Afternoon Sports Briefs - Brewers Marco Estrada out of starting rotation against Giants

• Image

Talk about it

SAN FRAQNCISCO - Marco Estrada will skip a turn in the Milwaukee Brewers’ starting rotation at San Francisco this weekend.

That will let Zack Greinke, Randy Wolf, and Shaun Marcum go up against the three best starters in the Giants’ rotation. But Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke says the matchups are only part of the reason he’s shelving Estrada for now. The skipper says it’s also important to have his top four starters go on their normal four days’ rest when possible. And as a result, an interesting matchup is set for tomorrow night, when right hander Greinke goes up against Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum. Wolf is expected to face Madison Baumgarner on Saturday. And Marcum will go up against the Giants’ Matt Cain on Sunday. Roenicke says uses five criteria in setting up a rotation and head to head matchups is one of them. And Brewers’ right fielder Corey Hart says it should be a fun pitchers’ duel tomorrow with Greinke and Lincecum. As Hart put it, “Those games are so intense, because you know every play could be the play.” The Brew Crew is off today, after dropping two of three at San Diego. They’ve lost five of their last seven.

__________________________________________________________________________

Milwaukee Bucks’ forward Carlos Delfino just had a successful operation for a sports hernia connected with a lingering right groin injury. The Bucks say Delfino is expected to return to basketball activities in 6-8 weeks. Delfino missed 10 games with the injury this past season. That includes the last four contests. Delfino started 53 of Milwaukee’s 66 games and averaged nine points, four rebounds, two and a half assists, and one and a half steals.

___________________________________________________________________________

A former coach of the Milwaukee Hawks in the NBA’s formative years has died. 92year old Andrew “Fuzzy” Levane passed away on Tuesday. Levane coached the Hawks from 1952 through 54. He stayed for parts of two seasons in Milwaukee, and one after the team moved to Saint Louis. Levane coached the New York Knicks from 1958 to 60, leading them to the playoffs in ’59. He was also a long time scout for the Knicks. Levane played his college basketball at Saint John’s, and he won the Haggerty Award as the Big Apple’s best college player in 1943.

___________________________________________________________________________

The Green Bay Gamblers will open their U.S. junior hockey league semi finals tonight at home against the Indiana Ice. Games One and Two are being played at Green Bay’s Resch Center. This is the fourth straight year the Gamblers have advanced to the Clark Cup semis. Green Bay forward Alex Broadhurst is the team’s top scorer in four post-season games, with five goals and two assists. Indiana comes in after firing its coach last month. Kyle Wallack was let go, and was replaced by Charlie Skjodt, a brother of Indiana’s owner. Indiana scored 221 goals this season, second only to Green Bay. Meanwhile, Gamblers’ coach Derek Lalonde said today that one of his assistants has been named a new head coach elsewhere. Jon Rogger will take over Des Moines next season. He spent four years at Green Bay.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam, sports