73-52: Lack of offense results in Brewers loss

When you look at the grand scheme of things, this recent homestand that the Brewers just wrapped up could concern someone who looks at his or hers glass half empty.  Sure, Milwaukee went ape shit on their opponents and went 6-1.  But one has to dig deep in a contender to see what's wrong when other are looking at them and thinking of them as being perfect.  Milwaukee outscored Pittsburgh and LA 19-10.  When you think about, besides last Friday's game that opened the homestand against the Pirates (scored 7 runs)--Milwaukee failed to score more than 3 runs in a game.  They scored 1 run in a game twice; likewise with scoring 2 and 3 runs in a game, respectively.  Milwaukee offense has been in hibernation this homestand.  Something to worry about? Doubtful, it shows that they have faith in their pitching.  But on the road, this could turn in to trouble. Milwaukee faces a tough road opponent in the New York Mets (60-63) over the weekend and then it's on to Pittsburgh (58-64).  The latter is shooting for a .500 season and they'll be playing to win it.

Despite Marco Estrada's (3-8, 4.28) second straight excellent outing, Milwaukee was unable to muster enough run support to help their substitute pitcher. He went 5 complete, which is an inning more than what most fans expected, and he gave up only 1earned on 3 hits and he struck out 5 batters.  That's pretty damn impressive once you think about it.  Averaging a K an inning is all that you can ask for in a fill-in starter.  Kam Loe was the one that dropped the ball.  He entered the game in the 6th with only a 1 run deficit.  He went 2 complete, giving up 2 runs (1 of them earned) and struck out 2.  Dillard continued to make Milwaukee questions why the hell he is onthe team?  His era climbed to 4.98 after going 1 inning and giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits.  Franky De La Cruz only went 1 inning and he gave up a hit.  It's obvious that once Narveson comes back off the list, Dillard should be shipped down and La Cruz should stay.  There may be another roster move, as Milwaukee plays a double-header in Pittsburgh this weekend.  Willy Peralta could get one of the starts on the DH game. 

Milwaukee is definately a home team.  They rank 4th in batting average in all of baseball with a .281 batting average, 6th in HR's, and 5th in hits. Milwaukee ranks 9th in team ERA with 3.30 and oddly enough, only 3 teams of the 8 teams ahead of them are AL teams (Oakland, Tampa, and Anaheim).  The Brewers, however, are 1st in all of baseball for games won (47) and last in losses (16, which is the best in baseball).  I'd say their only blemish is their number of wild pitches ranks 4th in baseball (29).  Some of that can be directed at the sophomore catcher, Jonathon Lucroy, who has been stellar behind the plate calling games.  As with any young catcher, it takes a while to learn the defense.  I would argue that Lucroy's ability to throw out base stealer trumps the wild pitches card.  Milwaukee ranks 19th with ony 42 SB's against them.



Milwaukee sign-calling is either completely assanine and wrong, or our players are clueless and don't understand baseball sign-language.