Box Score
By losing tonight the Brewers went from being on pace to finish 162-0 to 81-81. Though the first outcome is preferred, with this team the second seems much more likely. Tonight's game highlighted a couple points as to why that is.
First, I like Marco Estrada in the rotation. He strikes out a batter an inning, limits walks, and is generally good about keeping the ball in the park. His ceiling is as a rich man's Dave Bush, meaning he'll be slightly above league average in the aggregate and occasionally dominant. This also means he'd have a place on just about every rotation in the majors. However, the problem lies with the fact he's the #2 starter in the Brewers' rotation. Tonight's start was respectable enough (5 IP, 8 SO, 0 BB, 9 H, 4 ER), yet something that will directly lead to victory. Estrada will have several starts like this, which will be more of a problem if the Brewers do not score more runs. This leads to the next point...
...Their offense really needs Corey Hart to come back. Alex Gonzalez is batting .000 in his place. Small sample aside, he's a career .691 OPSer. It's hard to be consistent when a premium offensive position is filled with a black hole. Though this is a small point, the injury to Hart removes the margin for error from the rest of the bats in the lineup. On the bright side, Jean Segura has looked good in limited action and Aramis Ramirez is still a doubles machine.
All that aside, tonight's loss was a standard defeat that will only be problematic if it becomes a consistent occurrence. With this in mind the first month of the season is something to watch closely. In particular, the Brewers have huge questions marks in their rotation. Tomorrow's game is the first start for Wily Peralta, which hopefully will be a sign of good things to come.
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