Bill Batterman is the When the Reds visited Miller Park for a four-game series on April 20th, the Brewers had just completed a 3-6 road trip and had seen their season-opening five-and-oh record dwindle to just a game over .500 at 8-7. Cincinnati proceeded to take three-of-four from the home team and Milwaukee fell below the break-even point for the first time in 2006. Cincy, meanwhile, left town riding high at 12-7 and won eleven of their next 16 to establish an early lead in the National League Central.
In the month that has passed since the two teams’ first get-together, the Brewers have rebounded and consistently hovered near the .500 mark despite a rash of injuries that have shelved starters Ben Sheets and Tomo Ohka and shortstop J.J. Hardy. Now 23-21, the Crew sits in fourth place in the division and six games behind the front-running Cardinals. After opening the month with a four-game losing streak, the Redbirds have won twelve of their last 15 and now sport the best record in the National League, bested only by the surprising Tigers for the top spot in the Majors. The Reds have struggled to keep pace with Albert Pujols and his supporting cast but at 25-19 are alone in second place and just four back of St. Louis despite losing seven of their last ten including three consecutive series against the Phillies, Pirates, and Tigers.
The Reds’ offensive onslaught has slowed down considerably after a torrent start and the team ranks just 14th in the NL in runs scored during May. Despite mashing 24 homers during that span (good for fifth in the league), the Reds have batted just .243 as a team and are in the bottom third in slugging. Surprisingly, it has been the club’s pitching that has kept their record respectable. After posting a collective 4.85 ERA in April, the staff has improved by nearly a full run in May (3.96) while decreasing their gopher ball rate from one every 21.2 at-bats to one every 32.3, a remarkable improvement that has dropped opposing teams’ OPSes from an embarrassing 831 to a more-than-respectable 726.
The Brewers have followed the opposite course, making up for sub-par pitching performances with an offensive explosion that has continued into May. After tallying 5.32 runs per game and an 829 team OPS in April, the reincarnated Harvey’s Wallbangers have fallen off their early-season pace only slightly, plating 4.9 runs per contest in May while posting an 804 OPS. Milwaukee leads all of baseball in home runs with 65 and is second to the Blue Jays with a .473 slugging average.
Unfortunately, the team’s pitching staff has failed to do its part. With the aforementioned injuries to Sheets and Ohka forcing Ben Hendrickson and Dana Eveland into the rotation, the Crew’s hurlers have managed an abysmal 5.34 ERA and 1.51 WHIP during May, both second-worst in the NL ahead of only the glorified Triple-A team in Florida. Hendrickson, demoted on Monday to Nashville, combined with Eveland to allow 35 hits, 16 walks, and 26 earned runs during 22 and two-thirds innings this month, good for a double-digit ERA and a WHIP of nearly two and a quarter.
While Pujols has swatted a ridiculous 22 home runs, both the Brewers and Reds have received formidable tater totals from sluggers Carlos Lee and Adam Dunn, whose 15 bombs put them in a tie for second place in the National League along with Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Delgado. Lee’s 968 OPS is bested only by Bill Hall among Brewers regulars while Dunn leads the Reds with his 944 mark. Given Great American Ballpark’s well-deserved reputation for surrendering the longball (the stadium has thus far allowed home runs at a rate 18 percent above the Major League average in 2006), the bleacher bums in Cincinnati should have plenty of opportunities to grab a souvenir.