Brewers starting pitching falling off in playoffs

• Milwaukee Brewers

"WI Sports" brewers cardinals

Talk about it

MILWAUKEE - It’s not hard to see that the Milwaukee Brewers’ starting pitchers have gone downhill during the playoffs.

In seven games, Milwaukee’s starters are 2-3. And only Yovani Gallardo has a decent post-season ERA – a stingy 1.29 in a win and a no-decision against Arizona in the first round. The other three Milwaukee starters have a combined ERA of 11.5, giving up 29 earned runs in 22-and-two-thirds innings. The Brewers have lost their home field advantage in the NLCS, after getting crushed by Saint Louis 12-3 in Game-Two last night to even the series at a game apiece.

After Game-Two, Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke got lots of questions about starting Shaun Marcum at home – even though he’s considered to be better on the road. He went four innings and took the loss, and his ERA in two post-season starts is now 12.46. And Marcum is 1-4 in his last six starts. Roenicke raised some eyebrows when he said he would consider starting Marcum in Game-Six at home, if the series goes that far. He could also start left-hander Chris Narveson, who has a 1.20 ERA in three games against the Cardinals in the regular season. Narveson went two innings in mop-up duty last night. The only hit he gave up was a solo homer to David Freese. The series resumes tomorrow night at Busch Stadium in Saint Louis. Gallardo will face Cardinals’ ace Chris Carpenter.

_______________________________________________________

The Milwaukee Brewers say they’re ready to shrug off their most lopsided home loss of the year, as they try to regain the lead in the National League Championship Series tomorrow night. The best-of-seven set is tied at a game apiece after Saint Louis thoroughly dominated the Brewers 12-3. Until last night, Milwaukee’s biggest home loss was on May 11th, when San Diego thumped the Crew by a seven-run margin at 13-6. Manager Ron Roenicke says he still feels confident and quote, “It’s nice to get everything out of the way today.” He said the Brewers did not do well with their pitching or defense in Game-Two against the Cardinals, but they swung the bats okay. Prince Fielder homered, doubled, and walked. Still, he said quote, “It wasn’t joyful, but you’ve got to deal with it and move on.” Milwaukee pitchers gave up runs in six of the nine innings of Game-Two. Starter Shaun Marcum lasted just four innings, and Marco Estrada and Kameron Loe gave up a total of six runs in the fifth-and-sixth frames which broke Milwaukee’s back. The series moves to Saint Louis for Game-Three. And although Milwaukee has not won a road game in the playoffs yet, Roenicke says he feels confident with Yovani Gallardo on the mound. Gallardo had a win and a no-decision in two Brewer victories over Arizona in the Division Series.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam, baseball, brewers