Brewers-Phillies Preview (4/8-4/10)

Brewers previews to get you ready for the series where we have five things to watch, pitching matchups and prediction. We add a YouTube video in the mix, it could be really anything.   

Pitching Matchups & TV Time
Tuesday:         Kyle Lohse (0-1 3.86) vs. Kyle Kendrick (0-0 1.29)         3:05 pm FSNWI
Wednesday:    Matt Garza (0-1 1.13) vs. Roberto Hernandez (1-0 3.38)  6:05 pm FSNWI
Thursday:        Marco Estrada (0-0 1.59) vs. Cliff Lee (2-0 6.00)             6:05 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1. Pitching rotation success continue? - In case you did not know, Milwaukee's starting pitching staff has a 1.45 ERA so far this season. That's silly good right now. The first two pitchers in the series - Lohse and Garza, caught bad luck in their first start with getting zero run support. That should not likely been the case being in Philadelphia where Milwaukee has found a way to score runs even though Milwaukee hasn't had the best luck here.

2. Segura or Braun going to break out - Both are struggling right now, both are battling injuries but could one of them have a big series against Philadelphia? I am more concerned with Segura's defense at this point. I think his hitting will come around at some point, but if his defense continues to be a problem, we might need a discussion. The one bummer about the postponement is it probably means we will have at least one game in the series where Segura or Braun will be missing out of the lineup. Hopefully, they can put together before six games against the NL Central.

3. Khris Davis vs Atlanta or Khris Davis vs. Boston? - We saw two sides of Mr. Davis in the first week of the season. He went 0 for 8 in his first series and then 8 for 14 in the next one. It could have been Davis was nervous in front of the home crowd and just needed to get his feet wet. This is a ballpark where he could do some absolute damage. Watch for Davis to take advantage of the short porch in left field and maybe get his first homer of the season.

4. Which Cliff Lee will Milwaukee see? - It has been a bizarre start to Lee's season as he began against Texas where he gave up eight runs on eleven hits only striking out one batter. The second game Lee struck out six and held the Cubs scoreless. Lee gave up 21 hits in the first two games of the season. He didn't really pitch that well against Chicago, they just couldn't capitalize on it. Ryan Braun, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Gomez all have major numbers on Lee meaning it could be a long Thursday for the Philadelphia ace.

5. Slowing down Chase Utley - One player that's been a problem for opposing teams on Philadelphia has been Chase Utley. He is red hot to start the season off batting .458 with two homers and three doubles. Utley is stinging the ball to start the season. He hasn't done much in the last couple years so it is quite unknown how long this will continue yet Utley tends to fair well at home. He could be a big problem for the Brewers this week.

Appropriate YouTube Video


We could go in a ton of directions, but since we talked about Utley, why don't we go with Always Sunny where Mac writes him a letter.  

Prediction
Last year, Milwaukee won five of six games from Philadelphia including a near sweep at Citizens Bank Ballpark. Honestly, if they win one here I would be elated for a winning road trip, but two or three wins would be pretty damn cool as well. Francisco Rodriguez struggles here which makes me super duper nervous.

Charlie.