J-Rod's 6th Post: "State of the Brewers: It's a long season..."

Calm down Brewers fans, we're only 81 innings into the 2009 season.

Of course a 3-6 overall record and 2-4 mark at home isn't exactly the position we had hoped to be after nine games, but, considering that we're only 0.055% into the season, it's hardly the time to panic.

Consider this:

1)Apart from the 7-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on April 9, the Brewers have had a legitimate chance to win every game. The Crew could easily have two more W's minus a blown save by fill-in closer Carlos Villanueva on April 11 against the hated Chicago Cubs and a six-run third inning meltdown by Yovani Gallardo this past Monday against the Cincinnati Reds. While a 5-4 record would look nice...peek around the rest of the league and you'll see the Boston Red Sox sitting at 3-6, the Minnesota Twins at 4-6, the defending American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays at 4-5, and the Arizona Diamondbacks at 3-6. Come October, I still expect at least two of these teams to be sitting atop their respective divisions.

2) Our starting pitching has been pathetic. It's hard to believe we're only third-to-last in the Major Leagues in walks allowed with 43 (only the Braves & Indians have been worse!). It's one thing to put guys on base, but when you start walking consecutive batters with the bases loaded, now we have a problem....*cough* Jeff Suppan. But once this bunch starts pounding the strike zone and gives the team a better chance to win ballgames, things will get interesting.

3) We rank #28 in hitting! Really, if Mike "I swear I'm off the juice" Cameron hadn't gotten off to the start that he has, we'd rank dead last. Check out these batting averages: Prince Fielder (.200), JJ Hardy (.156), Ryan Braun (.212), and Jason Kendall (.120). Manager Ken Macha said it best before yesterday's game in stating that it's evident a lot of these guys are trying to start the year off with a "bang" and are simply swinging at bad pitches. Once these guys settle down and let the game come to them, this offense will give a lot of opposing pitchers' nightmares.

I predicted before the season this team would finish with an 84-78 record, which should put them in the race for the Division (if the Cardinals come back to Earth) or Wild Card come October. Look for GM Doug Melvin to pull the trigger again this season at the trading deadline & make a move for a Jake Peavy-type impact in order to keep the fanbase excited & season attendance again near the 3 Million mark.

But more importantly, Mallards Opening Day is only 45 days, 21 hours, and 24 minutes away....