The Milwaukee Brewers are on a roll coming off six consecutive wins and they destroyed the Cincinnati Reds 12-1 last night in the opener of a three-game set at Great American Ballpark. They're likely to extend on that winning streak tonight when facing a rookie-pitcher on the mound.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Reds will hand the ball to 27 year old Josh Smith (0-1, 5.63 ERA) who'll make his mere third start in the majors. He's struggled in the previous two conceding a total of seven runs, five earned on seven hits and eight walks over eight frames. The Brew Crew will counter with Jimmy Nelson (5-8, 4.48 ERA) who's coming off a pair of wins against the Phillies and the Mets giving up only a total of five runs on eight hits over 13 innings of work.

2. Milwaukee's Bats - The Brewers have scored a major leagues-best 57 runs over the last seven days with an astonishing .337 team batting average. The Reds have scored 23 runs in six games with a .250 batting average over the same time-frame.

3. X-Factor - Milwaukee's Carlos Gomez was 3-for-5 with last night when he hit his first career grand slam.

Selection: This is a play on the Milwaukee Brewers (10*)