Milwaukee Brewers

Certainly, it’s impossible to ignore the great start Mike Cameron has provided the Brewers in April and the early days of May during this season.

We shouldn’t ignore, however, the starts of three other Brewer hitters in the top third of qualified (3.1 PA/team game) NL position players by Value Wins this season.

Unsurprisingly to all Brewer fans, Ryan Braun is one of these three players.

After a rough start for the first two weeks of the season, the Milwaukee Brewers seem to be shaping up. Whether its from timely hitting or expert pitching, the Brewers seem to be finding a way win games in this young season. Could it be that the Brewers have an attitude of winning after making the postseason for the first time since 1982? Whatever it is, this young club has a different air about them than previous Brewers teams. In the past, it seemed to be that no matter how well they played, they would find a way to lose close or important games.

For anyone that still had doubt that Yovani Gallardo was capable of being an ace for a Major League team, I submit to you Gallardo's performance on Wednesday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Gallardo followed up his first career complete game in his last start against Houston by dominating the Pirates.

He pitched eight shutout innings, struck out a career-high 11 batters, and only gave up two hits. Oh yeah, he also hit his second home run of the season, which turned out to be the Brewers' only run in the 1-0 win.

New Vipers catcher Rick Guarno

Patrick Arlis, Calgary’s steady hand behind the plate last season, is moving on to pursue coaching interests in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Nothing the Brewers do to the Phillies this, or any other year, could quite make up for the four-game beat down last September or the ousting from the playoffs in four games. But seeing Braden Looper and Dave Bush pitch gems while Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder finally get a clue at the plate sure does leave a warm feeling in the heart. 

The Brewers finally won a series and put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Dave Bush flirted with a no-hitter and continued to look rock solid in the Brewers rotation.

Brewers manager Ken Macha entered this season stating that Jason Kendall would be the starting catcher, but Mike Rivera would get regular work, catching every time Dave Bush would take the mound.

It's time for Macha to amend that declaration and make the catching situation a full platoon position.

Jason Kendall has gotten off to a horribly slow start to the season, both in the batter's box and behind the plate. Kendall is batting only .129 in 10 games, while only slugging .161 with an on-base percentage of .243.

In the MLB you need starting pitchers to go deep into the game so you don't have to use the bullpen that much. Also you need a good offensive attack. Well the Brewers have the offense, just not the starting pitching.

If you look at last year's pitching we had Ben Sheets and a late trade to acquire stud CC Sabathia. 

I hoped I would never have to come to this conclusion, especially after their playoff berth in 2008, but the Brewers stink.

At 3-8, Milwaukee is already in the divisional cellar and searching for the light to get out but are not finding it.

I usually never admit that my team stinks, and I haven't said it about the Brewers since they really did stink, back in the early 2000's. But now I am left with no choice but to say it and not get my 2009 hopes up.