It took Randy Wells seven years to stick with the Chicago Cubs. Only seven years? Joe Inglett wishes he had been so lucky. Inglett, an 11th-year pro trying to win the final spot on Milwaukee's 25-man roster, hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning Tuesday, lifting the Brewers to a 5-3 victory over the Cubs.

The Brewers and right-hander Yovani Gallardo agreed to disagree, at least when it came to his value in 2010.

Unable to reach agreement on a salary for this season, the Brewers renewed Gallardo's contract for $450,000. He made $414,000 last year, and he had a much bigger raise in mind.

Problem is, the Brewers use a formula for pre-arbitration players (zero to three years in the majors) to determine their yearly salaries. And, trying to be fair to every player, they do not waver from that system.

What hurt Gallardo is that the Brewers incorporate the Elias rankings into their formula, which takes into account the player's previous two seasons. The 24-year-old budding ace missed most of the 2008 season with a knee injury, so he fell off the Elias radar.

"'Yo's...

With young sluggers Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Corey Hart grabbing most of the headlines, pitching often can be an afterthought for the Milwaukee Brewers. But if the team hopes to contend in the National League Central in 2010, pitching will have to pick up the pace. The starters are doing their part so far this spring.

By now, Randy Wolf has become accustomed to spending his spring in a new home. "I've done it a few times already. You kind of get used to it," said Wolf, who threw two innings of one-hit baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers' 12-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday . "It's nice to get out there." Milwaukee is the fourth team he started a season with -- the...

Ben Sheets acknowledged being a little nervous but insisted it had nothing to do with facing his former team. It was more about facing hitters for the first time in 17 months. Sheets, who signed a $10 million, one-year contract with the Oakland Athletics in the offseason, started Friday's 8-7 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and tossed 1 2-3 healthy innings.

After a long winter, there's nothing like taking a pitch in the middle of the back to get the bad blood flowing again. Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder was the target of apparent retaliation on Thursday when he was hit by the first pitch from San Francisco left-hander Barry Zito in the first inning of a 5-3 victory by the Giants on Thursday.