Milwaukee is coming off of a loss, but an overall series victory of the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park and now embark on one of the strangest roadtrips of the season as they play two in New York against the Mets and then two in Houston against the Astros. Just like the series this preview will be short and sweet.
Team Standings:
Milwaukee: 15-19 (4th in NL Central – 5GB)
Mets: 19-15 (3rd in NL East – 2.5GB)
Pitching Matchups:
Monday: RHP Yovani Gallardo (2-3, 5.35 ERA) vs. RHP Miguel Batista (0-1, 5.89 ERA)
Tuesday: RHP Zack Greinke (3-1, 3.35 ERA) vs. RHP Dillon Gee (2-2, 4.78 ERA)
Notes & Thoughts:
If you only look at the ERA’s of Gallardo and Batista you’d assume this would be a high scoring affair tonight, but a closer examination of Gallardo’s numbers tell a very interesting story so far in 2012. If you take out the two starts against St. Louis Gallardo is pitching with an ERA of 2.45. His ERA against the Cardinals is a whole 22.24. So if that kind of pattern continues expect Gallardo to be lights out.
Don’t look for a ton of bombs in this series either as both teams aren’t that great with the long ball at the moment and Citi Field isn’t exactly the best hitters park in the world either. They only average 1.19 HR’s per game at home and while the Brewers rank 2nd in the NL in HR’s as a team (38) this isn’t the place to expect a ton from them in that department.
It’s frustrating to watch Corey Hart when he’s off, but man is it ever fun to watch that guy when he’s on or what? I thought as soon as Hart his that double off the top of the wall on Friday that we were about to see the good part of Hart’s hitting streaks and overall I’d say he’s on the upswing right now, so that bodes well for these short roadtrips.
New York is coming off of a six game roadtrip against NL East foes Philadelphia and Miami where they went 4-2 thanks to a sweep of the Phillies. However, not all is rosy in Metropolitan land these days as they are in search of a closer with Frank Francisco being pulled from that role thanks to giving up two saves and eventual loses in the past three games for the Mets.
The key for Milwaukee will be getting out to fast starts against the Mets because once again the bullpen hasn’t exactly been lockdown for the Brew Crew. Just thinking of Vinny Chulck getting bombarded for hit after hit after hit makes me want to throw up all over again.
Predictions:
Last series I previewed I didn’t do to bad, just had Friday and Sunday flipped around in terms of results, but that ended up giving my predictions a 1-2 record instead of 2-1. Anyway, this is a much shorter series, so let’s see how I see it shaping up.
Monday: Give me Gallardo anytime he’s not starting against the Cardinals as of late, but in general I’ll take Gallardo in any matchup, including one against a very hot Mets team. Batista is making only his second start in the Mets rotation and the first one didn’t exactly go as planned, so I’ll take that as a good sign for Braun and Co. to really get going.
Tuesday: The Brewers haven’t exactly been awesome on the road this season, but again, I like the pitching matchups in this short series as the Brew Crew avoid the top of the Mets rotation and as a result I’m giving the Brewers a rare road sweep in the series.
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