Series Two: Brewers at Cubs

The Brewers opened the 2011 season by getting swept by the Reds. All was well and good because any three games of a 162 game season will usually not make or break your season. The Brewers opened this season by getting hammered in their home opener by the Cardinals and eventually dropping two of three. While a 1-2 start to any season is not what you would call an inescapable hole, that the Cardinals got the best of the Brewers after beating them in the NLCS is just kind of cruel. Of course it could always be worse. Instead of losing to the Cardinals in the NCLS and in the subsequent opening day, it could have been the Cubs. Speaking of which:

Five thing to watch for:

1) Ryan Braun was greeted with an standing ovation and chants of MVP! in Milwaukee. Will the same happen at Wrigley Field? I tend to doubt it. The boos are a given, but what I'm most interested is seeing what signage and heckles Cubs fans will come up with.

2) Nyjer Morgan and Chris Volstad have a bit of history. In 2010, Morgan was the catalyst for a brawl between the Nationals and Marlins. What set of the brawl was Morgan rushing the mound after Volstad hit him with a pitch. The two squared off in 2011 and the result of the first AB was Morgan hitting a rare home run. Volstad is scheduled to start on Monday, so there could be some theatrics going down.

3) The Brewers would not have made the playoffs last season without Shaun Marcum. However, he was beyond awful in those very playoffs, going 0-3 with a 14.90 ERA. My hope is Marcum had dead-arm at the end of 2011 and was simply physically incapable of pitching well. I'll be keeping a close eye on his velocity and location, with emphasis on the location.

4) Ryan Dempster has a career ERA of 4.40, but a 2.75 ERA in 186.2 innings against the Brewers. He seems like a nice guy, but his dominance of the Crew drives me nuts. I'm hoping the Brewers will chase him after the third inning, but I'm not holding my breath.

5) Mat Gamel did not do much to make us forget about Prince Fielder. Considering Wrigley Field is a hitters park (depending on the wind) and the Cubs will be trotting out Chris Volstad and Paul Malholm to start the series, this is good chance for him to get settled into his new role. Or at the very least mash some marginal pitching and make me feel better about first base for the rest of the year.