Gameday: Feb. 27 at A's

Shortstop J.J. Hardy, the Brewers’ hottest hitter, gets the day off today as the team travels for a rematch against the A’s at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The teams played to a 3-3 tie in the Cactus League opener Wednesday.

Left fielder Ryan Braun also gets the day off — manager Ken Macha said he let Braun decide whether he wanted a break — and so does second baseman Rickie Weeks, but Cactus League iron man Casey McGehee keeps his games played streak alive.

1. Jason Kendall      C
2. Chris Duffy          CF
3. Corey Hart           RF
4. Prince Fielder      1B
5. Trot Nixon            LF
6. Casey McGehee  3B
7. Craig Counsell     2B
8. Mike Lamb           DH
9. Alcides Escobar   SS

Manny Parra is scheduled to start and is penciled in for 30 pitches. Hopefully he fares better than Yovani Gallardo did Thursday against the Cubs, when Gallardo needed 28 pitches to get through a scoreless inning of work.

Following Parra will be Mark DiFelice, Chase Wright, Omar Aguilar, R.J. Swindle and Chris Narveson.

One little note from the morning clubhouse access: Doctors postponed Nikki Coffey’s childbirth, so Brewers reliever Todd Coffey will stick around camp for one more week before traveling home to North Carolina. He was originally scheduled to leave on Thursday afternoon.  Todd Coffey is scheduled to pitch in Saturday’s game.