For some reason unknown to me, the Commissioner of MLB (Milwaukee native and former Brewers owner) Allan H. "Bud" Selig allowed the schedulers to have 6 total games played at Wrigley in April in the cold while comfy climate controlled Miller Park sits vacant. When I saw the schedule, I was bitching about it (friendly confines my ass!) but now I love it. Since this series is over, I'm not spilling the beans by telling you that the Brewers are 4-2 against the Cubs at Wrigley this year, winning both of the series. This second one was a whole lot more dramatic, but then again, what Brewers/Cubs game isn't? Both teams could be sucking big time, but they play like the greatest teams in baseball history when they play each other. There's something about the rivalry that brings out the best in these players, but good or bad, at least we're always in for some thrilling games. These 3 would be no exception to the rule.
Game 1 (Tuesday 29) - Ben Sheets (4-0, 1.64 ERA) vs Jason Marquis (1-1, 4.45 ERA)
Brewers record : 15 - 11
Game 2 (Wednesday 30) - Jeff Suppan (1-1, 5.19 ERA) vs Ryan Dempster (4-0, 3.16 ERA)
I'm not going to spend a lot of time dwelling on this game. It's too upsetting to bring it back into my memory. Why? Because the Cubs mollywhooped the Brewers to the tune of a 19-5 beatdown. Jeff Suppan just couldn't get it together, as he went 3.2 innings giving up 11 hits, 11 runs (8 earned), and saw his ERA jump nearly 2 full points. The relievers didn't fare so well either (it would have been nice to have Dave Bush in the bullpen, but he was sent down to AAA to make room for Gallardo) with Seth McClung the default long man. McClung was ok eating some innings, going 3 strong and only giving 1 run while striking out 5 and walking 4. Not perfect, but ok. Turnbow, on the other hand, had a complete meltdown. He was asked to pitch an inning (the 8th and final inning so that everyone could go home and forget about this loss) and completely blew it. He threw 43 pitches, gave up 4 hits, 4 walks, 6 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. Stetter had to come in and bail him out once again, and Wrigley is officially the only place where Turnbow gets cheered instead of booed. Turnbow has been abysmal this season, with his ERA now standing at an ugly 15.63. Needless to say, Turnbow was designated from assignment and now his career sits in limbo as he waits to see if someone else picks him up. If not, he will go down to AAA and work it out. I'd be fine if he was gone forever, but I'll kind of miss the wild and crazy guy. Oh well, if you don't produce, then you can't play. Plain and simple. There's no time left for losers if we want to be the champions. There's still one more game left in the series, and although today was horrible, there's always tomorrow and we could still get out of Chicago with the W in the series. Final score Cubs 19, Brewers 5.
Brewers record : 15 - 12
Game 3 (Thursday May 1) - Yovanni Gallardo (0-0, 1.80 ERA) vs Carlos Zambrano (4-1, 2.11 ERA)
By now, all of you know that Yovanni Gallardo tore his ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season. Since we had already been struggling, this news comes as a huge blow and the Brewers 2008 season is starting to a complete tailspin. It's up to the offense to carry the mediocre pitching that we have remaining, and it's up to Ben Sheets to stay healthy if we don't want to take a complete nosedive. Gallardo had pitched 4 innings of 1 run ball when he jumped over Reed Johnson at first base and landed awkwardly on his right knee. It looked bad, real bad, but he got up and continued pitching for another inning. Some people thought that he seriously dodged a bullet, but most people could see by the way he landed that an injury had to occur. The 2nd party was right - our future ace and #2 pitcher would not be able to help us any more in the 2008 season. During the game, the players didn't know this (it was not revealed until an MRI was done the next day) so they kept on chugging along and came back from a 3-1 deficit against Kerry Wood in the 9th for a 4-3 victory. The expense that it came at is way too great, as we will without a doubt now finish out of first place because Gallardo is truly one of a kind. Braun came through huge today, going 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs (including a solo home run) and is showing continued signs of getting back on track. Gagne came in for the 9th and recorded hsi 9th save of the season. Today was a really good win - on the road, against an NL Central opponent, against Zambrano, and a 9th inning comeback rally. I love to hear those Cubs fans at Wrigley boo their own players. What a bunch of losers. Brewers 4, Cubs 3.
Brewers record : 16 - 12
That was a huge series win, and the Brewers are now 4-2 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field for the year. The loss of Yovanni Gallardo has the ability to destroy this young team (much like the loss of Sheets did last year) but if some of the younger players step up, we could still win without him. Sheets needs to stay healthy, and we need to win whenever he starts. Manny Parra and Carlos Villanueva have the stuff to be good #3 and #4 pitchers, they just need to trust themselves, execute pitches, and work deeper into games. Losing Gallardo is huge, but not season ending. They have way too much talent on this team to collapse like that, and I'm sick and tired of people on message boards and calling into radio stations throwing in the towel and calling it a season. There's still 5 months left people! That's a whole lot of games. If it gets to mid season and we suck balls, then maybe it's time to go apeshit and panic. Not yet. Hey, relax guy.
Next up - Brewers @ Astros May 2 (Friday) - May 4 (Sunday) at Minute Maid Park in Houston, TX
- pookon -http://www.pookon.com/
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