Back in March, all the talk of the National League Central revolved around the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers.
The season's first game pitted these two contenders against each other, with Ben Sheets and Carlos Zambrano dueling to a 0-0 tie that the bullpens had to break. Everything was set up for a season-long struggle for the pennant.
But an old Central stalwart decided that they had something to say about it too.
The St. Louis Cardinals are 21-12, 2.5 games ahead of the Cubs and four games ahead of the Brewers. The Beermakers are only a game above .500 at this point of the season.
And it isn't going to get any easier.
The difficulties start with the pitching.
Ben Sheets is the only Brewer starter to win a game since Manny Parra beat the San Francisco Giants on April 5. That's an entire month ago.
- B/R Ticket Guide
No. 2 starter, Yovani Gallardo, started three games before a freak ACL tear at Wrigley Field on May 1. Former 18-game winner Chris Capuano is also out with ligament damage in his pitching elbow.
The difficulties continue with the pitching.
Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota, and David Riske have all pitched well this season, but the biggest free agent name the Brewers brought in—former Cy Young Award winner and Red Sox goat Eric Gagne—has blown five saves and has an ERA over six.
All these problems will test the mettle of the young Brewer lineup.
The diminished pitching will put pressure on the offense and defense. King Prince and Ryan Braun will do their parts with the bat, and the gloves will be better than last year with Braun moving to left field.
Thus, the men who have to step up are the men who start with the ball in their hand.
Sheets needs to stay healthy and pitch 200 innings this year. Jeff Suppan's record needs to be better than .500. Carlos Villanueva and Parra need to start pitching deep into ball games.
Dave Bush needs to be better than the ace of the Nashville Sounds staff. And Eric Gagne has to get back to 2004 when he was lights out.
If these things don't happen and don't happen quickly, this season might turn into the 2006 season when the Brewers were unable to live up to heightened expectations that came thanks to improved play the previous season.
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8 months ago
I agree that the Brew Crew is in trouble... especially with Gallardo being out... With him pitching well, the Crew had a nice 1-2 punch to go along with their stacked offense... but with him going down, now there is even more pressure for Sheets to win and stay healthy, and that probably won't be enough, even if does pitch 200 innings.
Though I could be wrong about my thoughts of the Cardinals, I think my cubbies could possibly cruise in this division and win it by 5-10 games.
Only time will tell if Houston can enter the race as well.
8 months ago
This team is in TROUBLE. It starts at the top, Ned Yost absolutley positively needs to go. Let Ted Simmons run the team. Yost makes some of the worst decisions I have ever seen. The team shows little or no emotion on the field. Yost is a guy that cannot take this team any further than they are now. Remember the team had some infighting toward the end of last year. Rickie Weeks needs to be fixed and Jim Skaalen isn't the guy to do it. Bill Hall is a mediocre hitter at best and most of the rest of the offense is pressing badly at the plate. Gallardo's injury was a TERRIBLE break for this team. Sheets is very above-aveerage but his fastball has no ovement and he compliments it with a big overhand hook. After that the Brewers have very little. Manny Parra can get you to the 5th or 6th, but then who do you put in? Any scouting report on the Brewers will say take take take and make their starter throw perfect pitches. This bullpen in a word is awful. Any way you put it, this team, is in BIG Trouble. It's too bad because I really want to root for the Brewers.
8 months ago
I just wonder if this will be as bad as the 2002 season or if we'll break the record of 14 L's in a row. We need to make a trade for some starters and if it means parting ways with Rickie Weeks or JJ Hardy, so be it.
from 8 months ago
106 is a lot of losses...just for a little perspective, that team was 9-24 through may 7 (although they did go 10-7 against the cubs over the whole season). this team will finish more like in 2006 i think....a few games under .500.
the outfield of braun, cameron, and hart is far better than jenkins, alex ochoa, and alex sanchez.
the infield is far better too. kendall, fielder, weeks, hardy, hall vs. bako, sexson, eric young, jose hernandez, and tyler houston....i think you're just being cynical...which is alright.
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