Libertarian Librarian

Okay, the St. Louis Cardinals are the best team in the National League, and maybe the best in baseball. Their starting pitching is excellent top to bottom, with the best team ERA in all of baseball. They deserve the props they receive from baseball writers. I have no problem with that, so when a recent sportsline.com article about tonight's Brewers v. Cardinals game starts a paragraph, "While St. Louis has a staff of talented starters..." I'm okay with that. They do have a staff of talented starters.

But did they have to finish the paragraph with, "...Milwaukee counts on Sheets and lefty Doug Davis to give them quality starts."? I mean, why? Why the diss for Milwaukee? Or rather, why the diss on Milwaukee's pitching? That makes no sense. Our pitching isn't as good as St. Louis'-- nobody's is-- but it's definitely better than average (5th in the NL and 11th overall), and the starting rotation is solid from 1-4, and if Victor Santos ever gets his head screwed back on straight, the number 5 guy don't suck either. Every one of our starters has an ERA under 4 except Davis (4.18). Indeed, at this point, #3 guy Chris Capuano (10-6, 3.68) is arguably our best starter-- but we count on Sheets and Davis for quality starts?

I know Milwaukee has sucked for a long time, but if you're going to slap us down, at least pick on the parts of the team that deserve it-- namely everything BUT the pitching. And maybe, just maybe, you could mention that the Brewers are 6-3 against Washington, Atlanta and St. Louis (all with winning records) in their last 9 games? Nah... because how could we do that with only Sheets and Davis to give us quality starts?

One final Brewers note-- JJ Hardy is 6 of 12 in his last four games against two of the best pitching staffs in baseball (Washington and St. Louis). Hardy has a great glove at short stop-- if he actually learns how to be a .260 hitter or better, watch out.