Brewers Nation: Don't panic as postseason looms

Call me the eternal optimist or a fan that thinks the last week of the Brewers season was what I called it a couple weeks back, a market correction. That's why I'm not worried about this team going forward to not only clinch the National League Central title and beyond into the NL Divisional Series.

And before you jump on me for blindly thinking like this, I'll tell you why. Of course there's Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, a healthy Rickie Weeks getting healthy and back in his groove, but most importantly a steady pitching staff that has been the backbone of this team all year.

Yes there have been (and almost always are) ups and downs over the course of a baseball season. That has certainly been the case for the Brewers, but over the last week to 10 days, it has been a bit of feast or famine for this Brewers team as it works itself out of the funk it was in against the Cardinals and Phillies at the start of the month.

The biggest key I can take out of the funk and even the great weekend showing in Cincinnati was that while Braun and Fielder have played well, most would agree they are not on the tears we saw them on at times during the season. These things go in cycles and you'd have to think things are coming back toward at upswing at the right time. Last Tuesday night's game against the Rockies showed what both mean to this team, combining to homer for both of the team's runs that led to the dramatic walk-off victory (Did you see us in the 223?). The two of them getting hot at the right time, in the playoffs no less would make this team almost unstoppable. While that may be a bit of me wishing, I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility as niether have shown signs of cracking under the pressure of clinching a division title in this race.

There are no trades that could help a team looking into the playoffs into September, but that's what the return of Rickie Weeks from the disabled list feels like for this Brewers team. Sure this team went on it's great 27-5 run while he was on the DL, but the offense was not what it was with him in it as the pitching carried this team. Manager Ron Roenicke will tell you this team needs Weeks if it wants to make noise in the playoffs.

Weeks finally played his first full game since coming off the DL Monday night and said he felt pretty good about things. It's been a slow process, but you can see he's starting to get his bearings back at the plate and will serve as great protection to Braun and Fielder hitting out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup with his power and speed that could set the table for the bottom half of the order to do some damage.

Of course a team is only as good as it's starting pitcher and this season has shown what that looks like in Milwaukee for the first time in a long time. Yovani Gallardo, Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum, Randy Wolf and even Chris Narveson were the big part of the late July-August push that put this team where it is now. While they've had a couple hiccups in recent weeks, I'd give them a couple passes as you'd expect this offense to back them with a couple runs each night, so it's not all their fault for a couple of the losses, you just want them to stay consistent and for much of the last week, the top four especially have been spot on. There really isn't much question as to whether they can keep it up because they have for the entire second half of the season.

This team has all the tools it needs to be successful this postseason. The next week will be a bit of preparation for that as I'd expect Roenicke to tweak the pitching rotation to line things up for the NLDS, but playing meaningful games up until the final day of the season will pay dividends. Should be fun to watch unfold.

Time for Brewers to take control of NL Central

Today was a day off for the Brewers, but it leads into a stretch which has the next 18 games against NL Central foes. It's also a stretch which has 34 of the final 59 games at home for the Brewers.
Let's get right into looking at what's in store for the Brewers. Entering play today they were in a three-way tie with the Cardinals and Pirates (even though the Pirates have two fewer losses than the Brewers).
So here's the breakdown of these next 18 games from what I was looking at on Baseball-Reference.com. The first three are with the Cubs (3-4 on the season against them), six against the Astros (three home and three on the road, 3-3), six against the Cardinals (three home, three road, 4-2 against) and three against the Pirates (5-0 against).
Thinking short term first, on this homestand is three each against the Cubs, Astros and Cardinals. In the first six, they almost NEED to win five of six. Against the bottom feeders, at home, it's what has to be done. Just saying. Both teams are awful and could be dumping talent when they are in town. The pitching matchups go in the Brewers favor during this stretch, as well. The only game in question, really, is the first game of the homestand with Chris Narveson, undefeated against the Cubs, going against Ryan Dempster, who has the Brewers' number. The Crew beats him and things will take a turn where we go for a run at six in a row at home. Stop me if I'm getting greedy at any point, here.
As for the Cardinals series, I'd expect the Brewers to take two of three. This is the home Brewers we're talking about. Have to expect big things.
The talk around Milwaukee sports talk today was that you shouldn't be happy with a 5-6 roadtrip. Be real here people. This is a team that is 21-35 on the road and has been outscored by 63 runs away from Miller Park. It's flat out ridiculous how bad that is. The fact they went 5-6 on this trip is a step in the right direction.I heard many talking a 3-8 or 4-7 trip would be expected. So they exceeded expectations.
The keys are pretty simple. Pitching over the last week has been phenomenal with seven straight quality starts. The offense has just been up and down. Going against the Giants, you just say their pitching was strong and you made a couple mistakes defensively that allowed a couple runs to score which proved to be the difference. The other key has to be the move at the top of the lineup. With Ryan Braun back to full strength this move has yet to even see its full potential, but putting Braun, Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks back to back to back in the lineup is a cluster that teams will have a hard time navigating through an entire game without the impact being felt. Not to mention Corey Hart getting on track along with Nyjer Morgan at the top. Things could really pop over the next week. Should be fun to watch go down.


Of course everyone today is talking about the return of the NFL. It's going to be a wild and crazy week in the world of football and we all win in that regard.
Of course I'm trying to get into following the moves the Bears will make. They have a couple free agents they need to resign. Namely Olin Kruetz and Daniel Manning who played well last season and deserve to have a spot on this year's team. Now there might be some guys let go we don't expect, but as things stand right now, those are the big names that should stay.
The biggest name thus far to be mentioned as on the way out, mainly for salary reasons, is punter Brad Maynard. That normally wouldn't upset me, but finding a guy that can kick well on the Lakefront in Chicago is a bit of an issue.
As for the moves to come. Santana Moss has been rumored, but the most interesting one I picked up in reading some of the Chicago Tribune over the last couple days was Steve Smith. He could force a trade from Carolina and the Panthers would only ask for a third round pick in return. That sounds like something Jerry Angelo and get done. It's going to be a wild and crazy week across the NFL. Hopefully the Bears get things to take shape in the next few days.

Now to the Nussie Hunter portion of today's broadcast. Our good friend Jaime Edmondson celebrated the NFL's triumphant return by taking the liberty of posing in some great NFL T-shirts she sculpted into great works of art. Of course, I'm going to show you the Bears one. You can check the rest of them, here.