Yes, the NLCS was embarrassing it was a combination of every Brewers fan's biggest nightmare. The biggest concern all year was the inability of the Brewers to defend and that was on full display with the pitching staff's inability to miss any bats in the series. TBS' Ron Darling showed how little he knew about the Brewers when he blamed the defense on "being nervous". Without Carlos Gomez (who manager Ron Roenicke deemed only a defensive replacement against right handers) in CF, catcher Jonathon Lucroy is the only above average defender among the Brewers regulars and Fielder, Weeks, and Bettancourt are among the poorest defenders at their positions in the league.
The blame for the Brewers exit in six games goes beyond defense, only Randy Wolf notched a quality start, while Shawn Marcum set a record for highest ERA in a postseason and manager Ron Roenicke's decision to start Marcum in Game 6 met the qualification of insanity (doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result). The Brewers needed their starters to miss bats which they did consistently in the regular season, but against a powerful lineup like the Cardinals they were overmatched and in turn the defense proved what all Brewers fans knew they were (cue Denny Green).
The Brewers formula for success was power pitching and power hitting, but not only did the power pitching (most notably Gallardo and Greinke) fail to deliver in the NLCS so did the hitting. After a game 1 that saw the Brewers score 12 runs, they were never able to live up even half of that kind of production. The list of culprits is as long as the Brewers order as Corey Hart was essential benched for a game during the series and MVP candidates Braun (0-4 in game 6 and 0-4 in the series vs. Dotel) and Fielder (1-for his last 14 in the series) wilted when it mattered most. Manager Ron Roenicke's loyalty to Marcum put the Brewers in a hole in game 6 and his decision to start Kotsay in CF for game 3 was head scratching as well. I mentioned Roenicke's assessment of Gomez, which I also believe is a decision that will be proved incorrect in the future. Add it all up and it is hard to believe that the Crew was able to win two games in the series and there is no doubt the Cards deserved the trip to WS more than Milwaukee, but it was still a successful Brewers season.
In the offseason and at the deadline the Brewers and GM Doug Melvin made winning moves. As bad as Marcum was in the postseason, he was a key to their regular season division title. Marcum combined with Greinke, Gallardo, Wolf, and Narveson to lead the team to a 22-3 August where they played some of the best baseball the league has seen in years. With Prince Fielder in the final year of his contract, he played like a guy who wants to make 150 million and combined with the best player in the NL (Braun) to form the most potent 1-2 punch in baseball. Nyjer Morgan became a star, Corey Hart slugged from the leadoff spot and they survived a 2 month injury to All Star Rickie Weeks as K-Rod and John Axford anchored one of the top bullpens in the game. For a team that made a lot of changes in the offseason and was pegged as the third choice to win their division; 96 wins, a division title, and win the NL divisional round is a great season. If the Brewers would have lost to a 100 win Phillies team in the NLCS the focus would have been on a great regular season, but since the loss was to a division rival and a team that the Brewers finished 6 games ahead of during the season the focus has shifted to Milwaukee's deficiencies. There is a reason the Brewers haven't won this many games since 1982, winning baseball and Milwaukee don't go together, as time passes this team and season will rightfully be remembered as a success.
No comments:
Post a Comment