Brewers-Mets Preview (6/10-6/12)

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
Tuesday: Marco Estrada (5-2 4.19) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-0 3.21) 6:10 pm FSNWI
Wednesday: Wily Peralta (5-5 3.03) vs. Jacob deGrom (0-2 3.19) 6:10 pm FSNWI
Thursday: Kyle Lohse (7-2 3.27) vs. Jonathon Niese (3-3 2.68) 6:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Catching New York at the right time? - All the sudden, the bottom has sort of fallen out of the Mets season. They were hovering around the .500 mark after taking three of four from Philadelphia, but then they were swept by both Chicago and San Francisco resulting in a disappointing end to their road trip. Although, none of their losses have been blowouts by any means. Five out of the six games, New York lost by two or less runs with the only one being a three-run defeat. While New York is losing games, they could have easily won three or four of them becoming one of the warmer teams in baseball. Milwaukee shouldn't take them lightly despite the six-game losing streak

2.) Patience Brewers fans, late-game winners could be possible - These could be three really frustrating games for everyone involved in watching the Brewers. New York has the starting pitching to make them a a competitive team, but they have one of the worst, if not the worst bullpen in all of baseball. New York has only converted 56 percent of their save opportunities this season. That's barely half! This explains all of the close losses this season, and as someone whom watched Milwaukee's 2012 bullpen puke all over their shoes consistently, I can relate with Mets fans on this one. It is literally one of the worst things to watch as a fan. If New York finds an offensive breakout which is about as probable as me hitting it off with a supermodel,  all hope is not lost with the Mets bad bullpen. Brewers will get a chance to comeback if they do trail in a game this week.

3.) Ideal situation for Marco Estrada? - The last month has not been kind to Marco Estrada. On April 26th, Estrada had an ERA of 2.87 and now it is sitting around 4.19 with the Brewers starter giving up 16 runs in his last four starts. He needs a good start. Enter in the New York offense which has been anemic all season plus Citi Field is as big of a pitcher's park as we get in baseball. This seems like the door opening for Estrada to have a big start and start trending back down with his earned run average. Curious to see how he handles the pressure of Michael Fiers being up in the big leagues because we all know what the story will be tonight if Estrada struggles again.

4.) New York media and Ryan Braun - We have talked about a little bit on the podcast, but not really in the blogs yet how the media has been generally quiet on Ryan Braun. Although with the New York media involved this week, you have to figure Braun will see some attention. I don't know if we will get a scathing editorial or a good story on Braun yet I am curious to see if he is a part of the media's plan this week. My assumption would be unless he does something big in a game this week, it will probably be pretty tame. With New York Yankees being in Seattle this week, all of the New York media's focus can be on Braun taking on the Mets. I assume he will get some boos as well which we all know Braun uses as fuel to mash home runs.

5.) Can Milwaukee build a winning streak? - Brewers have a chance to go 13 games over .500 at some point in this series, and that would be their best record since their 20-7 mark at the end of April. They finally won two straight after alternating wins since last Tuesday. It is not a bad thing per say rather just annoying to toy with my emotions trying to decide whether this team is warming up or not. Honestly though, one more win and the team secures a .500 road trip which all you can ask for.

Appropriate YouTube video


KFC from Barstool Sports is one of the biggest Mets fans out there. He would be a good Twitter follow this week and for other purposes too, he also has a great podcast network. Here's a sample.

Prediction 
Brewers take two of three meaning the Mets break their streak at some time. Niese or deGroom will make the Brewers bats go silent, most likely deGroom.

Charlie.