Game Twenty Eight: Braves 6, Brewers 2

Box Score

Nothing lends itself to second guessing quite like baseball. When your team loses a close game it's easy to highlight a particular play and say "if that did not happen, we win the game." Though we all do this, it's a faulty mode of analysis. Take tonight's game as an example of why:

In the bottom of the 6th with a runner on first base on nobody out, Prince Fielder failed to catch a pop-foul (because he's a poor defender). Given an extra chance, Dan Uggla hit a single on the next pitch. Then there was a walk. Then there was a base-clearing double which effectively won the game for the Braves. Maybe Gallardo gets out of the inning cleanly if Fielder makes the catch and the Brewers go on to win the game. Or maybe not. Though the truth is the Brewers have a better chance of winning if the play is made, however, analyzing a game by only looking at "What ifs?" ignores more important issues, such as...

...Yovani Gallardo. His ERA is now 6.10. I have no idea what exactly is going on, but I do know that each dreadful start is making me more concerned. Though the most likely explanation is that he's slumping and will start pitching better at some point, the longer the slump, the greater the frequency of thoughts like "I wonder if he stopped being a good pitcher?" Gallardo needs to remember that by pitching well he can prevent me from having irrational thoughts, so he needs to start dealing.

Another issue: the offense. I think the offensive output over the last three games had more to do with good pitching than anything else. At the same time, however, I feel the offense should be better. For the time being I'm going to blame everything on Roenicke batting Gomez in the 2-spot. I really, really, really hope that Nyjer Morgan takes over for Gomez when he's healthy. His career OBP is 50 points higher than that of Gomez, and it might help to have someone on base for Braun on Fielder.