Bill Batterman is the It is certainly not yet time to panic.
That said, it sure would be nice to notch a series win, something the Brewers haven’t done since the opening week of the season. Having lost three of four at home to the Reds in schizophrenic fashion, the Crew has a chance to navigate back toward their intended destination this week as they host the injury-plagued Braves, a team that has given the Brewers fits since Milwaukee moved to the National League in 1998.
Without the services of Chipper Jones, Edgar Renteria, and Marcus Giles, Atlanta has been able to remain afloat in the National League East thanks to a combination of equal parts Andruw Jones (.286/.342/.671) and a collection of everyone from role players (Pete Orr, Brian Jordan) and solid backups looking to establish themselves (Wilson Betemit) to youngsters getting their first taste of the big leagues (Tony Pena, Martin Prado) and budding stars who helped the team claim their 14th consecutive division title in 2005 (Brian McCann, Ryan Langerhans).
The Braves’ offense has been largely productive, ranking fifth in the NL in runs scored and seventh in OPS, but the Leo Mazzone-less pitching staff ranks just eleventh in ERA. The team split a rain-shortened two-game series in Washington over the weekend and will enter play on Monday at 9-9, three games back of the Mets and in second place in the NL East as they await the return of their talented core.
Despite a recent skid, meanwhile, the Brewers have moved all the way up to fourth in the National League in OPS, third in home runs, and seventh in runs scored. Even the team’s pitching, the subject of much consternation in recent weeks, has been mostly effective. Despite ranking tenth in ERA, the Crew’s hurlers have held opponents to the third-lowest OPS in the league and the starting rotation has racked up the most innings of any team in the senior circuit.
Spotty relief pitching and a lack of clutch hitting are the most common diagnoses for the Brewers’ woes, and each explanation has its merits.
As for the former, inconsistency has been a consistent problem in the bullpen, where the Brewers rank thirteenth in the league with a 5.30 ERA. Forced to rely on lesser hurlers in high-leverage situations, the Crew’s relief corps has nonetheless managed to limit their foes to a 743 OPS, tenth in the NL and a far cry from the bottom of the pack (opposing hitters have serenaded San Francisco’s relievers to the tune of a .336 batting average and 946 OPS, for example).
As for their performance in the clutch, the Brewers do indeed rank second-last in the NL with a .245 batting average with runners in scoring position but they have also managed a 764 OPS in those situations, good for ninth place and firmly in the middle of the pack. In close-and-late situations, in fact, the Brewers rank first in the NL with a .303 batting average and in 109 at-bats have OPSed 855, second only to Atlanta.
Neither explanation, it would seem, is entirely satisfactory. The intersection of some poor relief work, struggles in the clutch, and plain old bad luck has conspired to give the Brewers trouble during their ongoing stretch of 15 games in 15 days against some of the National League’s top teams. Thankfully, that scheduling quirk is nearly over and the team remains just a game under .500.
In other words, it’s still not time to panic. Not even close.