W: Ryan Dempster (1-0)
L: Doug Davis (0-1)
CHC HR: Xavier Nady (1), Jeff Baker (2), Aramis Ramirez (2)
MIL HR: Ryan Braun (2)
After Doug Davis struggled through 4+ innings in his first start of the season, I thought he had nowhere to go but up. Boy, was I wrong.
It’s early in the season and Davis still has plenty of time to turn things around, but it’s safe to say the first two starts of his return to Milwaukee have been a disaster. He couldn’t even get through the 4th inning today against the Cubs, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits (and two home runs allowed). This time, the bullpen wasn’t able to bail him out — Claudio Vargas gave up a 2-run home run of his own, and Chris Narveson allowed another. After the game, Tom Haudricourt had comments from Davis about his rough start (in a nutshell: he knows he’s stunk). Jack Moore also has a breakdown of Davis’ performance today over at Disciples of Uecker (one of the best names for a Brewers blog I’ve ever seen, by the way).
The poor pitching wasted Ryan Braun’s best game of the season — he went 2-for-4 with a 3-run home run that made the score 8-4 in the top of the 5th, but that’s as close as the Brewers would get. The Cubs would get their run back in the bottom half of the inning, although Braun would add a fourth RBI in the 7th inning.
Gregg Zaun went 0-for-4, still leaving him hitless for the season (Adam McCalvy noted that Zaun’s slump is nearing Brad Nelson range), although he did hit the ball hard at least once. Jim Edmonds went 0-for-3 with two walks and two strikeouts in his second straight game of stealing playing time from Carlos Gomez starting in centerfield.
Dave Bush takes the mound against Randy Wells on Wednesday, and with Jeff Suppan starting the series finale, it may be the last chance for the Brewers to get a win in this series.
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