If the Brewers are going to turn it around, now's the time

I know I haven't written too frequently to start the baseball season, but let's be real, there hasn't been much positive to write about and I don't really think you want to hear me rant on my Brewers, so I've limited it to about once a week.
During that time I've had a few friends of mine tell me "Two more losses and I'm done with this team. Getting ready for Packers Training Camp." After I stopped shaking my head at their bit of fair weather fandom that I hate, I took a look at the calendar and realized the "Brewers Love" that has surrounded Milwaukee the last two summers could really take a hit unless things turn around on this homestand.
Here's why, the Astros (15-29) and the Mets (22-23) are both last place teams in their respective divisions and both are horid on the road. Both are also quite horrible on the road. The Astros come in 6-11 away from Minute Maid Park and the Mets are 6-14 away from Citi Field. I know the Brewers are the only team in the NL at 4-14 at home that have not won double-digit games at home so far this season. So something has to give. I don't see them struggling at home all season and there is no time like now to turn this thing around and start making hay at the Cathedral that Selig built.
Just as Adam McCalvy wrote on Brewers.com yesterday, the Brewers are in line to hit one of the "ups" of the roller coaster that is the MLB season
Let's start with the Astros, they do come to town first, and the pitching matchups are relatively favorable for this offense to catch a little fire. (PROBABLE PITCHERS)
 It starts Tuesday night with Randy Wolf, who himself needs to bust out of his slump, going against Felipe Paulino who is 0-6 with a 5.36 ERA. That has slump buster written all over it if you ask me.
Wednesday night (a game I will be in the 223 for) is probably the toughest matchup of the series when Roy Oswalt (2-6, 2.66 ERA) takes on Chris Narveson (4-1, 5.17 ERA). Oswalt has taken the loss because the offense hasn't been able to get him run support, so if they can put a couple on him early, Narv Dog can settle in.
Thursday afternoon has Dave Bush making his first start since he only got one out against the Twins Friday night. To be honest, I'm not so confident in him as I have been. He was probably the most consistent hurler they had last year and hasn't shown any signs of even being the same guy on the mound. Brett Meyers (3-3, 3.25 ERA) hasn't been a slouch this season for the Astros and won't be easy to get past.
The Brewers are just one game better than the Astros in the running for the worst record in the NL and I know for a fact they are better than that. Now is the time to prove it. If the bullpen can use today's off day to get right and lined up and a starter can actually get through seven innings (I know I'm asking for a lot) things might fall into place for Braddock, Axford and Hoffman to close things out like they did Sunday.
Now to the Mets, they are dropping like a rock in the NL East and can't win on the road. With Johan Santana (4-2, 3.41 ERA) on the mound Friday night, that might look tough, but the Brewers seem to hit him well. It might be a game Yovanni Gallardo starts which could make it a big-time pitching matchup. As of Monday night the Brewers have not scheduled a starter. But I'd venture to guess they'd go with Yo just to give them the chance to win.
That leaves Saturday open and would could be Manny Parra or Marco Estrada, but could also be Chris Capuano, who would have to be on the 25-man roster by that point or he could ask to become a free agent. Have you seen the way he's pitched? I'd say it's worth a shot. As The Brewers Bar points out, here are the options to make that happen. I'm on board with those. Vargas would be the odd man out, but fresh arms are needed and he's not producing.

OK, now for some good stuff. The Chicago Blackhawks punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup finals yesterday. That's great, but Duncan Keith stole the show by losing 4 teeth and not missing much time on the ice. Here he is postame.


On a non sports, but a damn funny note, found this on SI.com's Hot Clicks today. The Onion is a damn good source of news. HONK, HOOONK, HONK!

Tired Of Traffic? A New DOT Report Urges Drivers: 'Honk'

And finally, it's time for our Nussie Hunter. Now, we like women that like sports. If they're hot, it only adds to the awesomeness. Meet Jenn Sterger. She's been on my radar for awhile, working for SI, ABC Sports and now Versus for The Daily Line. She's on Twitter, has a blog and does a knock down job on the DL. I'm not just saying that to try to get to interview her for this space (Jenn, if you're reading this, hit me up on my Twitter link above!), but because hot girls in sports suck. But if they know what they are talking about, totally fit in. Well, Jenn just shot some photos for Maxim. Check them out.
Here's a sample.

The Good. The Bad. The Ugly: Brewers skid hits 9 games

The Brewers losing streak reached nine games tonight as the bullpen gave up three runs in the final three innings and let the Pirates beat them for the third straight time.
It's a wonder how things can change from the last time the team was in Pittsburgh, which was after that 20-0 win.
Well, that seems forever ago as this team can't really seem to find a way to close out games. The last two days have seen late leads only to have the washed away by an imploding Trevor Hoffman and tonight Todd Coffey couldn't get Randy Wolf out of a jam.
Hoffman has been put on the shelf while he works on his mechanics, which is fine, I guess, but doesn't really solve a lot of problems because there is so much more.
The title of the blog is The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. and I'm going to start with the Ugly.
There is so much wrong with this team one can only point the finger in one direction, the manager.
Whatever buttons Ken Macha is pushing haven't been the right ones. What he's working with the pitchers on with Rick Peterson isn't working either. That's been the biggest problem. Ups and downs are expected, but consistently repeating the mistakes points the finger only at the manager.
Will the pitchers magically turn it around if a move is made, probably not, but whatever personality is with the team needs to be changed. Whether they stay in house with Willie Randolph or Dale Svuem is up in the air. I'd go with Randolph because I think he could really work well with the guys in that clubhouse. But that's just me.


If the ugly is Ken Macha and what he's doing (or not doing) with the pitching staff, namely the starters, then the Bad has to be the trickle down effect that has had on everything else.
Tonight Ryan Braun made one of the dumbest decision I have ever seen him or anyone make on the field. I know third base wasn't covered, but really? La Roche was right behind you. Stay at second and let Prince try to get something going.
The guys are pressing and when you press in the game of baseball, you don't perform. It's weird that way, but that's how it is. Ryan hasn't been awful at the plate, but tonight showed he's trying to make thing happen. Prince has just 18 RBIs right now and can't seem to get going.
Prince had a line after Friday night's loss where he said all the offense can do is hope to outscore the other team. That's basically what it's come to. With that kind of pressure the guys are almost guaranteed to not come through with enough runs to hold up and get wins on a consistent basis.
The uncharacteristic Braun baserunning blunder is just the latest in the guys trying to do too much and falling short. You're saying "It's part of losing." OK, sure. But I'm saying, this team is better than this and shouldn't be losing like this. Yes, good teams have had bad years before, but I'm not sold that the season is already done for my Milwaukee Brewers just yet. I'm hoping before everyone starts seriously clamoring to trade Prince, other moves are made before they send up the white flag of surrender.


There has been one player that has been the good in this sea of awful and his name is Casey McGehee. He had another home run tonight and two more RBIs. His numbers are off the charts this year as he's settling into the No. 5 spot in the lineup behind Prince. Which, before I get into my main point, is pressure in itself. Had he not been producing, Prince's lack of production would be on Casey for not giving the proper "protection" to the slugger.
But Casey has been producing and has he ever. Take a look at how his numbers rank among NL third baseman. He is No. 1 with 37 RBIs, tops in average (.324), second in hits (48, which is one off the lead), second in slugging percentage (.574), second in home runs (9, again, just one off the lead) and second in on-base percentage  at .393 which is just one measily point behind Chipper Jones' .394.
That's off-the charts right there folks. And those 37 RBIs has him ranked second in the entire National League to only Adam Ethier's 38 and he's on the DL. So expect Casey to take the lead sooner rather than later.
Now, if you know me, you know where Casey ranks on my personal list of fave players. But, did I see this coming? No. To be honest, I don't even bet Casey himself saw this type of production coming. He is the only guy on the team hitting the ball all over the yard. With the average up to .324, he and Braun are the two best hitters on the team. Now if only Prince can get it going. Maybe the three of them can carry the team to a few wins and maybe start saving the season.
Finally, be sure to get the vote out so Casey is on that NL All-Star team.

Now to some stuff that hopefully lifts yours (and my) spirits. Did you see this video of some guys that went to the New York Public Library and recreated the scene from Ghostbusters? They were on point with this. Take a look. Damn funny and creative.


Not sure how many follow the NBA playoffs intently, but we are in the conference finals and there was a pretty odd occurance that went down at the Celtics/Magic game the other night. Here's a ref throwing a ball at a fan, then the fan throws it back. The ref then has him removed from the game. Makes absolutely no sense. Take a look for yourself.


It was a sad day for the Nussie Hunter today. Word is out that Megan Fox, one of our faves here at The Way, will not be in Transformers 3. Here's the story, where she says the decision was hers. A bit of a sad turn of events. I know Shia is one of my mancrushes, but they had better find a love interest worthy for the new movie. You hear me Michael Bay?!
In the meantime, this looks like an opportunity to mourn while looking at Megan and her hotness.

Who's to blame? Everyone has a part in this mess!

It's a Brewers off day today, so a lot of time to think about what is the latest cause of dropping to 4-11 at Miller Park to a team that was 5-14 on the road before getting to Milwaukee.
Got a chance to read a couple of things on what is to blame for the 29-7 beatdown over three games by the Braves.
The Journal-Sentinel story on the bullpen finally showing the innings that have been wearing on them of late and just imploding, giving up big run numbers in each of the three losses and turned ties or close games into blowouts.
Well, that is the obvious place to look. Hell, even Carlos Villanueva got worked and gave up his first runs of the season during the series.
The only pitcher out of the bullpen to not give up a run was Todd Coffey. And if my memory serves me correctly, he did give up a double that brought two runs in, but those were Mitch Stetter's runners.
The cause for that is the brutal showing by the starters that are averaging less than six innings per start on the year. How is that acceptable. This is all five guys in the rotation not being able to manage pitch counts and consistently get out of innings. That is just unacceptable. To be honest, I don't even know if I trust Yovanni anymore when he starts. Even if he strikes out 10 guys, he's likely only going five innings.
The other four, including Friday night's starter Randy Wolf, have not been much better.
In doing some more reading at a blog that is becoming one of my frequent reads, The Brewers Bar, a good point is brought up that this isn't just about the bullpen. In baseball everything is connected.
It's a good point. Monday night at the game Rickie had two errors that extended innings. Tuesday Alcides kicked a couple of balls and the offense left 11 runners on base and couldn't get the big hit that could have gotten Dave Bush the lead and maybe helped him settle in. At Miller Park leads have been few and far between and it's hard to say what getting a guy that lead will do.
That brings me to an offense that aside, from Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee hasn't seen any of the guys consistently get in a groove and make a statement. That includes Prince Fielder who has an on-base percentage just some 20 points behind his slugging percentage. Tell me you expected that from the big fella?
Some are calling for Ken Macha to be relieved of his duties as manager. Well, let me ask those people this question: Can firing the manager make pitchers throw strikes and last into the seventh inning? Didn't think so. So I'm not sure that's a move that wold accomplish much. That doesn't mean I don't think it can't happen.
With problems in almost every aspect of the game, maybe a different voice leading the charge is welcome. I'd have to say in a year where we may see Prince traded Doug Melvin has to make moves that will give this team a chance to get in the race and keep Prince in town as long as possible. The managerial move is one that has to be on the list if it comes to it.
With the Phillies coming to town, I'm not sure the weekend will see a bright resurgence from all the key parts of this team.

Enough of the depressing talk. Got a couple good links and vidoes from the Web I found today. First, the good stuff. If you know me, you know I'm one of the last people to support the singing of a Lady Gaga song. Well, I stumbled upon this on the Interweb yesterday. Damn impressive if you ask me for a sixth grader to be able to perform like this. Take a listen. So great!


Found some funny wrestler pics on Maxim.com today. Just seeing these big guys out of place is quite funny.
Just like the pic of John Cena holding an oversized tennis racket. Hahahaha!


Now finally, we come to the Nussie Hunter portion of the broadcast. Today, I'm introducing myself and you to one Giorgia Palmas. Who is she? Well, she's an Italian model and TV host. Take a look at these pics to get a full look at her. Here's a sample. I'd say I can't understand Italian, but I'd spend time attempting to figure out what she was saying.

Upon a closer look, the numbers can be deceiving...

Yesterday I talked about how the Brewers offensive numbers were surprising and made it look like the full culprit for the 10-15 start was the pitching staff. But not so fast.
As Tom Haudricourt points out in this morning's Brewers Blog for the J-S, those offensive numbers were deceiving. The Brewers have scored 128 runs in 25 games, but half of those came in five games. That's the three game series against the Pirates when they outscored the Bucs 36-1, the 17-3 beating of the Pirates at Miller Park last week and the 11-7 victory over Washington April 18. That means the team is averaging 3.2 runs per game in the other 20 games. With a pitching staff all over the charts, that just is not going to cut it.
With even Prince Fielder struggling at the plate the offense just has not been able to get it going in the slightest. We've seen this from this team before, though. Last year they'd go through rough patches where they looked silly at the plate. To say I'm surprised, I am not. But that leads me to another point.
How many times have you seen a picture of the coaches at a random point in the dugout? I know I haven't and that lead me to believe someone, with Haudricourt or another guy close to the Brewers, might now something is up with Macha being pushed out as manager. Would that fix everything or anything? I don't know, but at this point, the window is closing and something might have to get done from Doug Melvin's position.
I'll say this, there might be a lineup move, I'd make with Rickie Weeks struggling. It's one talked about with some friends of mine at work and that is moving Alcides Escobar into the leadoff spot of the lineup. He is the better of the two to leadoff and that gives Rickie the chance to slide down to either the No. 2 slot or a role where he can be a run producer. Get Escobar on and he is an instant threat to steal bases and cause chaos on the base.

Now that the staple of Brewers talk is out there, let's get into some Web goodness that we've missed her on The Way. I missed this last night, but my "mother" Amy and "pops" Vaughan showed me this today. Let me be clear, I hate Ke$ha, but have a soft spot for Bart and Lisa. This was rather funny. And, yes I know it's flipped, thanks to Fox for killing off the regular clips.


The next item of the blog combines hot girls with the No. 1 topic nerds love. Yes, you guessed it Star Wars. What's the best part of Star Wars? Yep, Princes Leia. Even better? Leia washing cars and getting wet.
Enter G4TV and Make a Wish to make that happen for us!

Slave Leia & Sara Jean Underwood: Star Wars Charity Car Wash

Attack of the Show | MySpace Video

Did you notice a certain someone doing the awesomeness in that video? Yep, Sara Jean Underwood, who has been featured on these pages before and a former Playmate of the Year, pulls of Star Wars looks damn well. Having it be white with amazingly tight white pants makes it damn interesting too. This is just a sample. There are plenty more good ones, here! Thank me later :)

Brewers pitchers... Not sure I can trust any of you!

Another loss today by the Brewers has Wilber's Way making its May debut. Being shutout for the third time in four games has me changing a bit of what I was going to write here.
Regardless, the Brewers have now lost 8 of their last 10 games and were outscored by the Padres 21-2 in four games. So while pitching was a question mark coming in, the offense made sure to not let us forget about it having problems and being inconsistent.
Doug Davis, who has had his problems, was not so reliable in Game 1 of the series and the guy that came on in "relief" of that one was Jeff Suppan. When all was said and done, the Padres won 9-0.


Dave Bush  did pitch pretty good in Game 2 of the series, giving up just three runs in seven innings of work. But the offense couldn't get anything going and fell 5-0.
It marked the first time since 2005 the Brewers had been shut out in back to back games.
It was the best starting pitching showing since Yovanni Gallardo was solid against the Pirates on Monday night at Miller Park, but this time the offense did not back the up. Just the bad luck of baseball.

The Brewers did get a win Saturday night behind Gallardo. But even that was a chore. Yo went seven innings and struck out 11 on 118 pitches and had to hit a home run, his fifth of his career.
Hawkins, who has seen his share of troubles came on in the eighth and Trevor Hoffman, who you all know about his struggles, returned to the city where he saved 552 games, and closed the game out.


That sets the table. Now I have to ask the question. Who do you trust on the mound for this team? The problem has been mainly the starting rotation. Here are the lines (From Baseball-reference.com):
Yovanni Gallardo: 3-2, 36 IP, 40 K, 16 BB, 32 H, 15 R, 12 ER, 3.00 ERA
Randy Wolf: 2-2, 37.1 IP, 27 K, 16 BB, 41 H, 18 R, 16 ER, 3.86 ERA
Dave Bush: 1-2, 29.1 IP, 15 K, 12 BB, 30 H, 17 R, 15 ER, 4.60 ERA
Doug Davis: 0-3, 22.1 IP, 24 K, 10 BB, 38 H, 23 R, 22 ER, 8.87 ERA
Jeff Suppan: 0-1, 14.1 IP, 11 K, 3 BB, 22 H, 14 R, 13 ER, 8.16 ERA
Chris Narveson: 1-0, 15 IP, 12 K, 9 BB, 22 H, 12 R, 11 ER, 6.6 ERA
Now you can't take everything by those numbers, but know this. The team ERA ranks 13th of 16 teams in the NL. The staff has given up the second-most hits in the National League. That heps rank them 14th in the NL in home runs allowed (33).
Where was the help Doug Melvin was supposed to bring in? Nothing has changed from last year, at all. Now people claiming Doug Davis should be taken out of the rotation, are crazy. Who are you going to put in that spot? They made the one move with Narveson going in. I'm sure we'll see Manny Parra starting at some point this year, but not in place of a healthy but struggling Davis.

Like I said, this isn't going to be all about the pitching. The last three series' dating back to getting swept by the Cubs, then dropping two of three to the Pirates has worn on this team, which has lost 8 of 10.
The offense, up until this point, was one of the best in baseball. The numbers show that.
After checking Baseball-Reference.com, I found some pretty interesting numbers that I didn't realize (maybe because the pitching was so awful).
The Brewers are second in the NL in runs scored (128), first in doubles (56), fourth in homers (28), first in on-base percentage (.355), third in batting average (.273), second in slugging percentage (.452) and second in OPS (.807).
Those are some pretty staggering figures. To me, that says this 10-14 start is something that is on the pitching. Yes the last week has been rough for the hitters. I'm not going to put it on all of them, but I am going to single out one guy, Rickie Weeks Now I'm not coming down on Rickie, just pointing out some numbers.
Since the Brewers drilled the Pirates for that 20-0 win on April 22, Weeks' average has dropped from .344 to .258.
It's been seven games since then and during that time Rickie is 4 for 34 (.118 AVG), with 17 strikeouts, just one RBI (which came on his home run) and he's taken only five walks. Here's the link, again on Baseball-Reference.com. For a team built around Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, having guys on base in front of them makes them dangerous. That makes Rickie getting on base imparative to the success of the team. It doesn't help that Macha is still struggling to find a suitable guy to put in the No. 2 spot. With Carlos Gomez and Jim Edmonds hurt, that has made things a struggle and put guys you wouldn't necessarily want in front of Ryan and Prince.

Ok, enough on the Brewers for now. That will resonate throughout Monday for me. We need some funny to lighten the mood. Leave it to Jimmy Kimmel and his unnecessary censorship. Damn funny!


I'm pretty sure these next two ladies are Brewers fans and would be very interested by the success of the team. Yep, the Maxim Hometown Hotties Contest is in full swing and we got a double feature of Nussies for you.
First is Franklin's Andrea. She likes Wii (take a look! Haha.) And Susana is from Richfield, which is like 15 minutes from me. The links take you to their profiles. There were a handful of other Wisconsin girls that made the initial cut. Be sure to check out the rest of the Hometown Hotties.
Here's Andrea.


Here's Susana