W: Jamie Moyer (5-2)
L: Randy Wolf (3-3)
PHI HR: Ryan Howard (6), Raul Ibanez (3), Chase Utley (9)
MIL HR: Prince Fielder (5), Jim Edmonds (3), George Kottaras (3)
Fourth loss in a row, and the 9th home loss in 10 games. Since taking the season-opening series against the Colorado Rockies, the Brewers are 2-13 at Miller Park.
Aggravating? You bet.
Take a look at the teams the Brewers have lost home series to this year: they lost 2 of 3 to St. Louis, but had a legitimate chance to win that series if it weren’t for Nick Stavinoha. The sweep at the hands of the Cubs was embarrassing, especially since Chicago’s bats were still in hibernation before facing Brewers pitching. They lost 2 of 3 to the Pirates, but also had legitimate chances to win all three of those games before Hoffman blew saves on back-to-back days. The sweep at the hand of the Braves was equal parts great pitching from Atlanta and a burnt out bullpen that could no longer shoulder 4 innings a game.
Friday night, the Brewers just happened to be playing the best team in the National League, and one of the 5 best teams in the entire league. Honestly, I’m not expecting a win in this series. I’m glad the offense wasn’t completely dead against Jamie Moyer.
If there’s one thing to worry about, though, it’s the attitude of the players is already starting to change. Check out some of the comments from Prince after the game:
“I guess we need to get more timely hits. Yup, we just have to keep getting more hits. Just try to outscore the other team. That’s all we can try to do and unfortunately we came up a little short.”
There was a hint of sarcasm in his words there. He later added this:
“Unfortunately, it’s always the offense that gets blamed. I think we have to keep doing what we’re doing. We scored five runs tonight. Tomorrow, hopefully, we get more than they do.
“I think we just need to keep doing our job, keep hitting the ball, try to play good defense and see what happens. After that, it’s out of our control.”
To me, that sounds a lot like Ryan Braun‘s comments last year after the Brewers got blown out in Chicago. The offense is getting frustrated because no matter what they do, the Brewers haven’t had a chance to win. While the offense struggled against the Braves, if the Brewers were going to win any of those games they would’ve had to score in double digits. That’s a lot of burden to carry.
I joked last night about petitioning Bud Selig to play the rest of the games on the road, but it might not be a bad idea (alright, still kind of joking). There’s some bad mojo going on in the home clubhouse, and once things start to go sour, it’s extremely hard to get them going again… especially when your opponent is so much better than you.
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