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For the Brewers to win the division, they are going to need to get Dave Bush on track.
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Series of the Week – Monday through Wednesday
Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers
The Braves return to their home from 1953 through 1965, where they won two pennants, one World Series, and featured multiple Hall of Fame players, the two biggest being Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn. There’s a reason why Bud Selig wanted to shift the Brewers to the National League – despite having had the Brewers in the American League longer than the Braves were in Milwaukee, the city always thought of itself as a National League city.
Both teams as of this writing have a 28-21 record, with the Brewers’ record, despite still being quite solid, being a disappointment to them. The Brewers have lost four straight and seven of their last ten, giving them a five game lead over the Cubs. A big part of their success has been outhomering the opposition, but that has dried up over the last week. The hitters are slumping - .266 batting average, eight home runs, and 27 RBI over the last week – while the pitching has been as well - .277 batting average against, eight homers, and 32 runs against in the last week. Over the past week, only one Brewers starter has an ERA under 6.00. That was Ben Sheets, who allowed two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings, and he picked up a loss for that. Dave Bush, who looked ready for a monster season after his breakout last year, is 3-5 with a 6.13 ERA, and the Yovani Gallardo whispers have started.
The Braves have had plenty of their own struggles too. Tim Hudson looked like an ace for much of the season, but he has been horrific in his last two starts, losing both with an 8.74 ERA and 2.03 WHIP. For someone that has splendid control on most days, it seems to have abandoned Hudson, as he has five walks and just three strikeouts over those two starts. Kyle Davies looked solid in his last start, but he will always be a question mark, and Buddy Carlyle showed yesterday why his last major league start was when Ricky Martin was still Livin' la Vida Loca and Christina Aguilera was singing about genies and bottles. I weep for the generation that will grow up nostalgic for that, but I digress. The bullpen, other than Peter Moylan and Tyler Yates, has not given up a run in over a week, and has been strengthened by the return of Bob Wickman. However, in some perverse sort of karma, when one comes back, one must leave, and Mike Gonzalez is now done for at least a year thanks to the beloved Tommy John surgery.
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| For those that think impending free agency leads to huge seasons, here is Exhibit A against you.
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On the offensive side of things, Andruw Jones is showing that the idea that everyone plays better in a walk year is truly moronic. Look, the statistics have been out there for years showing about as many people struggle as do flourish, but people still look for “magic” in that season before the player hits the free agent market. Well, that magic has Jones hitting .215 with six homers and 31 RBI – far from magical – and he picked up the platinum sombrero (one above golden, for a total of five whiffs) last weekend against Boston. Yeah, that’ll help his against get him the big bucks.
The big game to watch is going to be the redemption game on Wednesday. Can Hudson turn things back around after two horrific outings? Can Bush right the ship before Gallardo takes over the ship’s helm? For both teams, finding out the answers to those questions will go a long way in their hunts to get back to the playoffs.
Series of the Week – Weekend Edition
New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox
So big that I’ll be there. Okay, that really does not mean a whole heck of a lot, but I will be, so there. So big that Roger Clemens might be there – how’s that? However, the bigger question is, is Clemens ready? Well, as the NESN announcers gleefully stated every five minutes, Clemens was outdueled by the Sox’ stud pitching prospect Clay Buchholz, and Clemens has looked rather un-Rocket-like in the minors so far. Would he be up for handling the pressure of pitching in Fenway in his return?
The bigger question is, will his return even matter? The Yankees are mired in fourth place, 11 ½ games back of the Red Sox. Yes, they did just take two of three from the Sox, but they did so in the Bronx, and they then followed that up by losing two straight to the Angels, so it is hard to buy those two wins as being the keys to turning around the Yankees’ season.
Nor is Clemens going to be enough to right the ship. The team’s issues go way beyond starting pitching. Bobby Abreu is hitting just .235 with only two homers. Robinson Cano is hitting just .260 with two homers. Johnny Damon is not horrible at .274 with only two homers, but he is horribly banged up and has about as good an outfield arm as my four-year-old niece. Jason Giambi is hitting just .160 for the month of May with only two RBI, both coming off of solo homers. Bronx Bombers they are not.
That is not to say that the fault lies solely with the hitting. Kei Igawa has been an abject failure. Through six appearances, five as a starter, Igawa was 2-1 with a 7.63 ERA and a weak 21:14 K/BB ratio. Mike Mussina has just one quality start this season and was tagged for seven runs in his last outing. The team has four relievers among the league leaders in appearances, which is never a good sign. From top to bottom, this team has issues, and one pitcher alone is not going to fix it all.
June might be early to be saying “must-win,” but, just like the Sox/Yanks series last week, this is a must win. The Yankees cannot afford to get buried further than they already are.
On the Sox side of things, David Ortiz is having problems. Sure, the average has been solid - .333 over the last two weeks – but he also has no homers during that stretch. His last homer, in fact, came way back on May 9th. That’s not the Papi we know and love. Fortunately for the Sox, they have been able to succeed without his home runs, as they are 7-3 over their last ten, winners of two straight, and owners of the best record in the game, two wins better than the Mets. While the Yankees have been having problems with their overworked bullpen, the Sox certainly have enjoyed much better numbers from their relievers than they had last year thanks to some key additions, most notably Hideki Okajima, who has only been scored upon twice in 22 appearances this year, and neither was for more than one run. Over 23 2/3 innings, Okajima has 24 strikeouts, just six walks, and has opponents hitting just .148 against him.
