2011 MLB Playoffs: Zach Greinke Will Lead Milwaukee Brewers to Game 2 Win

Yovani Gallardo pitched a gem and Prince Fielder hit a mammoth home run to lead the Milwaukee Brewers past the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1. It will be the second half of the dynamic pitching duo, Zack Greinke, who will lead the way to a 2-0 series lead for the NL Central champions.

Even though Greinke went 16-6 during the regular season, his 3.83 ERA would tell the story of a slightly above average pitcher if you didn't dig a little deeper. Based on SIERA, which is an ERA estimator that factors in balls in play, Greinke was the best pitcher in major league baseball this season.

While the mainstream baseball fan has yet to grasp statistics like SIERA or FIP, they will eventually become a part of everyday baseball conversation. They are a much better way to evaluate how a pitcher is really performing if it wasn't for bad luck or questionable defense.

Greinke is also one of just two pitchers to average more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings. That's bad news for the Diamondbacks, who struck out the eighth-most times in MLB. In his only start against Arizona this season, Greinke have up two runs on five hits in seven innings and struck out seven.

It all adds up for a dominant outing for Greinke tonight.

His mound opponent, Daniel Hudson, is no slouch either. Hudson finished the season with a 3.49 ERA and 3.63 SIERA. Both numbers say he was very good. His problem is a lack of strikeouts (6.9 per nine), which means the contact-heavy Brewers will put a lot of balls in play.

That will put a lot of pressure on the Arizona defense to make plays after ranking seventh in fielding percentage during the regular season. But not every batted ball will go to one of the defenders, which is the luck of baseball.

It should be a duel between two good pitchers, but since the offenses are so closely matched you have to lean toward the better starter. And that's Greinke.

Prediction: Milwaukee Brewers 4, Arizona Diamondbacks 1