Catch Up Time!

Since my last post the Brewers have had one inspiring comeback victory and three extremely deflating losses. In this post I am going to focus on those losses.

The Brewers are on the brink of being cooked. They are 1-7 in their last 8 games and have been outscored 59-30. They are a terrible road team and they have an 11-game road trip after the All-Star Break where they will go to Colorado, Arizona, and San Francisco. Zack Greinke and Casey McGehee are not coming around as I hoped, Yuni Betancourt is still a black hole, Kameron Loe is not a reliable reliever and he's still the "8th inning guy," and Yovani Gallardo has been consistently average. In short, they have problems that are not being solved. Though they are only 2.0 games back of the division lead, time is running out and, simply put, things are not looking good.

This team is not making the playoffs as it is currently constructed. They will have a puncher's chance if Saito gets healthy, Greinke settles down, and they upgrade at shortstop and third base. On the bright side, I do believe this team will finish about .500. Considering that winning seasons are rare for the Brewers, I would be decently satisfied with this outcome. However, if the Brewers do not make the playoffs this season I will become very deflated as a fan. I will also advocate the replacement of Doug Melvin.

The Brewers are 531-527 since the 2005. I give Melvin credit for constructing decent teams over that span, but there is another tier of excellence the Brewers are capable of reaching. This will not happen until they have some sort of consistent organizational philosophy outside of getting a bunch of powerful free swingers that can't play defense. Melvin's teams are inconsistent on offense and, due to being horrible defensively, need a lot of things to go right in order to make the playoffs. With something like defense you are given much more margin for error, because all of a sudden that RBI grounder down the line becomes an inning-ending double play. Then, instead of needing 5 runs to win the game, you only need 3.

Anyway, that is my rant for now. I will continue to follow the Brewers, but I will not follow them with enthusiasm until they give me reason for excitement. I am beginning to doubt that will happen.