Are the Brewer pitchers deliberately scuttling the season?

Is this an organized attempt by the Brewer pitching staff to give this once promising Brewer season a Viking funeral? Because no group of allegedly Major League quality pitchers can really be this bad for this long unless they were deliberately setting out to be bad. Their numbers are laughable.

In the last 30 days the Brewers have lost 18 of 27 games and have seen their season fall apart. During that time, the pitching staff has an ERA of 6.14, last in the National League. They have given up 188 runs, last in the National League by a staggering 27 runs! I'm not finished. They have a batting average against of .305, last in the National League. They have an on-base average against of .375, last in the National League. They have a staff WHIP of 1.76, last in the National League. And they are yielding more than 11 hits a game, dead last in the National League. How can they possibly be this bad?

Now we got trouble

After blowing another large lead and losing to the Reds 7-6 to end a disastrous homestand, the Brewers are swimming upstream for sure. Now they have to go on the road, where they have been awful, and play the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been sensational. This could get much uglier before it gets any better.

On the other hand, I've seen this Brewer team lift their play when faced with dire adversity. And brother, they're facing dire adversity. Maybe they'll do it again. One possible note of hope. The Dbacks are not that strong offensively. But I'm sure the Brewers room service pitching staff will take care of that.

Proving my point

A couple of days ago I said how embarrassing it was that the Brewers are making such a monster deal out of their runner-up 1982 team. I said it was essentially the sign of a loser. I said that the Packers try to bury the memory of their second place finishes, not commemorate them, because second place is a disappointment to a championship organization. Check out the print they are selling at the Packer Hall of Fame. Notice anything missing?

Sheets on the road back

Ben Sheets, a man who is suddenly being prophesied as the savior of the season, has finally been cleared to take his first steps on the road back. He is throwing a simulated game tomorrow.

That's all real good, and I'm just as excited as anyone to see Sheets come back, but I think its a little ironic that everyone is counting so much on a guy who has shown that his one fatal weakness is he can't be counted on.

Does Melvin value defense at all?

The other day I was thinking that the long term plan at third base is not Ryan Braun. Its too important a position and he is too hopeless a defender. Shift him to the outfield and let the next prospect in line take over. Then I found out in this morning's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the next prospect in line is a guy (Matt Gamol) who has somehow compiled 50 errors, that's right Five Oh, in just over 100 games. It is really, really hard to be that bad. I'm convinced he must have been using a frying pan instead of a glove. So much for giving the position to him. We could put a trained seal at the hot corner and get a better fielding percentage than that.