The homestand was off to a very promising start with a series win over the LA Dodgers and good times where ahead with the Colorado Rockies. Or so I thought. I thought that we were one of those upper level teams and if that is the case we should be beating up on those lower than us, like the Rockies. That wasn't the case this series so I might have to rethink my predictions for this team. But the evaluation period doesn't begin until mid-May so the Brewers still have some time to recover from this early slump. This series was weird for me, much like this time of the year is. April 20, 2011 was the last time I saw my brother Timmy alive and he came over to watch Mr. Deeds with me. In keeping with tradition I took off work that night and watched Mr. Deeds with my sister Jenny. I didn't watch the Friday night game but I did hear about Norichika Aoki's inside the park homerun. I don't know what that little Japanese guy needs to do to get more playing time, but the time is now Mr. Roenicke. I was at Saturday's game but I don't really remember it thanks to an event known as Brodey's Brewer Funday Extravaganza (or BBFE for the lay person) which is an annual tailgate/beer pong event with 100 of my closest friends. Basically we all get hammered drunk (but not as much as we did in the past because we're all getting old) and go up to Bernie's Terrace to cause some mischief. Certain members of our gang have gotten kicked out before and some people pass out but it's always a great time. Who could work when something like that is going on? As for Sunday's game I watched the entire thing because I was working and my sections were slow, so I was able to get a good idea about how we stacked up against these Rockies and the results were not good. The Brewers just weren't yet clicking on all cylinders and looked outmatched, especially when it came to their offense (aside from Saturday's game when they broke out for 9 runs) which once again struggled to score runs. All in all the Brewers lost the series 1-2 and I know they must have been thankful the Houston Astros were in town.
The Houston Astros are in full-on rebuilding mode as they prepare to move to the AL West in 2013 to "even" out the divisions. When they do that all 6 divisions in MLB will have 5 teams and therefor should be more even than they are now with the NL Central having 6 teams and the AL West only having 4. Not that it really matters though because the Astros finished in last place in 2011 with a 56-106 record. Aside from Carlos Lee I don't think I could name a single player on the roster from memory. So anything short of a series win is unacceptable. I would say I would accept nothing except a sweep but that's a tall order, even against a bad team. The Brewers ended up winning the series but there were so many flaws exposed throughout the 3 games. The bullpen is a glaring problem could ultimately be the fatal flaw that dooms this team if the offense doesn't sink the ship first. J8. Damn it! You sunk my Battleship! How did they turn that shit into a movie where Qui-Gon Jinn and that bitch who got her ass beat by Chris Brown fight aliens? What does that have to do with cleverly positioning your cruisers, submarines and air craft carriers in grid of letters and numbers? That just goes to show you that after Transformers became popular, everything went to hell. What's next? Connect Four? Operation? Mouse Trap? Or my all-time favorite game turned movie - Jenga. If they ever end up making that one then I'm quitting movies for good. I have better things to do with my life, like not talk about the Houston Astros because they suck balls. And now take time out of your busy day to read about the team you couldn't care less about even if you lived deep in the heart of Texas.
Friday April 20 - Sunday April 22. Milwaukee Brewers vs Colorado Rockies at Miller Park. Games 14-16 of 162. Let's face it. Aside from a 9 run outburst on Saturday, the offense is struggling mightily right now. And don't even say the F-word. The offensive problems are not because we're missing the big guy at cleanup. I'm sick of that excuse. Instead point the finger at Rickie, Nyjer and Aramis. 3 of the 4 guys at the top of the order are batting in the .100s. Since no one is on base in front of or behind Brauny, he's not getting anything to hit, leading to his poor numbers. Since the top half is struggling we're wasting good starts by the bottom half as Hart, Lucroy and Gonzalez have started off well. Time for the big boys to stop screwing around. We're better than this. Rockies 4, Brewers 3. Brewers 9, Rockies 4. Rockies 4, Brewers 1.
Monday April 23. Milwaukee Brewers vs Houston Astros at Miller Park. Game 17 of 162. We are supposed to beat bad teams like Houston. If we don't, we're not a very good team. So I'm not much for celebrating the victory. That's like a parent celebrating the fact that they take care of their kids or a man saying that he's never been to jail. Raise your expectations pal. But even though it's early and I don't judge the team until mid-May there are still some concerns, mostly with the bullpen. Veras, K-Rod and Ax all have high ERAs and can't pitch every day. Someone needs to step up their game. And speaking of that, the crowds at Miller Park have been light and quiet. They need to get off their butts and get loud. Cheer for your team people. Get hyped! Brewers 6, Astros 5.
Tuesday April 24. Milwaukee Brewers vs Houston Astros at Miller Park. Game 18 of 162. I'll be honest with you. I didn't really pay attention to this game. Oh it was on the TV at the restaurant I was at, but I was too busy talking with my family to pay close attention. But what it looked like from what I saw, Wolf finally pitched well and the bullpen once again tried to blow the game. Up 8-2 in the 8th inning you shouldn't have to burn K-Rod and Axford. The Loes, Parras, Dillards, McClendons and Veras' need to get it done. They have been awful so far. But the offense is hitting homeruns and got ones from Weeks, Hart, Ishikawa and Gomez tonight. So much for missing P. Fielder's power. This was one of those games where the offense bailed out the pitching. Brewers 9, Astros 6.
Wednesday April 25. Milwaukee Brewers vs Houston Astros at Miller Park. Game 19 of 162. Today's game wasn't televised but I still followed along at home. I was off of work but busy raging for Timmy. This was a very winable game but Veras and McClendon gave up runs late in the ballgame that cemented the loss. There it is again - the bullpen. Yikes. Fix that S now before it is too late. But you can't get too mad. Brewers won 2 of 3 and the offense showed a lot of life by putting up a total of 20 runs in 3 games. They hit 8 homeruns in the series which is good if it doesn't put them back into the "feast or famine" or "live and die by the longball" trends that has plauged them in the Doug Melvin era. So far I don't know what to think of the 2012 season. We're only 3 weeks in. This upcoming road trip could really tell me something. Astros 7, Brewers 5.
And thus ends the homestand at 5-4, which is very disappointed considering that the time was ripe to make up some ground in the NL Central against the front-running St. Louis Cardinals. But if you have been paying attention to anything that I've been saying over the past few months is that I don't really freak out over things that are out of my control and that my life had gained new perspective. Sure I love the Brewers and it is my favorite hobby outside of the Pookon Empire, but at the root it is still just a game and games are supposed to be fun. While it isn't fun to lose I still am getting some enjoyment out of this but who knows how long it will last. I guess I should just put more of my energy into finding the future ex Mrs. Reck because once she marries me she will certainly divorce me within a year. No one is capable of putting up with my shenanigans on a day to day basis without throwing in the towel and calling it quits. That's how I've managed to stay single all these years. But I won't have time to worry about that anymore because we've got a pretty gnarly roadtrip ahead of us as the Brewers head to St. Louis, San Diego and San Francisco for a pretty wicked 9-game jaunt away from Miller Park. When the Brewers go West it rarely turns out well for them and with the current offensive and pitching struggles this season could get really ugly real fast. And trust me, I know ugly. I look at it in the mirror every day.
- pookon -
www.pookon.com
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- pookon -
www.pookon.com
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman
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