'Pen Strikes Again

I'm a bit frustrated today, and don't have much positive to say. Once again, the Brewers blew an opportunity to capitalize on losses by St. Louis and Cincinnati. Or should I say Geremi Gonzalez blew it? Or Derrick Turnbow blew it? I keep hearing so much about how lousy the team plays on the road, but after the last two games, I'm wondering how many of those road losses were actually lost by the bullpen, as opposed to just generally bad play by the team as a whole.

Something has got to give with Turnbow. I like the guy, don't get me wrong, and I'm not one to start ripping on a player after one bad outing. But he's blown every save opportunity he's had in July. His ERA for July is 29.70, and his regular season ERA has ballooned to 5.54. He keeps saying that he's worked out whatever mechanical difficulty he was having, but his stats tell a different story. The powers that be keep saying "he's our closer" and keep trotting him out there. And he keeps blowing it. This must change.

I used to know, without a doubt, when Turnbow came in, game over, Brewers win. But now, it's almost automatic to assume he's gonna blow it. Ned has to do something different. Throw Turnbow in only when we have a bigger lead. Let Matt Wise pitch in close games. Let Jose Capellan give it a shot. Seriously, could it get much worse? Doug Melvin said we wouldn't think of trading Carlos Lee unless we went into a major tailspin. Well, I'd say at least a minor spin is upon us.

Getting the starting rotation back in order obviously wasn't as big as a deal as everyone made it out to be. Tomo Ohka looked great on Tuesday. He did his job. He was the exact same pitcher we had before his injury. He doesn't have explosive stuff, but he gets the job done.

So why didn't we win? This is what we were waiting for, right? To get our starters back? Well it doesn't do a damn bit of good to have great starters if the bullpen is going to come in and piss away the lead. In my humble opinion, it's not so much the starting rotation that needs examination right now. Something has got to be done about the bullpen situation.

It also appears to me that Geoff Jenkins hits infinitely better in the 7th spot than he does in the 3rd. I don't know if there's less pressure on him, or he gets better pitches or what, but he seemed to be much more consistent when he was lower in the lineup. That change worked for Brady Clark. He wasn't doing well in the leadoff spot, but he started doing much better in the 8 spot.

I can't even rip on Rickie Weeks anymore, because he finally got his head of out his butt and started playing some damn good defense. (knock on wood!) The offense is still inconsistent, but blowing a 6-1 lead is just unacceptable. That's something the Cubs would do. Come on, guys. You're better than that!

At this point, any and all suggestions are welcome, because something has to be done if the Brewers are going to have any chance of contending this season.