Game Fourteen: Nationals 8, Brewers 4; Game Fifteen: Nationals 5, Brewers 1

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Earl Weaver famously said "The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers." The Nationals proved this in the first game when a strong performance by Jason Marquis and three-run homers from Danny Espinosa and Ivan Rodriguez led to an 8-4 victory.

In the second game the Brewers were done in by the 74-year old Livan Hernandez and his 84-MPH fastball. While Hernandez is a fine pitcher (4.38 career ERA), I always expect the Brewers to mercilessly crush his pitches. Instead I am treated to a steady stream of pop-up and weak grounders, and that really gets on my nerves.

By getting swept in a doubleheader the Brewers accomplished the rare feat of going from over .500 to under .500 in the same day. As a reward the Brewers get to travel to Phildelphia to face Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and the rest of the potent Phillies lineup. Naturally I am convinced the Brewers will get swept, fall back to four games under .500, and go on to have a horrible season. Of course, before getting swept by the Nationals I was thinking about playoff match-ups, so take my reactions for what they're worth. That said, the Brewers can do two things to be more consistent and thus help my sanity.

First, I do not like Carlos Gomez batting second. Whether or not this is because of Corey Hart being hurt is irrelevant: there is no good reason to have a batter with a career .292 OPB hitting in front of Braun and Fielder. Worse yet, batting second means more at bats, which means more outs. I'm fine having him bat 8th or even 9th , but not 2nd.

Second, the Brewers really, really, really need to get rid of Betancourt. Much like Gomez, he's a black hole in the lineup. As I wrote on Friday, anybody is better than Betancourt.

And I could add one more thing: put a clause on Greinke's contract that he can't play basketball. He's making his first rehab start on Tuesday and is scheduled to return on May 4th. When he returns (along with Hart) I think we'll get to see just how good the Brewers are. Until then, just avoid long losing streaks, please.