With the series tied at 2-2, Game 5 in St. Louis was huge. The winner only needs 1 more game to move on to the World Series while the loser is one loss away from packing their bags and calling it a season. If you understand anything at all then you know that it is in the Brewers best interest to win this game so they can head back to Miller Park for Game 6 with 2 chances to close the door and advance to the World Series for the first time since 1982. But the Brewers fell to the Cardinals by a score of 7-1 in a missed opportunity that could have solidified our chances for moving on. There's so many things to talk about here but I'll try to be brief. The Brewers failed on all 3 levels of this game - Pitching, Defense and Offense. It was just an ugly game all around.
First the pitching. Nothing against Zack Greinke (although I still hold a grudge against him for breaking his ribs playing basketball in Spring Training) but he shouldn't even have been pitching today. Greinke hasn't lost a game at Miller Park in 2011 and the Brewers also haven't lost a game when he has pitched. Wouldn't you want to take advantage of that and have him start Game 6? Ok you say, who then pitches Game 5? I would have brought Shaun Marcum back on 3 days rest for a few innings and backed him up with Chris Narveson. Why? Because Marcum on the road in 2011 was 8-3 with a 2.21 ERA (easily the best among all Brewers starters) but at home he was 5-4 with a 4.81 ERA (which was easily the worst among all Brewers starters). I hate to go by the numbers because I'm not a numbers guy, but isn't it obvious that he is better on the road? And since he would be pitching on 3 days rest (pitchers normally have 5 days rest between starts) you try to get 3 or 4 innings from him then 2 or 3 innings from Narveson to branch it to the bullpen. Why Narveson? Because (and I don't feel like looking up the stats but trust me) he has dominated the Cardinals in his career. Makes perfect sense by Roenicke didn't feel like that was a good plan obviously.
Defense and Offense. I've already typed more than I had planned on doing, but I'm too fired up right now to stop. But I know that this is too many words for you to read because you have the attention span that can only be measured in nanoseconds. The defense was the worst it has been all year and that is saying a lot about a defense that is absolutely horrendous. Yuni B, Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart all made really bad plays that directly lead to runs by the Cardinals. We knew going into the season that those players were going to do that and we would just have to live with it. But Jerry Hairston Jr. (filling in for the butcher on the field Casey McGehee) made an inexcusable error by letting a ground ball roll between his legs which lead to 2 runs in a 3 run inning that changed the momentum of the game and sealed the deal even though it was just the 2nd inning. But none of this really matters (seriously) if the "mighty" Brewers offense could muster up more than 1 run in game. I don't care how good your pitching staff is (like if Roy "Doc" Halladay was able to clone himself 4 times and have a 5 man rotation of him) you still aren't going to win a lot of games if you only score 1 GOD DAMN RUN! Our offense was supposed to be our strong point and be able to make up for any errors committed in the field or on the mound and they let us down. And that is why we lost the game.
I was an utter mess during this game in my "No Girls Allowed" Clubhouse. I was drunk, half naked, lying on the floor watching TV upside down while the room spinned. So forgive me if this post game video is a little on the weird side. For the first half I talked about Game 5 of the NLCS and did a little preview of Game 6 where Shaun Marcum would be pitching at home in an elimination game. And then things got weird as I went into Beast Mode, then Fat Teen Wolf Mode and then Sean Connery Mode. You have to see it to believe it.
Part One
Part Two
Now that you've had a moment to digest all of that information and the crazy that we call IC3, I'd like to hear some of your comments if you so chose to share. Hit me back below or give me some feedback on Facebook. I know that it doesn't look like it, but all of this takes a lot of time and effort and it always makes it worthwhile to know that someone out there is reading it and appreciates it. Let's face it, I work 2 jobs and this is almost a 3rd but I don't get paid for this one. This all comes from passion and my need to create. And like I said in the video please keep the positive thoughts going because this series is far from over despite it being an elimination game. The crowd at Miller Park has the ability to yell and cheer the Brewers to a Game 6 victory and force a decisive Game 7. There's a reason that we have such a good home field advantage this year and it's because of you - the fans. So keep up the good work Milwaukee and I'll see you on Sunday.
-IC3-
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