Brewers @ Pirates 5/20 - 5/22 : Series Wrap-Up

Series 16 - Milwaukee Brewers @ Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA

PNC Park has been anything but kind to the Milwaukee Brewers since it opened in 20001. In fact, it's been rather like Hell on Earth. The Brewers (coming into this series) have a 20-42 at PNC Park, and although it is a beautiful stadium, I'm sure that the team dreads playing here. I really don't understand why they play so poorly here, because it's not like the Pirates have been good since 2001. They have 483 wins versus 649 losses (excluding 2008 because the season isn't finished yet) which gives them a winning percentage of .426. Hardly itimidating at all if you ask me. I'm pretty sure that I have a higher winning percentage since 2001 because I have moved out of my parents house, graduated from college, held several steady jobs, appeared in Playboy.com and in a beer pong documentary (Last Cup: Road to the World Series of Beer Pong) and got 2 Brewers tattoos. I guess I'm not really much of a loser after all. Those are some pretty sweet accomplishments.

Game 1 (Tuesday) - Manny Parra (2-2, 4.40 ERA) vs Paul Maholm (2-5, 5.03)

Rickie Weeks sucks. I've been defending him for a long time (for over 2 1/2 years) and I'm close to being done. I hate to say that I give up, because Goonies never say die. I'm a Goonie, so I'll never give up on Weeks, but it's time for Weeks to shape up or ship out. We've been told for years about his potential, and we've seen flashes of it from time to time. Last August and September, he was on an absolute tear. He was hitting home runs like crazy and getting on base, and most importantly, scoring runs. The only thing that has made his .190 batting average and .323 on base percentage bearable is his 33 runs scored. In this game though, he did go 2 for 4 and scored 2 more runs to that total. At least he's scoring whenever he gets on base, but a .200 batting average and a .341 OBP just won't cut it as a leadoff hitter, especially since he strikes out a good amount (35 in 47 games). He has shown some signs of getting better, but his performance thus far in 2008 is one of the reasons we're playing sub-.500 baseball. Manny Parra, on the other hand, is showing vast improvements on the mound. If he could go deeper into games (5.2 innings in today's game) it would greatly improve a pitching staff that is still reeling after the loss of Gallardo. Parra gave up only 4 hits and allowed 0 runs while striking out 6 batters, and he continues to look better every single outing. We need him to be this good every time, but if he's better, then I can sleep a little easier at night knowing someone else besides Sheets can be effective on the mound. The offense continued to roll, scoring 7 runs on 14 hits and 2 home runs (Cameron and Hart). The only blemish in this game was the appeance of Eric Gagne in the 9th inning with the Brewers leading 7-0. He gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs and couldn't even make it out of the inning. Torres had to come in and finish it up and secure the victory. The only good thing that came out of Gagne's horrid performance was that he went on the DL following the game. While I don't wish injury upon anyone (get well soon bro), maybe he can use those 15 days to get physically and mentally sound because whether you like it or not, we're going to need Gagne at 100% if we want to win games this year. Seeing as how this year is going so far, I wouldn't find it too hard to believe if Gagne became the 1st pitcher who found a way to earn a blown save while on the DL when he was not even present at the ballpark. Now that would be a story worth telling, even better than this sweet victory. Final score Brewers 7, Pirates 2.

Brewers record : 21 - 24

Game 2 (Wednesday) - Ben Sheets (5-1, 2.92 ERA) vs Ian Snell (2-3, 4.84 ERA)

I love it when Ben Sheets pitches a game. We have to at least try to sign him for a couple of years when he becomes a free agent after this season. He stabalizes that entire rotation and almost always gives the billpen an extra day of rest. When he's not injured, he's the only consistant pitcher on the entire staff (unless you count the consistantly bad like that canuck Gagne) and gives the team a chance to win every single time he's out there. Sheets pitched a complete game and gave up only 1 run but the Pirates had many chances as Sheets also allowed 11 hits. The difference between Sheets and all of the other starters that we have is that when Sheets allows men on base, he actually tightens up and pitches better. He doesn't appear to ever get rattles when pitching from the stretch. His 2008 2.92 ERA and career 3.78 ERA are evidence of those assumptions. Most of his runs come on home runs or early runs allowed before he settles in. I don't have statistical evidence of those situations, but I have watched enough of Ben Sheets over his now 8 seasons in Milwaukee to draw up my own conclusions without evidence to back it up. Besides, this is all merely fan speculation and opinion; if you want to spew out comebacks or you're own information, start your own damn blog. The Brewers scored only 4 runs, but with Sheets on the hill, it's almost always enough to win. The victory guarantees a series win on the road at PNC Park, which is (if you've been following along with me) a rareity around these parts. Good victory, bringing us within sight of the .500 mark and it gives us a chance for the elusive sweep tomorrow. Final score Brewers 4, Pirates 1.

Brewers record : 22 -24

Game 3 (Thursday) - Dave Bush (1-5, 6.56 ERA) vs Tom Gorzelanny (4-4, 6.44 ERA)

With these two pitchers starting the game, you had to believe that this would be a high scoring affair. Since I don't follow the Pirates on a regular basis (and who does, judging by the attendance at the ballpark), I don't know much too about Gorzelanny. The name sounds familiar, and I'm willing to bet that we face him a few times every year. Judging from his numbers this year, it looks like he sucks, but I guarantee you that he doesn't suck as much as Dave Bush. I love Bush (and who doesn't, heh heh...snicker - I love when my juvenile side takes over) but just like with my boy Rickie Weeks, I find it hard to support him in 2008. If he was 1-5 because of some bad luck or shoddy defense, I could maybe understand his poor showing in 2008. Chris Capuano didn't pitch exceptionally well in 2007, but he certainly didn't deserve the 5-12 record that he had that year. The offense and the defense let him down in about 7-8 of the 25 games that he started. Bush on the other hand, can claim sole responsibility of his 1-5 record with an 6.56 ERA. 34 of his 36 runs allowed this year have been earned, and he has given up plenty of hits (50), walks (18), and home runs (10). I've claimed extreme loyalty to this team, but I have to be quite honest in saying that I didn't watch the entire game when I would have been able to do so. I watched up until the 4th inning when Bush gave up 4 runs, then went in the other room to watch a movie with my friends. Unless there's something that makes me physically unable to catch the entire game, I never turn it off or switch channels. It doesn't matter if we're losing by 10 runs; the players have to stick it out until the end of the game so I owe it to them to do the same thing. But it's getting to a point where I knew that the Brewers were going to lose this game after falling behind 4-1 at PNC Park with the chance of completing the sweep for the 1st time in their history at PNC Park. But just like the chances of me dating a supermodel, I just knew that it wasn't going to happen. I like to be optimistic (remember the half/all full beer analogy?) but there's some things that are just impossible. Let's try to be happy with winning the series at Pittsburgh. Final score Pirates 8, Brewers 4.

Brewers record : 22 - 25

The Brewers have never swept the Pirates at PNC Park, and they have been playing them there since 2001. When you consider that the Pirates have had 15 consecutive losing seasons, it makes it very difficult to believe that the Brewers have played so poorly against the perennial last place Pirates. Then you consider that the Brewers have been a bad team as well (better since 2005) and a horrible road team, it all makes sense. I would have love to seen a sweep by the Brewers on the road (because we've seen far too many sweeps of the Brewers on the road) but shit happens man. You can't always get what you want, but just for once, could I just have a Brewers team that makes the playoffs? Is that too much to ask? This may sound a little too extreme, but I wish that I had terminal cancer so that I could ask the Make-A-Wish Foundation for my last wish to see the Brewers make the playoffs. They have to make that shit come true or else they are not doing their jobs correctly. How could they allow me to die without realizing my last and final goal of my life on Earth? Hopefully I'll get to see them play post-season baseball without developing terminal cancer. It must be hard having terminal cancer. I wouldn't know.

Next up - Milwaukee Brewers @ Washington Nationals May 23 (Friday) - May 26 (Monday) at Nationals Park in Washington D.C.

- pookon -

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