First Half Therapy

Hey there kids. With the first half of the season in the books, I figured its fine time to jump back in this blog of dreams. Captain Fantastic,the inspiration for NBC's Philanthropist , has yet to return from his latest charitable effort in Detroit in which he donated t-shirts to parking garage attendants. But KP and I will march along nonetheless.

Now to the matter at hand: What the fuck is wrong with the Brewers? I offer a few theories:
1. Rickie Weeks' absence is killing our offense and general functionality
2. The bullpen is overworked and losing their effectiveness
3. Dave Bush hasn't worn his bling in awhile
4. Bill Hall locked the batting cage keys inside the cage
5. Too many day games for Braun's pretty eyes

Theory the first: I think Rickie's absence has proven to be the biggest story of the first half, with the addition of "Trevor Time" ranking second. While Rickie's injury was bemoaned for a few days after the injury, it's effects will linger until the end of the season. For the first 34 game with Rickie leading off, the Brewers were 23-14 and cruising along with a 5 game win streak. Since May 17, the Crew is 20-26 and depressing Brewers nation more than the economy. With Rickie, the team averaged 5.14 runs per game. Without: 4.39. I'm a big believer in team confidence/swagger/gusto/testicular fortitude (it's ok, it's a wrestling link) and Rickie appeared to embody the team's swelling confidence. Number 23 was proving commentators wrong with his swing, just as the team was shaking off low expectations and steamrolling through the NL Central. You'd think Ryan Braun would have enough swagger to cover for Rickie, but this pre-all star break swoon proves otherwise.

Sure, without Rickie's injury, rookie of the year candidate Casey Megahee would be Mike Rivera-ing, Bill Hall would still be our 1st 3B option and Gamel would be in Sean Whalen-ville. But the stability Rickie was providing at the top of the lineup and at 2B was superb. Maybe the entire team was just overachieving and the shitty play since then was just a coindidence. Oh well.

2. Bullpen worries. The rate at which the Brewers are pulling up rag-arms from the minor leagues is alarming. Remember how often Claudio Vargas pitched past the 5th inning? It was more rare then laughing at a Dane Cook movie. Well, he was the only pitcher you had to worry about not pitching deep into a game with a surrounding rotation of Sheets, Capuano, Bush, a young Yovanni and Suppan. And the bullpen (mostly Villanueva) STILL got worn out by the end of the season. Many will argue that Ned mishandled the bullpen, but I'd rather fault the starting pitching. Seven inning starts are practically forbidden over the last few weeks and the bullpen is suffering. If I were paid to do this, I would look up the bullpen ERA for each month, but I have naps and sandwiches to get to so just trust me. A once stalwart 'pen is bearing the brunt of Suppan and the gang's suckiness and now we have to keep calling up arms that have no business in the major leagues (i.e. Burns, Narveson, Smith). Ugh

3. Day games. Braun took it upon himself to voice the team's concerns about the apparently crippling shadows of Miller Park on day games a few weeks ago. This immediately struck me as an idiotic thing to say. Heartthrob Gord Ash succinctly countered those sentiments with a legitimate concern: "You hope it doesn't become a mental thing". Braun seems to have a major leadership role with the Brewers so if he's complaining about things that he can't control, the other players are probably buying it...which sucks. A look at the numbers is slightly reassuring...
In home games played before 3:05pm, the Brewers are 6-7 scoring 42 runs, with 62 scored against them. The record's ok, but getting outscored by 20 runs in 13 games shows you that teams are able to hit in the shadows, but that team does not play for Ken Macha.


So that's my two cents. I'm pissed and utterly disappointed in this team, especially after the recent squabbling between Braun and Melvin. Braun wasn't that out of line in calling out his pitchers (they're human and they suck), but calling out Doug Melvin for not making a trade is mindless. When Doug pulled the trigger for Sabathia last year, the team showed the potential to do some damage with one final piece. This year, if ol Doug makes a move of any significance, they may finish at .500. It's depressing, but prospects appear more valuable now than Javier Vazquez no matter what fan favorite Michael Hunt claims.

I hope I'm wrong about all of these things. I hope Braun's media mayhem sparks the team as it did after the sweep in Boston last year. I hope Corey Hart finds his swing again and I desperately hope the pitching rotation finds a groove like they did before Rickie's injury....but all signs point to a sub-.500 second half and a boring September. Go Packers.

Peace, Love & Gap,
Chuckie