Box Score
To quote John Candy: "And the Brewers have their longest win streak of the season...two!"
Marco Estrada had a serviceable start, Prince Fielder drove in some runs, and John Axford worked around a lead off walk to seal the win. See? Winning baseball game is easy!
There has been a lot of hype around Greinke and Marcum, and rightfully so: they give the Brewers legitimate chance to make the playoffs. But the Brewers' ace in the hole, so to speak, is the back of the rotation.
Back in 2006 Jeff Sackmann of the Hardball Times examined the average ERA for each spot of the rotation. Based on data from 2006 he found the average #5 starter in the NL had an ERA of 6.26. I expect the ERAs of Narveson and Estrada to hover around 5, which in context would be quite good.
One last point: Carlos Gomez drives me crazy. The play he made to nail Chipper Jones at the plate was incredible. It demonstrated why good defense in baseball is so fun to watch. But, and this is important, the man needs to get his OBP in the .330-.340 range. His speed is a huge asset, as shown here, but if his OBP is sub .300 his speed does not matter.
Enough griping. Let's see if the Brewers can get the series win tomorrow. I look forward to seeing how Marcum fares in his second start.
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