Milwaukee Brewers Go From Being the Wild Card to Becoming the Joker

The Milwaukee Brewers entered their four game series with the Phillies on Thursday leading the NL Wild Card by four games.

They now leave the City of Brotherly Love tied with those Phillies for the Wild Card lead. Milwaukee managed to score only 10 runs in those four games, and got swept right out of town.

For all you fellow Brewers' fans wondering if the "Summer Slide" was going to show its ugly face this year, I believe you got the answer.

The unthinkable has happened and there's still two weeks left in the season. Is there any way that the Brewers can limp (and that's putting it nicely) into the playoffs?

If you listen to Ned Yost talk after games, you'd think that nothing is wrong and that Milwaukee is still in control. But if you actually sit and watch a game (heck, an inning), you'll see that this team doesn't stand a chance anymore.

The Brewers are 3-11 in September, with all of those wins coming in a 10-game home stand. I can't talk about the detailed numbers during this month because there would be too much profanity.  

They still have six games against the Cubs too, which makes me think that this month could get even uglier.

The Cubs have their famed 'curse' of 100 years now, but I'm starting to believe that the Crew has some kind of curse against them too. Did something strange happen with that 1982 team?

Well, the team did switch managers mid-season and became "Harvey's Wallbangers" in the second half, absolutely destroying the rest of the American League. Should the Brewers have fired Yost in May?

This is what happens when "your" team goes through constant struggles. There are a lot of questions being asked and only a few can be answered.

I have a strong belief (and I'm not alone in this) that if Milwaukee fails again in its hunt for October, Ned Yost is gone.

I don't care how buddy-buddy he is with owner Mark Attanasio and GM Doug Melvin, they know that this is a business and losing gets real old, real quick, especially in Brew Town.

There is a much smarter man in that Brewers dugout anyway. It's the guy that Yost played backup to as a player in the '80's on those same Brewers: Ted Simmons.

My prediction is actually that it doesn't matter how the Brewers finish this season. There will be a new leader at the helm in 2009. Ned Yost's days in Milwaukee are numbered and my countdown is at 14 (provided the Brewers' slide continues).

After all, in early May, I did suggest that maybe Ned Yost was not the guy to take Milwaukee to the playoffs, but rather just get the team back above .500.

Milwaukee is starting lose hope because if not this year, then when? The organization made all the right moves to make an October run, but something went astray.

If the Brewers don't wake up from whatever 'Dream Land' they are in, they will once again be watching the playoffs from home, just like everybody else in Wisconsin.