Brewers.
On Wednesday, Sheets gave up nine runs and eight hits -- including two homers by Jim Thome -- in five innings, but the Brewers rallied for a 12-10 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
None of the homers Sheets yielded were cheap, although the windy conditions didn't help.
"Thome's would have gone 450 (feet) instead of 550," Sheets said. "The homers really didn't matter to me."
Despite the rough outing, he said he's prepared for opening day.
"There's no choice. I'm ready to go," Sheets said. "I thought I had pretty good stuff, not great."
Beaten out for the starting second base job, Chicago utility man Alexei Ramirez helped his bid to play center field on opening day by hitting a grand slam off Sheets.
Milwaukee jumped all over White Sox starter Gavin Floyd, who gave up six runs and nine hits in five innings. He struck out seven but allowed homers to Ryan Braun and Corey Hart.
Hardy, meanwhile, played five innings Wednesday -- his first action since March 17. He went 1-for-5 with a single and two strikeouts. General manager Doug Melvin told mlb.com that while he is reserving the right to place Hardy on the disabled list, he plans to use him in the Brewers' exhibition games Friday and Saturday at Miller Park against Kansas City in hopes of getting Hardy ready for opening day.
