In Spring Training of 2008, Yovani Gallardo underwent surgery on his left knee to repair la torn meniscus in his left knee. He would open the season on the DL. He returned to action on April 20th only to once again have to go under the knife after suffering an injury on May 1 against the Cubs. Running to first base to cover after a Reed Johnson grounder, he collided with Johnson and stepped awkwardly on the base then crumbled to the ground. Everyone feared the worst, but when he got up and pitched the next 2 innings, I breathed a sigh of relief. News came out the next day (after a MRI was done) that Gallardo tore his ACL in his right knee and he would miss the rest of the season. Even though it was only May, our playoff hopes were shot down that day.
Everyone expected Ben Sheets to land on the DL during the summer, but in a contract year, he was able to avoid it. And then on July 7th, Brewers GM Doug Melvin pulled off a blockbuster trade and got the highly coveted CC Sabathia for the reignited playoff run. That move was seemingly impossible for a small market team to pull off. Sabathia had an amazing 2nd half run in 2008, but this is about Gallardo. Sheets then made his annual trip to the DL on September 10 (which would keep him out the rest of the year and all of 2009) and things looked a little bleak. But then Gallardo made unforeseen return back to the club just in time for the playoff push, and ended up starting Game 1 of the NLDS against the Phillies at Citizen’s Bank Park. This was the new most important game for the Brewers in 26 years (surpassing the Wild Card clinching game from a few days prior) and the man on the mound was all of 23 years old and making only his 5th start of the year.
Gallardo has the makings of a future ace because of his poise and calmness on the mound. Even though at the time he only had 134.1 innings pitched in the majors, he stood before the hostile crowd of 43,647 Phillies phans and pitched a gem that lost a lot of its shine courtesy of Mike Cameron. My Mom says never say never (she also says don’t drink before noon, don’t slouch and watch your mouth, but I do all those things anyway) but I will never forgive Mike Cameron for botching a play in the 3rd inning. I know he’s no longer on the team, so I don’t want to give him too much attention, but he misplayed a Chase Utley liner that he should’ve caught and the Phillies scored 3 runs that inning in what ended up being a 3-1 Phillies win. Mike Cameron was known as a great defender, and he has 3 Gold Gloves to back that up. I remember being so upset that I yelled at my TV for a minute straight with tons of swears and I specifically remember saying, “GOLD GLOVER MY ASS!!!” All of the runs that Gallardo gave up that day were unearned. But Cole Hamels did shut down the Brewers that day and hold them to just one run, so I can’t hate on Cameron that much. But I can sure as shit praise Gallardo for his rehab and conditioning that allowed him to come back and pitch after undergoing knee surgery. The Brewers, as you know, would eventually go on to on to lose the NLDS 3 games to 1, but Gallardo’s comeback after missing the entire season will always be one of the highlights from that playoff series.The 2nd World Baseball Classic took place in March of 2009, and Gallardo desperately wanted to play for the Mexican team. Baseball is no longer played in the Summer Olympics, so the WBC is the only time these athletes get to compete on a Worldwide level for National pride. Gallardo is very proud of his Mexican heritage, and he wears jersey #49 as a homage to former Brewers pitcher and Mexican-born Teddy Higuera. Since he was coming off a season in which he had surgery on both knees and pitched a total of 28 innings, the Brewers coaching staff suggested that he do not play, even though they couldn’t flat out tell him not to. They didn’t want Gallardo to play for Mexico in a “meaningless tournament” (I put it in quotations because the WBC is viewed differently across the spectrum) and risk him getting injured when he is such an integral part of the Milwaukee Brewers. Gallardo decided not to play and instead focus on preparing for the 2009 season with the Brewers.
Gallardo is huge for the Brewers because pitching and defense wins games. Not Bill Hall. Look at last year’s pitching staff and tell me which one of them wins games. Manny Parra? Dave Bush? Jeff Suppan? Braden Looper? Mike Burns? Seth McClung? Carlos Villanueva? Nope. None of the above. The only pitcher on the starting staff last year that was worth a damn was Gallardo. I’ll make a case for Parra and Bush in the next few days, but it’s good to see guys like Looper, Burns and McClung booted out of town. And Suppan? If you can’t wait to read that article I’m right with you. Because I can’t wait to write it. But enough of that crap, let’s talk some more about how good Gallardo is.
But first I gotta bring this up. Gallardo’s only fault is that he tries to be a little too fine with his pitches and be a big strikeout pitcher (last year he was 5th in the NL with 204 strikeouts). Gallardo does have a really good fastball and some good secondary pitches, but too many times he aims to strike out the batter on the corners and tends to throw a lot of pitches and ends up giving up a good amount of walks. Last year it wasn’t unusual to see Gallardo have 100 pitches in the 5th inning with 3 walks. But the difference between Gallardo and someone like Manny Parra is that walks and pitch counts never seem to phase him. He never looks nervous, never seems to be overthrowing and he always seems to be in control. The thing that Gallardo does is that he executes his pitches when he has to and gets out of jams.
My personal favorite Gallardo moment came on the 2nd day of the 2009 season. I was in San Francisco for those games, and Gallardo was going up against Randy Johnson. Not only did Gallardo outpitch the future Hall of Famer, but he became the first pitcher to hit a home run off of him when he socked a 3 run shot in the 5th inning to put the Brewers ahead for good. I went with my Uncle Opening Day, but he had to get back to Southern California and couldn't stick around to watch this one. Since I didn't know anybody in San Francisco, I went to the game by myself and sat alone in the upper deck of the left field. They ended up being some pretty nice seats and there were a couple of Brewers fans sitting in the row in from of me. So in actuality, I wasn't really alone when I was cheering like crazy when Gallardo made history. Gallardo should have been starting Opening Day against Tim Lincecum, but Ken Macha didn't want to "throw him into the wolves" after missing the majority of the 2008 season. Understandable in a way, but absolutely 
ridiculous in many more because as I've already pointed out, if any of the pitchers on the Brewers staff can handle an Opening Day start against one of the top pitchers on the NL, it's Gallardo. Even though Macha has been known to prefer the veterans over the kids, he has all but officially said that Gallardo will start the 2010 Season Opener even though newly acquired veteran Randy Wolf would seem to be his choice. Looks like Macha is realizing that this kid is the real deal, and he most definitely will put up better numbers in 2010:3.21 ERA, 16-8 record, 221 innings pitched, 215 strikeouts, .225 batting avg, 3 HRs, 10 RBIs
Slotting Gallardo in the #1 spot will pit him up against the best of the best, which could effect his win total. But I'm still putting it at 16 because of how many games the Brewers lost 1-0 when Gallardo was on the mound. I feel as a whole our offense (and our defense for that matter) will be better than last year, so that should help to decrease his ERA and increase his win total. The only thing that concerns me is the number of pitches he throws in a game and his walk totals. Gallardo was shut down last year with 2 weeks left in the season. It was the right move to make because the Brewers were well out of the pennant race and there was no reason to jeopardize his future with overworking him. But in order to be competitive in the final days of September, we're going to need Gallardo to still have some Christmas on his pitches during the playoff push. The other thing that we really need is for Randy Wolf to not be another Jeff Suppan. The Brewers signed Wolf to a 3-year $29.75 million dollar contract. Coming off of a career year for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wolf was the 2nd best pitcher available on the free agent market. We desperately need him to not suck if we plan on having any success this year. But that my friends, is a topic that will be covered tomorrow. Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turnin' Up the Heat!
- pookon -
www.pookon.com
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com
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