by By TOM ZIEMER tziemer@madison.com 608-252-6174 , Wisconsin State Journal

Hardy, whose batting average has yet to crack .250 this season, was hitting .348 with three home runs and seven RBI in his past 12 games entering Tuesday night's game against the New York Mets at Miller Park.

And he reached base twice, going 1-for-4 with a walk in Milwaukee's 6-3 win to raise his average to .233. The previous night, Hardy had one of his best games of the season, going 4-for-4 with a homer and two doubles.

"(Monday) was the first night that I actually felt good," Hardy said. "I've gotten some hits over the last couple weeks, but I hadn't really felt good. (Monday) was the first night that I actually felt good, so I'll try to build off (Monday)."

Hardy hit just .156 in April, but recovered in May before slumping again during the first half of June. As of June 15, his average had fallen to .207.

"He was down. But, hey, this is a man's game," Brewers manager Ken Macha said. "You've got to get over it. He's shown a tremendous amount of strength to fight his way through that.

"I think the mark of a man is when times are tough, how you're going to handle it, and I think he's done great with that. So I'm rooting for J.J. to continue because he's fought his way out of a pretty deep hole."

Villanueva struggling While Hardy is surging, reliever Carlos Villanueva is going in the other direction.

The right-hander entered Monday's game in the ninth inning, with the Brewers leading 10-3. He ended up turning it into a save situation, leaving after getting one out and giving up five straight hits and three runs.

Since making 15 straight scoreless appearances from May 5 to June 6, Villanueva has allowed 10 earned runs in 8 1 3 innings.

"You run (into) streaks like that and so hopefully we'll get him out of this one," Macha said.

Home improvement The process of repairing Miller Park's service level after a June 19 flood continues.

The team is still without batting cages or a weight room, but that's not to say progress hasn't been made in the cleanup effort.

"I just think that the recovery effort here, we've gone through this homestand, the people that have been delegated that job have done a tremendous job," Macha said.

"You guys have been in the clubhouse. What they've done to go from how many inches of water we had in there to making it functional, and they continue to work here. I get here early and they're in here working, so that's an amazing thing that they've put this together."

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