So the Brewers are off to a nice 2-2 start. Looking at just the first series against the Rockies they took 2 of 3 from a playoff team. It was great to see the Brewers come out flying but I have some concerns about what I saw during that series. Of course I’m being a little picky but these are issues that need to be worked out if this team really wants to make the playoffs.

Yovani’s pitch count

I really like Gallardo and think he is an ace type pitcher. My one knock on him last year was he threw too many pitches and would tend to walk guys too much. On opening day he only walked two, which was great to see. He still threw 109 pitches in only 6 innings which means he’s still going deep into counts. I paid close attention during that game and noticed he seemed to always start behind in the count. He just didn’t seem to get ahead of guys on a regular basis like an ace should do. Ubaldo Jimenez was up 0-1, 1-2 on almost every hitter it seemed like. He attacked the zone early and put the hitters in defense mode the rest of the at-bat. I have plenty of faith in Gallardo and I’m not trying to say he’s not going to be an ace this year, he will be. I just would like to see our ace go deeper into games and start attacking hitters. He needs to impose his will on the hitters and make it into the 7th and 8th inning on a regular basis.

Edmonds in the 5 hole??

I talked about my issues with the constant lineup changes in a previous blog and hoped to see a more consistent lineup this year. So what does Macha do on to start the season? Throw a wrench into the whole thing and move McGehee to the 6th spot in favor of Edmonds? It made no sense to me and I’m hoping it is not a sign of things to come. Macha needs to just let the players settle into their spots in the lineup and let them hit. While I’m not thrilled with the way the lineup is set Macha just needs to let it be. Edmonds has done a great job working counts and seeing pitches but he’s not a threat like McGehee is. McGehee is going to put the ball in play and make you pay if put runners on in front of him. Edmonds still strikes out too much to really make a team second guess walking Prince. Let McGehee drive in runs and protect Prince. Edmonds can work the counts and frustrate pitchers as they’re trying to get through the bottom of the order.

Defense behind the plate?

I like Zaun and Kottaras a lot and think it’s a nice upgrade over last year but they’ve not looked sharp blocking balls. Zaun had the blunder on opening day that cost the brewers an early run. I couldn’t tell but there should have been more communication from Gallardo or McGehee showing Zaun where the ball was but you can’t let that happen. Kottaras allowed two balls to get by him in his one game. This is a disturbing trend in just the first three games. I’m going to chalk it up to new catchers getting used to new pitchers and hope it’s just that. They’ve done a great job throwing runners out which is something we didn’t see last year. Now they just need to keep pitches in front of them and not allow runners to get free bases. It also does not allow a pitcher to throw their best breaking stuff. They might worry if they put one in the dirt it’s going to the backstop and the runners will move up 90 feet. A pitcher cannot have that thought in their head as they pitch. They need to be able to trust their catcher to make a play when need be.

Of course there is a lot to get excited about from what we’ve seen so far this year. I just remember last year when we got off to that great start and everyone was talking playoffs again, I know I was. We ignored small issues that could have came back to hurt us later int he season. As the season moved along those issues (lack of depth and Suppans struggles) really slowed us down and derailed our season. Yes it’s early in the season and I normally don’t put too much stock into the first couple series as a sign of things to come. Now is the time to figure out what we have and what needs. Let’s not wait until we hit that first slump and we act surprised about some of the Brewers struggles. We figure them out now we limit the length and amount of slumps the Brewers will hit during the year.

-Ross

Random Baseball Thought

So something very interesting happened on Opening Day this year that has never happened in the history of the game. Ian Stewart became the first player in the history of the game to hit a home run in his first at-bat on his birthday, on opening day. Yes this is an obscure pointless stat but it’s a reason I love baseball. The game has been around for over 100 years and still every year you’ll see things that have never happened.