2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad

The Brewers finally managed to win on the road this week, taking two games of three from the hard hitting Cincinnati Reds. Of course, they played only three games on this road trip, but I'm focusing on the positive here.

And speaking of positive, how about Carlos Villanueva? I don't know if it was a fluke, beginner's luck, or the fact that there wasn't much in the way of a scouting report on him, but this kid kicked butt yesterday. Thank goodness we had a good start the day we were on national television!

Carlos threw six innings, gave up four hits, and no runs. No runs! In his first major league start. Starts don't get much more quality than that. Leave it to the rookies to show up the veterans yesterday. Reds rookie pitcher Elizardo Ramirez was on the mound for Cincy. It was a pitchers duel to the end, and their side won, unfortunately, when veteran pitcher Dan Kolb who gave up the game-winning home run to Adam Dunn.

But back to the positive. I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but it seems like the sinking ship that has been our pitching staff is starting to bail out the water and right itself. Newbie Zach Jackson was confident, aggressive and effective in his start, and Villanueva was just about lights out yesterday. If this continues, it means we will have a starting rotation that isn't rotating. It means we might have an effective starting rotation that can carry the team until Tomo Ohko and (if?) Ben Sheets return from the DL.

Couple this with the fact that Rick Helling is scheduled to make another rehab start tonight, meaning he could actually be back in the lineup on Tuesday. Again, I hate to get ahead of myself, but it seems things are looking up for the Brewer bullpen. (fingers crossed, knock on wood!)

I certainly hope that is the case as interleague play resumes this weekend when the Crew takes on the Cleveland Indians. These two teams seem to be pretty well matched. Both are three under .500, and are at about the same spot in the standings. Cleveland is 3rd of five teams in the their division, and we are 4th of six teams in ours.

The Brewers do seem to have one big advantage. The Indians don't play great on the road, and the Crew plays better at home. Cleveland is 13-19 on the road, and the Brewers are 21-15 at home. We have our most reliable pitcher on the mound tomorrow night (Chris Capuano for those of you who have been living under a rock the last couple of months), followed by Dave Bush on Saturday and Doug Davis on Sunday. Cappy will face CC Sabathia, Bush goes up against Jake Westbrook, and Davis takes on Paul Byrd.

The pitching seems fairly well matched up too. Sabathia is 5-2, 2.62 and Cappy is 6-4, 3.35. Bush is 4-6, 5.04 and Westbrook is 6-3, 4.77. Finally, Davis is 4-4, 5.07, while Byrd is 5-5, 4.81. (Technically, Zack Jackson should be up to pitch on Sunday, and is listed as the starting pitcher on Yahoo! sports, but I read in the Journal Sentinel that Jackson's start will be pushed back to Monday in order to keep Cappy, Dave and Doug on their normal rotation.)

At any rate, it should be a fun series. Friday night is autograph night, and Sunday is Cecil Cooper Bobblehead day, so come on out and cheer on our guys. Until next time, go Brewers!