The St. Louis Cardinals aren't the best team in the MLB by any stretch of the imagination, but they are the best in the National League at a few things. They score the most runs. They have the highest team batting average. They have the biggest d-----bag manager in the history of baseball. So going into their mid-week series against the Cards, the Milwaukee Brewers were not only looking to hold on to first place...they were looking to continue their dominance of St. Louis and eliminate any hope the Cardinals had of winning the division. Maybe the latter isn't possible just yet as the Crew and the Cards still have to tangle six more times and play 44 more times apiece. But to once again prove me wrong in my prediction that the Brewers would only take one game home from Busch Stadium (which I'm perfectly fine with, by the way), Milwaukee won the series 2-1 and extended their division lead to four games. Behold the power of beer.
To make my prediction even more wrong, I thought the one game we would squeeze out would be in game three when Yovani Gallardo went up against Chris Carpenter. AAAAYYNNN! Wrong. Gallardo (pronounced gah-lard-oh here in America) just didn't have it and left plenty of pitches over the plate, especially for Albert Pujols, who had four hits and a dinger. Yovani has definitely had his ups and downs, but at the beginning of the series with the Cardinals, he had the best ERA and most wins among Brewers' starting pitchers. He's now third in ERA behind Shaun Marcum and...get this...Randy Wolf. Wolf's dominant outing on Wednesday came in the one game I thought we would for sure lose, and the one man Wolf pack jumped on the prove Dave wrong bandwagon and now leads the team's starters in ERA. But going back to Gallardo; I'm trying to figure out why this guy can't put it all together...all the time. Obviously, Yovani is a great talent and still only in his mid-20s, but he has plenty of experience at The Show by now and just when you think he's figured it out, tonight happens. Granted, Yo didn't have the best effort from the defense tonight, but usually our pitchers don't because our D is border line atrocious.
One of the theories I read and agreed with was how it looks like Gallardo struggles when he works slowly. I've always been a believer in working quickly, but not rushing. I do it in many aspects of life...like back in my heyday when I pitched and nowadays when I disc golf and golf among other things. Get your mind out of the gutter. Anyway, getting back to Yo...he was a bit deliberate out on the mound tonight against the Cards and he wasn't even close to hitting his spots. To be honest, he's lucky to have only given up five runs, but it didn't matter in the end as the Brewers would fall because of a lack of clutch hitting and poor defense to go along with a bad outing for Gallardo. These are things Brewer fans have probably seen enough of and also things that the Brewers haven't been doing lately, but I guess every now and then there's a slip-up. Besides, without Ryan Braun in the lineup to keep everything cool with his laid-back Jewish attitude, we had to expect a semi-meltdown. But a 5-1 road trip is exceptional, especially when going up against the second place Cardinals and considering the Crew's ridiculous home-and-away split. Along with Gallardo speeding up his process on the mound and being unable to make adjustments, I'd like to see more of Jerry Hairston Jr. at second base. For what we gave up for him, there's no excuse to have him sitting on the bench as much as he has been. Hairston should be receiving more playing time at second than Lopez in my mind and will continue relieving Tony Plush in center whenever a lefty is on the hill. Otherwise...keep pushing on, Brewers. I'll have a front row seat in the Beerpen tomorrow night (thanks, Kyle) to undoubtedly heckle the Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder and beg Corey Hart to toss me a baseball. Speaking of Corey, don't be an idiot and give up a triple to Pujols again. Thanks.
Not sure what else to blab about, really. I'll definitely have more after the Packers break the seal on their preseason schedule Saturday and will be sure to preview the Wisconsin Badgers upcoming football season sometime next week as well along with the normal Brewer chatter. Out of the Badgers camp, I've been hearing a few different things...Russell Wilson is getting comfortable in the Badgers' offensive system and finding Nick Toon to be one of his favorite targets. Hopefully he begins to take a liking to tight end Jacob Pedersen as well; that would bode well for my fantasy team. Also, there was a no-name backup receiver who will miss some time because of a hernia (ouch) and there have also been some talks about the Badgers' kicking situation, which is interesting. Because returning starter Phillip Welch is nursing a leg injury, red-shirt freshman Kyle French has been getting some looks. I have a bone to pick with Mr. French because back when he was attending my rival's high school, he beat us with a 48-yard field goal as time expired. Brutal. Ruined my night. Better not do it again.
In Packerland, there are a few noteworthy items to touch on now that I think about it. Today, former Packer running back Ahman Green officially retired. Green had some solid years earlier in the decade for the Green and Gold and also signed on with the Pack in '09 when Green Bay was hurting at RB depth. He's Green Bay's all-time leading rusher which speaks for itself. We'll see if that and his five 1,000+ yard seasons running the ball in a Packer uniform will be enough to get him enshrined in the Packer Hall of Fame...I have little doubt that it will. And did you hear about this, folks? Clay Matthews, who saw his production fall off quite a bit in the second half of the season last year, has a pretty good excuse as to why: HE HAD A BROKEN LEG! Umm...what? This guy is nuts. Although the golden haired linebacker did say that it was feeling fine by the Super Bowl in which he made one of the biggest plays in Green Bay Packer history, this shows Matthews' incredible perseverance and makes me proud to be a fan of the Pack.
Looking forward to tomorrow. Looking forward to Saturday. And hopefully, looking forward to the fall for more reasons than football.
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