The Milwaukee Brewers were the first team to ten wins this season.
Though the St. Louis Cardinals phenomenal young pitching has since cooled them off, the Brewers were enjoying a nine-game winning streak that started when they swept the Boston Red Soxs at Fenway Park– that series alone was a great achievement. They followed that up by trouncing the Philadelphia Phillies, who are themselves a decent team thus far, and swept divisional rivals Pittsburgh Pirates last weekend.
The Cardinals won two out of the three games in the recent series, giving Milwaukee a reality check. Coming up are series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, and then the San Diego Padres. The Pirates vs. Brewers series looks to be a great one with two evenly matched teams with great pitching and solid offenses. The Padres series may be a bit more manageable and restart another win streak.
Current record aside, I love what the Brewers are doing and I believe they can stay hot in their division. The reason for their early success comes from an underrated pitching staff. Some may have forgotten that Yovani Gallardo has won 12 or more games for five consecutive seasons; he is no slouch. Kyle Lohse was a nice, late pick-up last season; he pitched well for the Brewers in 2013 and is off to a nice start again. Matt Garza, Marco Estrada, and Wily Peralta have pitched well also, rounding out a sturdy workmanlike rotation.
Their bullpen is also pretty nasty, filled with young pitchers who are hardly household names: Will Smith, Jim Henderson, Brandon Knitzler, and Francisco Rodriguez who is already 4 for 4 in saves this season, Tyler Thornburg has been the least effective and he even has a 0.93 ERA and has 12 strikeouts with no walks.
However, without some offense, the solid pitching staff wouldn’t be as noticeable. This team has some power too, Carlos Gomez is leads the team with four home runs, and a batting average well above .300. Aramis Ramirez has been on fire driving in 13 runs and Ryan Braun may not have repeated his three home run night, but he has driven in 10. Jonathan Lucroy may not win the MVP trophy, but he gets on base and is a consistent offensive threat.
Returning to the big issue with the Brewers that will make people root against them, and the home fans embrace them even more. I’m talking about Ryan Braun.
Love or hate him, Ryan Braun improves this team. For opponents of Ryan Braun, I understand your disdain for the man. He cheated; he lied about it, and tried to destroy an innocent man’s reputation. Those actions are deplorable, but I believe Braun has tried to apologize harder than any other baseball player caught in a steroid scandal, so far.
Look at Alex Rodriguez, would you rather have a guy who did wrong, apologized, worked hard to make things right even to the guy he tried to ruin, or do you want someone who blatantly denies everything and tries to mount lawsuit after lawsuit to ensure an already embarrassing situation for baseball becomes much worse? I’m not going to stand up and cheer for Ryan Braun, but neither will I rip him apart, if he proves he is clean and continues to repair his image, then let that be the end of it,
The Brewers may cool off some, but if you disregard them, you may wind up sorely mistaken. The Brew Crew, if healthy, can be a force to reckon with all season long.
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