Tomorrow I embark for my hometown where I'll stay for about four days. I'll be making my bi-yearly visit to the dentist and watching my 15-year-old brother participate in a JV track meet at Sussex Hamilton's new track, but once I arrive home on Friday at roughly 2 p.m., my focus will turn to my third visit to Miller Park. This isn't just any game, however; it's a Greinke game. If you look at his 2-1 record, you would probably say that sounds about right, but Greinke's abysmal 6.60 ERA and .262 opponent batting average isn't exactly what fans were looking for. Rust isn't an excuse anymore and I've picked up on a few things that Greinke might adjust for his third home start of the season where he happens to be 2-0.
First of all, command. In the early innings, it's easy for Greinke to get away with missing his spots because of how good his stuff is, but I've noticed that he usually has the best command of his pitches, especially his fastball, the first time through the order. Greinke's fifth inning against the Pirates on Sunday looked like this: 5 runs, all earned, 6 hits, 1 HR, 1 walk, 47 pitches. His final line? 5 Runs, all earned, 6 hits, 1 HR, 1 walk, 5 strike outs, 96 pitches. What the hell happened? Well, like I mentioned, command was a major issue. There was also the 12 pitch at-bat to lead off the inning by Neil Walker that really seemed to rattle Greinke, even though he retired the next two hitters he faced. Perhaps he relaxed too much and then started putting the ball on a tee for the Pirate hitters. Or perhaps...
...Greinke was tipping his pitches. Sure, he has one of the nastiest repertoires in the league, but if the batter knows what's coming next, it's just a matter of hitting it where it's pitched. I, personally could not tell if Greinke was tipping his pitches. I have a keen eye for the sport of baseball, but not that keen. There's a reason I don't play baseball anymore...even if I knew a fastball was coming next, there is no way in hell I'd be able to catch up with it. The only reason I bring this up Greinke tipping the opposing hitter is because manager Ron Roenicke mentioned the possibility after the game because of how hard he was getting hit in the fifth compared to the first four innings. If this was indeed the case, hopefully Greinke and the Brewers have gone back to look at the tape and figure out what he needs to change to avoid such a thing in the future.
Other than that, the usual excuse is to go back to how Greinke is still in "Spring Training" mode because of the time he missed in the pre-season. This is baloney. Greinke has made several starts in the minors and in the majors now and has already shown signs of brilliance, so it's just a matter of executing his pitches. Corey Hart suffered a similar slump while just coming off his injury but is now coming around and hitting around the average he batted last season. The only thing the Brewers are waiting on now is the power surge. Whether or not Hart will return to the two spot in the lineup is still uncertain, but it's all about where a batter is comfortable hitting in the order. Jonathan Lucroy, who leads the Brewers in batting average, remains in the eight spot despite his success almost immediately coming off his broken pinky finger. Lucroy seemed to have early success as well last season and then tailed off, so we can only hope that Jonny has figured out how to combat dealing with a longer season than he is used to playing. Hart's early struggles were largely due in part to the type of hitter he is: a guess hitter who hits for power. He's even come out and admitted it; he goes out there basically guessing which pitch is coming next because of how hard it is to catch up to major league pitching. Well...can you blame the guy? Anyway, it was pretty evident that fixing Hart's eye problem last season was a key to his success, so let's hope the whole "guess where the next pitch is" thing works out for the caveman.
Despite Greinke's woes and the team still trying to crawl out of its hitting slump, I believe things are moving in the right direction for the Crew. It's a wonder the Brewers are only one game below .500, and hopefully a strong outing from the Narve-dog will pull them to 22-22 in time for my visit to Miller Park to watch The Zack Attack. Should be a doozy.
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