The Perils of Caring about the Brewers

There are always games that will make us remember a certain season in professional sports.  Whether it's a walk-off homer, a last second touchdown, or a game-winning shot, we always reflect on those kind of games.  They make the memories of the season, and it is always fun to reflect on games such as those ones.

Zack Greinke's performance on Friday night will be a long memory for any Milwaukee Brewer fan.  Greinke dominated the Chicago White Sox all night going nine innings and allowing only three singles.  No White Sox baserunner made it to second base the whole game.  Greinke's performance is one of the best pitching performances by a Milwaukee Brewer not named C.C. Sabathia in the last ten years.  

Once again, the Brewers sucked me in.  They pulled me back in for what seems to be the sixth time already this season. The Brewers had won five of their last seven against two solid teams from the American League plus bounced back nicely against lowly Minnesota.  There have been so many times where I just want to stop watching baseball all together because of the Brewers, and then Friday night happens where I believe I am watching a playoff contender. 

Saturday, my hopes were high that Brewers could keep this going. Then the bullpen happened.  Again.  Like it has the whole goddamn year.

On Saturday, the Brewers led the White Sox, 6-4 battling back from an early deficit.  Randy Wolf could not finish the sixth, and left it for Kameron Loe who gave up the lead in Wolf's start on Monday, did the same Saturday. The game remained tied until Jose Veras gave up a run, and Tim Dillard joined the party as well. All around a craptastic display from the bullpen on Saturday evening.

Sunday, the game deadlocked again at zero, the Brewers get a clutch outing from Francisco Rodriguez, and Veras somehow survived the ninth inning.  Then Manny Parra decided he wanted to watch a walk-off from the mound, and gave up the game-winning hit.  The most frustrating part of Parra's outing today is the one left handed batter he faced (Adam Dunn), he walked him on five pitches.  The combination of Parra, Dillard, Veras, and Loe are the Nickelback of middle relievers.   

The starting pitching staff has been superb in the month of June, and all they get are a bunch of 'Good Job, Good Effort' from everyone. Wins are a meaningless statistic I know, but it would be nice to see these guys get rewarded for their great pitching with a W in the box score.

The last start where clearly the starting pitching was the problem.  June 5th.  Yovani Gallardo got rocked by the Chicago Cubs.  It's fair to argue Michael Fiers' performance on June 9th was not great either, but that day the offense should have raked against the San Diego Padres bullpen and they didn't.  Since June 5th, the Brewers are 9-8, and the starting pitching has accounted for only one lost.  One out of eight.    

There is not a bigger dumpster fire in the state of Wisconsin than the Brewer bullpen.  I like to think that they decide who wants to blow to the game while the starting pitchers deal. One night it's Loe, the next it's Veras, and after it is Dillard who is by far the worst. It's like the old kindergarten teacher in Big Daddy, 'I've had some smelly ones, but your son is by far the smelliest.'  That is precisely how I feel about Dillard.

The only good thing about Tim Dillard this year has been his impression of ESPN analysts, other than that, nothing.  Tom Haudricourt tweeted last night, the mutton chopped hot mess has allowed six runs in his last eight appearances.  The only roster Dillard deserves to be on right now is Nashville's, not Milwaukee's.

Unfortunately for the Brewers, the bullpen woes are here to stay unless something drastic happens.  The term middle relief in Milwaukee scares more people than Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees combined.

The Brewers head to Cincinnati to take on NL Central leading Cincinnati Reds this week who have lost their last five of six.  The optimist in me wants to think that the Brewers will handle the Reds this week, and they will be right in the thick of a pennant race come Thursday.  The pessimist in me says that might happen, only to get swept by the Miami Marlins at home next week putting the Brewers back at square one.

At the end of the day, I will still hope I will have more memories this season like Friday night, not Saturday and Sunday.

Charlie.