Reactions to G18, Brewers at Houston

9-8 loss in 11 innings to the Brewers, where the Astros pulled ahead, and then dragged behind. Lost in extras despite being out-hit 17-10.

Cooper:
“We showed some fight. We continued to fight hard. We had a chance. We had a lot of opportunities, and so did they. But we’ve got to make better pitches late in the ballgame.”

Cooper on Geary, who has three losses:
“Geoff’s a guy that’s pitched well for us in the past. We’ve got to get him fixed, whatever the problem is. Right now he doesn’t have his sharp, sharp breaking ball. His velocity is not where it could be and should be, and we got to get it straightened out. That’s all. We’ve got a lot of season to play. Do we want to be 6-12? No. If we keep battling, we’ll get it right.”

Cooper on what happened with Pudge in the 8th:
“Pudge turned around and asked (DiMuro where the pitch was), and (DiMuro) said, ‘don’t show me up.' And I don’t think he actually showed him up. That was his take on it. I told him it was not a reason to throw him out of a ballgame right there. It was just a bad decision.”

Cooper on umpire Mike DiMuro:
“After things started to escalate a little bit, I was trying to make sure Pudge gets out. I knew I wasn’t finished. I had to go out and tell him he blew a lot of calls tonight. He was missing a lot of pitches. A lot of our guys were complaining. I had to tell him. And when I told him he basically said, ‘You’re out of here.’ I thought he had a bad zone.”

Valverde:
“I threw all my pitches. I know this guy’s a good hitter. He hit my fastball.”

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal reporter Anthony Witrado:
The Brewers' offense handed the bullpen its first lead in the eighth inning. Prince Fielder singled and Mike Cameron got ahead, 2-0, in the next at-bat against Houston reliever LaTroy Hawkins. That second ball prompted Astros catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to come out of his crouch and blister plate umpire Mike DiMuro with a tongue lashing that got him thrown out. Houston manager Cecil Cooper, whose team had issues with the strike zone all night, came out to defend his player and soon followed him out the door, although neither left the field immediately, sticking around to yell more.

Ryan Braun:
"A win is a win at the end of the day, but this one is more fun. It's a sign of being mentally tough. A lot of ups and downs. Ride the rollercoaster, but we ended up where we wanted to be. To come back and win a game like this is definitely indicative of the fact that we're playing well. We're headed in the right direction as a team."