Big game, big home stand

July 7, 1:49 PMMilwaukee Brewers ExaminerJohn Buchel

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Milwaukee Brewers' Prince Fielder, right, celebrates with Mike Cameron after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Sunday, July 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The temptation before the big holiday weekend was, as usual, to claim the Brewers four-game set on Chicago’s Northside to be a big, important series. And it was — but the team will face bigger challenges before the All-Star break. 

The Brewers could have buried the Cubs under a 7-game deficit if they had swept all four games. Instead, they only took one, and rode back up I-94 in apparent disarray to face the division leading Cardinals. The commotion centers around National League All-Star Ryan Braun’s comments about the Cubs starting rotation being superior to the Brewers and the need for a personnel move to shore up the pitching staff — basically seen as calling out General Manager Doug Melvin. 

This is an interesting situation. Braun has previously made similar comments in his Brewers career. Fans remember mostly his “we didn’t believe we could win” rant after getting swept last May in Boston. The team then went on a 32-19 run to get back into the playoff hunt. Less memorable are the comments that came from Braun, Corey Hart and former manager Ned Yost after the team suffered a four-game sweep at the hands of the Phillies with two weeks left in the 2008 season. The team rallied together, and won seven of the final 12 games to secure a Wild Card berth. 

But in this case, Melvin has upped the ante, by returning fire on Braun for his comments, calling them “irresponsible.” The comments certainly will make the job of getting another starting pitcher in a trade harder for Melvin, by further revealing the Brewers already weak position in the trade market. Braun will certainly feel pressure to deliver. 

Thanks to Braun’s comments, another player will feel pressure to perform well, right now. A case could be made for Yovani Gallardo as an All-Star pitcher, based on the stats. Gallardo started another home game in which the Brewers limped home along I-94 to face the Cardinals after having a rival hand it to them all weekend. 

Gallardo gave up two hits and no runs through eight innings in that game. A tremendous effort, and the Brewers ended up winning in extra innings, 1-0. On Thursday, Gallardo struck out a career high 12 batters, but the rest of the team could not score a run and the team lost to the Mets, 0-1. If the Brewers had gotten it together during the first eight innings of the Memorial Day game, maybe Gallardo would have been awarded the win and not Villanueva in extra innings. If they had been able to score runs on Thursday, perhaps they could have run his record to 10-3, instead of 8-5, which could have earned him an All-Star bid. 

It’s time for Braun to back up his comments, and for the rest of the team to give Gallardo, its young ace, the run support he deserves as an All-Star quality pitcher.