Game Sixty Eight: Cubs 5, Brewers 4

Box Score

One of the only "rules" I have for this blog is to not use expletives. With that said, tonight's game was a fucking disgrace.

There was so much wrong with the loss that I do not even know where to start, so forgive me for my scattered thoughts:

-Marco Estrada in the 8th? Yes, he go the first out. Yes, the Brewers were up by three. But when he gave up his second consecutive double and the tying run was at the plate in the form of Aramis Ramirez, why was he still allowed to pitch? Moreover...

...why was he in the game to begin with? You know who was available to pitch? LaTroy Hawkins? You know what his ERA is this season? 0.59. You know what happened in the 9th? Hawkins retired the side 1-2-3. And then the bottom of the 10th inning game along...

...and the Brewers did not issue an intentional walk to set up a double play with a runner on third and one out. In other words, they did not do the one thing that gave them the best chance to extend the game.

-But let's not let the offense off the hook. 11 hits, 6 walks, 3 errors, and only 4 runs. In addition, the go-ahead run was on second with one out in the 9th and 10th and was stranded each time.

Ugh.

The other "rule" I have is to stay as positive as possible. This is very difficult because no matter how well the Brewers are playing I am always in fear of a total collapse. This would be an irrational fear to have, except the Brewers do this on an almost annual basis. Consider:

2001: Started 38-34, Finished 30-64
2004: Started 41-34, Finished 26-63
2006: Started 44-43, Finished 31-42
2007: Started 48-34, Finished 35-45
2008: Almost collapsed in September, made the post-season thanks to the Pirates and the Mets
2009: Started: 30-20, finished 50-62

I am hyper-sensitive to any sign of collapse and right now I am on high alert. The Cubs are terrible, and yet the Brewers lost a winnable game last night and gave away tonight's game on a silver fucking platter. Tomorrow they face Brewer-killer Carlos Zambrano and send the mercurial Chris Narveson to the mound to counter. And then the Brewers go to Boston, host the Rays and Twins, and then go to New York to face the Yankees. Ugh.

Deep breath. The Packers won the Super Bowl. There is a lot of baseball left to be played. The Brewers were going to have a cold spell at some point. I will survive.

But still: Fuck.