Brewers-Cardinals Preview (4/28-4/30)

Brewers previews to get you ready for the series where we have five things to watch, pitching matchups and prediction. We add a YouTube video in the mix, it could be really anything.   

Pitching Matchups & TV Time
Monday:      Yovani Gallaro (2-0 1.42) vs. Michael Wacha (2-2 2.10)  7:15 pm FSNWI
Tuesday:      Kyle Lohse (4-1 2.38) vs. Lance Lynn (4-1 3.30)             7:15 pm FSNWI
Wednesday: Matt Garza (1-2 4.09 vs. Shelby Miller (2-2 2.86)          12:45 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1. No Braun? No Segura, how ugly could it get? - There will probably be no Ryan Braun for three-game series, Jean Segura is missing tonight at least so it could get pretty nasty for the Crew. They struggled mightily without Segura and Braun yesterday with Jason Hammel, and it could get even worse with the three strong young starters from St. Louis. Although you never know with baseball meaning this could be a big week for Jonathan Lucroy if you do play fantasy baseball getting more chances or even grabbing Jeff Bianchi if you are desperate as he will see more plate appearances.

2. Shhh but St. Louis has zero offense right now - Besides the 7-0 blowout of Pittsburgh yesterday afternoon and an 8-0 drubbing of Washington last week, the Cardinals have 15 runs in nine games.  That's not great. Their offense is scuffling to say the least, and even despite their success against Milwaukee throughout the years, it is not like their offense is humming right now. It is weird too because four of the big hitters on St. Louis' team are hitting the ball reasonably well, but none of their secondary players are contributing right now.

3. Yovani's stale Busch success - In the last three years, Yovani has been abysmal against St. Louis and even more terrible when pitching at Busch Stadium. He allowed 42 runs in 53 games yielding an ERA of a little over seven. He has given up 15 home runs against St. Louis which is the most against any team in that same three-year span. Yovani battled a demon already in Boston, and he will attempt to do it again at Busch tonight with this one being a bigger demon. The first time through the order will be the big thing. If Yovani goes scoreless through the first two or three innings, he could be on his way to exorcising this one. If he did, that would be HUGE moving forward with this team.

4. Expecting the blown save - This sounds horrible, but I am waiting for Francisco Rodriguez to blow a save. I am not ready to live in a world where he blows only one or two saves. I mean it could happen as J.P. said in Angles In the Outfield, but at some time, it would have to come to the end. This would be a brutal series to blow a save because honestly, the expectation is maybe one win for the Brewers so if Frankie blows one or two this week, it would be a huge disappointment.

5. Lance Lynn and Shelby Miller, the Sequel - OH NOT THESE GUYS AGAIN. Both Lynn and Miller were awesome against the Brewers at Miller Park, and now they return to face the same order sans Braun and Segura at Busch Stadium. In two starts after his Brewers start, Lynn has only allowed three runs in 12 innings. As for Miller, he hasn't allowed a run since giving up a home run to Aramis Ramirez so this will probably end well for the Brewers.

Appropriate YouTube Video


Let's go with Dumb and Dumber. I feel terrible about this series, worse than I did against Boston so this works. Let's try to win one here, boys.

Prediction 
I am expecting a sweep. I told a guy at the bar on Saturday night if the Brewers lose all three of them adding the loss on Sunday, they are still eight games above .500 and still have a 1.5 game lead on St. Louis. Also this great note from J.P. Breen

In 2011, the #Brewers did not finish above .500 against the #Cardinals, yet the team won 96 games and won the NL Central crown.
— J.P. Breen (@JP_Breen) April 28, 2014

Charlie.