Gallardo’s “Best” Game: April 29, 2009 vs. the Pirates

Reports first surfaced in the middle of the NFC Championship game that a trade was in the works to send Yovani Gallardo to the Texas Rangers.  Yesterday, it became official: Gallardo is on his way to the Lone Star State in exchange for three players, two of which were Top 20 prospects in the Rangers organization.  At first blush, it seems to be an “everyone wins” scenario: the Rangers get a top-of-the-rotation starter, the Brewers get bench/bullpen help, and Gallardo gets to work closer to where he grew up.

While the move makes sense for everyone involved, it’s tough to see Gallardo leave after eight years.  Gallardo wasn’t elite, but he had many more ups than downs, and was solidly above average the vast majority of his time as a Brewer (his only real bummer season was 2013).  For a club that is not well-regarded for developing its own pitching talent, Gallardo was a standout.

I wasn’t expecting the Gallardo era to come to an end.  When the Brewers exercised their club option on Gallardo a couple months ago, I figured he’d be around for at least the first half of 2015.  Now that he’s gone (and I suppose this means he won’t be at Brewers On Deck as originally planned), it puts me in the mood to reminisce.  It’s obviously difficult and inherently subjective to try and pin down one player’s “best” game in eight years, but it’s fun to think about.

Gallardo had four complete games from 2009-2011, including the Brewers’ first victory of their 96-win NL Central champion season.  Also in 2011, he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in St. Louis – his only victory against the goddamn Cardinals.  Speaking of good games against St. Louis, although Gallardo didn’t get the victory his duel with Chris Carpenter on Memorial Day 2009 is still fondly remembered by many of us.

Some of Gallardo’s postseason starts would surely be in the conversation about his best game.  After sitting out most of the 2008 season with a torn ACL, Gallardo came back to start Game 1 of the NLDS in Philadelphia.  He only went four innings and gave up three unearned runs, but no one could doubt his moxie.  Of course, his eight-inning, one-run performance against Arizona in Game 1 of the 2011 NLDS was exceptional.  Gallardo wasn’t too shabby in Game 5 of that series either.

All those games were brilliant in their own ways, but if I had to choose (I don’t, but let’s pretend) my vote for Gallardo’s single best performance would be a mid-week afternoon game in the first month of the season many years ago: April 29, 2009 vs. the Pirates at Miller Park.

Gallardo’s pitching line from that game by itself is pretty impressive: eight innings, two hits, no runs, 11 strikeouts.  But what really made that game special was that Gallardo also hit a solo homerun in the seventh inning.  It would be the only run scored in a 1-0 Brewers’ win.

On an 0-2 count, no less!  Doesn’t watching it in standard definition make you feel young again?  I vaguely recall reading a comment on JSOnline that suggested a headline for the game story in the paper the next day: “1, Unassisted.”  I assume they didn’t take the commenter up on the suggestion, but that imagined headline perfectly captures how brilliant Gallardo was that day.

I’m guessing plenty of Brewers fans aren’t heartbroken about the Gallardo trade, especially if they remember the numerous starts where his pitch count got close to 100 before the end of the fourth inning.  I remember plenty of those, too, but I prefer not to dwell on them.  It’s so much more rewarding to think about games like April 29, 2009.  Because of those games, I’m sorry to see Gallardo go.

(Image: Associated Press)