That Sound You Hear...is Panic in Milwaukee

by Stan, Ghosts of Wayne Fontes

The air is starting to come out of the balloon in Milwaukee. When the Brewers woke up on Saturday morning they held a 3 game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. However, they are going to wake up on Monday (probably feeling like they have a serious hangover from a weekend bender), because the Cubs are now just a 1/2 game out of first place (actually a game better in the loss column).

Yes, the same Cubs that were nearly left for dead early in June. In fact, they trailed the Brewers by (8.5) games as recent as June 23rd. So, what happened? And can the Brewers really continue to hold off the inevitable? This Cubs team is clicking on all cylinders and appears poised for a hostile takeover.

What happened was the Brewers got comfortable and the Cubs got hot. It's the simple laws of nature in Baseball...it's a season of peaks and valley's. And it just so happened that both the Cubs and Brewers hit their respective turns at the complete opposite times. More ideal timing for the Cubs than the Brewers, obviously. Anyhow, far be it for me to make excuses and/or predictions.

Yet, I can explain several contributing factors that will play a part in the Brewers eminent collapse. And just for the record...here are a few reasons why the Brew Crew can start focusing on the wild card. Shit, I know I just jinxed the Cubs. Let's move on...

1. Pitching - Ben Sheets is on the DL. Chris Capuano hasn't won a game since friggin' May. Claudio Vargas and Dave Bush are totally hittable. And Jeff Suppan isn't intimidating anyone down the stretch. On the Cubs side of things, Ted Lilly is 7-0 in his last 8 starts and Carlos Zambrano is essentially un-hittable. Oh yeah, also Kerry Wood is coming back.

2. Youth - Somewhere along the lines the youth and inexperience will bite the Brewers in the ass. And that's not intended to be a bad thing, this team is set-up to contend for years to come. However, their best players Fielder, Hart and Braun have never even tasted a whiff of a pennant race. Insert guys like Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and even Cliff Floyd all of whom have ample pennant chase and post-season experience.

3. Schedule - Ok, so there really isn't much of a difference when it comes to the scheduling, as they both play virtually the exact same schedule, just alternating. The Cubs host the Phillies and Mets (in that order) this week, while the Brewers host the Mets then Phillies. I know it's not really that complicated. However, mark your calenders for August 28-30th when the Brewers visit Wrigley for the final series of the season between the teams.

And if previous match-ups give us any indication, the slight edge goes to the Cubs who've won (7 of 12) vs. the Brew Crew this season.

4. Destiny - Can we all just stop kidding ourselves and realize that it IS destiny the Cubs win this thing already?