On the night that he signed a franchise record $38.5 million contract that will keep him in Milwaukee through 2008, Brewers ace Ben Sheets experienced the same lack of support that made his breakout 2004 campaign so frustrating. Despite a 2.70 ERA and a Major League best 8.25 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the tenth-best in baseball history, Sheets posted a mediocre 12-14 record that earned him only a single vote in the National League Cy Young balloting. For that, Sheets can thank his mates; the Brewers scored an average of just 3.53 runs in games that he started, third-worst in all of baseball (in front of only fellow hard-luck hurlers Odalis Perez and Ryan Franklin), including four games in which they were shutout.

This season was supposed to be different. With newcomers Carlos Lee and Damian Miller swinging the stick from the third-base side of the plate and on-base whiz Brady Clark taking over in center and at the top of the order for steals-and-outs speedster Scott Podsednik, this edition of the Beer City ballclub was supposed to provide their ace right-hander with more offensive ammunition.

That certainly was the case on Opening Day as the Brewers thrashed the Pirates, 9-2. Since then, Sheets has made two consecutive starts in which his teammates have scored a grand total of zero runs, including Friday’s 3-0 shutout at the hands of the defending NL Champion Cardinals.

Apparently old habits die hard.

[Continue Reading at Brewerfan.net]