Series 48 - Milwaukee Brewers @ Philadelphia Phillies September 11 - September 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PAThis was the beginning of the last roadtrip of the season. It was one that would see us go to Philadelphia for 4 games, Chicago for 3, then finish it up at Cincinnati for 3 games before ending the season at home. It would be a brutal 10 games that could make or break our season. Since Philadelphia currently trailed by 4 games in the Wildcard race, we could either make up some ground on them, remain tied at 4 games up, or fall to a tie for the Wildcard lead. The Brewers were in the driver's seat and had full control over their destiny, so they could chose the road that looked the most passable and free of all detours and road construction. They had all of the chances here to succeed, but as you already know, they pissed it all away and sucked it up big time. I won't waste anymore of your time rubbing it in that the Brewers are playing horribly right now, because that would be like poring salt into open festering wounds. Salt is good on the rims of margaritas, but it doesn't bode well with bleeding cuts. So with that in mind, let;s get on with the wrap-up.
Game 1 (Thursday) - Ben Sheets (13-8, 2.97 ERA) vs Jamie Moyer (14-7, 3.68 ERA)
Count today as one of those roadmarker games in the 2008 Brewers season. When we look back and think about what might have been, this game will always be fresh in my mind. It's because this game is the start of the end of our season. Going in to this game, we were 4 games ahead of the Phillies in the Wild Card race, which is a pretty healthy number. Granted Jamie Moyer has had a pretty good year, and the Phillies offense is something that you don't want to mess with, but I was still in the camp that believed that the Brewers were a better team. Boy was I wrong. Ben Sheets had a chance to prove that he was still that stopper that the Brewers needed to stop the bleeding, but even he couldn't contain the outpouring of suckiness that was flowing free like the mighty Miss filled to the brim with flood waters. He definitely wasn't perfect today, but he wasn't half bad either. The Phillies offense (mainly Ryan Howard, who is on a ridiculous tear right now) just outpowered and outmatched the Brewers, and this game unfortunately was over in the 1st inning when the Phillies scored 2 runs. The Brewers have just lost it, and there's no turning back now. This is by far the biggest and most important series of the year, and since CC Sabathia pitched the finale against Cincinnati, he would be unavailable for this series. That means after the Sheets loss today, Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan would have to buckle down and lead the Brewers to victory. I don't like those odds, especially with the way that the Brewers have been playing so far in September. Sucks to be a Brewers fan today. It's the cross I have to bear by being a fan. You'd think that they could at ;east win one meaningful game for me, right? Wrong. Final score Phillies 6, Brewers 3.
Brewers record : 83 - 64, 2nd place NL Central (5 1/2 games back of Chicago), 1st place NL Wild Card ( 3 games ahead of Philadelphia)
Game 2 (Saturday) - Manny Parra (10-8, 4.28 ERA) vs Cole Hamels (13-9, 3.11 ERA)
Friday's game was rained out, and on Friday my cousin Brian texted me and told me some good news - at least the Brewers wouldn't lose today. But since the Brewers are in the middle of totally tanking it, I'm sure that they could find a way to lose a game without even playing today. Kind of like how Ice Cube in the movie Friday got fired on his day off for stealing boxes. If any team could do it, it would be the 2008 Brewers. So they pushed this game back to Sunday night. And the Saturday game went ahead as scheduled, and the results stayed the same. Manny Parra has totally hit the wall, and I don't know if it is inexperience or the gas tank being on empty, but has just lost it. I commend him for everything that he has done this year, and next year I think he will be a fine addition to our pitching staff, but he may have very well thrown his last pitch in 2008. You just can't count on him anymore this year. Parra succeeded in turning in the shortest start for a Brewers starter this year by going a minuscule 1 1/3 innings, and he gave up 5 earned runs in that small time frame. Truth be told, it really didn't matter how many runs that Manny gave up because the Brewers offense can't do shit right now. It may have just as well been 500 runs instead of 5, because we were in a hole that we couldn't dig ourselves out of. You've heard this story before, but I can't help but tell it again - the Brewers pitched poorly, committed some errors, scored some garbage runs late, and ended up losing the game. Sounds like a normal September to me. So the Brewers lost. What else is new? Final score Phillies 7, Brewers 3.
Brewers record : 83 - 65, 2nd place NL Central (6 games back of Chicago), 1st place NL Wild Card (2 games ahead of Philadelphia)
Game 3 (Sunday afternoon) - Dave Bush (9-10, 4.24 ERA) vs Joe Blanton (7-12, 4.82 ERA)
So we already lost 2 of the 1st 4 games, and we turned to Dave Bush (?) to turn it around. Sure, he's been pretty consistent (12 wins in 2007 and 2006) and had a really good August (4-0 I think), but it was going to take more than that to win a game here in Philadelphia. Bush was actually pretty good today, going 6 innings and giving up only 3 runs. So it was tied at 3-3 in the 8th inning (thanks to homeruns by Durham and Cameron) when Brain Shouse came on to pitch in the 8th inning. Yost chose Shouse because of the matchups, but Shouse failed today and the Brewers gave up the lead. And then the Phillies kept piling on the hurt and ended up scoring 4 runs in the 8th inning to tell this game a bedtime story, tuck it in, and put it to bed for the night. The Philadelphia offense was even kind enough to preemptively pack lunches for tomorrow morning and to also leave some spare change just in case the Brewers wanted to get a snack or a soda out of the vending machine tomorrow. So they really took care of the Brewers in this game, and they sealed the deal on the series victory. The only solace that I could find in this game is that most doubleheaders result in a split between the two games (so since the Phillies took the 1st game, the Brewers were supposed to take the 2nd game). So that means that the Brewers were almost guaranteed to win the 2nd game, right? Wrong. Final score Phillies 7, Brewers 3.
Brewers record : 83 - 66, 2nd place NL Central (6 1/2 games back of Chicago), 1st place NL Wild Card (1 game ahead of Philadelphia)
Game 4 (Sunday night, makeup of rainout on Friday) - Jeff Suppan (10-9, 4.85 ERA) vs Brett Myers (10-11, 4.06 ERA)
They played a doubleheader today due to the rainout on Friday, and Jeff Suppan was given the ball to not fail today. They really didn't ask a lot of him. It's not like the Brewers coaches asked him to throw a no-hitter or a complete game shoutout; they just asked him to not suck. Apparently that was too big of a task to ask Jeff Suppan to do today. He followed Parra's start with another short start of his own - 3.2 innings pitched and 6 earned runs. The Brewers signed him to a 4-year $42 million dollar contract for his veteran leadership and playoff experience, and also to start and perform well in games like this. You need a calming presence on the mound to go out there and pitch well and avoid a sweep to a team that is fighting against you to overtake you in the standings, and Suppan was just no match for these Phillies today. Now I like Suppan a lot, and I think that he is a great guy, I certainly appreciate all that he has done for the community and all of the charitable efforts that he has spearheaded and contributed to, but this kind of garbage just cannot fly with a team that is in a win now mode. So the free fall begins (or continues?) and this is turning into a September to forget. Green Day sang "Wake me up when September ends." They must have been looking ahead into the future at the 2008 Brewers season. The Brewers basically gave up today, and the evidence is in the box score. They only mustered up 1 run on 2 hits, and that only run came on a Prince Fielder solo homerun. The other hit was courtesy of Ray Durham in an otherwise meaningless 4th inning. Every loss is tough, but this one really hurt because it put the icing on the cake for this series. Final score Phillies 6, Brewers 1.
Brewers record : 83 - 67, 2nd place NL Central (7 1/2 games back of Chicago), 1st place NL Wild Card (tied with Philadelphia)
Wow. So that totally sucked. We came into Philadelphia 4 games up in the Wildcard race, and we leave tied at even with the Phillies. This series really couldn't have gone any worse. But if there is one thing that I have learned from Galaxy Quest it's "Never give up, never surrender." Until the Brewers are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, I will still sit here in my dream world and pretend that Milwaukee has a good baseball team that is capable of making it into the playoffs. C'mon guys! How freakin' hard is it? You were giftwrapped the Wildcard on Christmas morning, but by the time that you saved the supposed best present for last, it turned out to be a giant lump of coal. So all of the other kids are playing with their slingshots and toy trains, and you've got this giant black mineral. Well done sirs. Way to piss of your fan base that has been aching for this moment since 1982. I hope that you guys don't sleep well at night, cause then you will know what it is like to be me. I've tossed and turned in agony over this team and wanted nothing more than to see a playoff team before I die. I really don't think that I am asking too much. Hell, I'm not even asking you to win in the playoffs. I'm just asking you to get there so that we can stop saying 26 years and 1982 in the same sentence time and time again. In the words of Danny Glover, I'm getting too old for this shit. But even Lethal Weapon got 3 sequels, which is more than I can say for the Milwaukee Brewers. They haven't got shit to show for 38 years worth of dismal futility (thanks for the word choice Balkman). Ryan Braun called this series a "complete and total disaster.", and I can't agree with him any more. The Brewers came into town 4 games ahead of the Phillies in the Wildcard race, and they leave town tied for the Wildcard with the Phillies. I don't think I could be any more pissed off than I already am, and they only thing that could make me more mad is if the Brewers fail to make the playoffs. By the way that things are going right now, that's more of a reality than I ever dreamed was possible. But it's not over yet, and I will not give up until the Brewers are mathematically eliminated.
Next up - September 16 (Tuesday) - September 18 (Thursday) Milwaukee Brewers @ Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL
- pookon -
email : pookondotcom@gmail.com
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