The continued woes of the Brewers bullpen

After a bad start by Wolf it didn't look like the Brewers were in line for a sweep of the Padres this afternoon, but a comeback by the offense gave the Brewers the lead in the sixth inning it was up to the bullpen to hold on to the lead. Now earlier in the game Sergio Mitre pitched great to keep the Brewers in the game but once again the end of the game is where the bullpen fell apart.

In the 8th inning Kameron Loe came in and blew the game and it was bad but he had help from Stetter. Stetter came in to try and get the lefty Brad Hawpe out but failed to do so giving up a hit. So they went to Loe who lately has been really struggling to have successful outings. He proceeded to give up back to back singles, got an out via a sac bunt then gave up a walk and a hit. He was then pulled so young Mike McClendon who gave up a home run and gave up two runs on his own. Stetter's final line O innings pitched, 1 hit and one run. Loe's final line, 1/3 innings pitched, three hits and four runs. McClendon rounded off the game with one and two thirds innings pitched, 5 hits and 3 runs.

This is a problem that needs to be addressed because this isn't the first time this has happened. It didn't help that Wolf had a terrible outing forcing the bullpen, who have already worked a lot in this season, to pitch a lot of innings but this is still no excuse for such a poor performance. Loe in particular has not looked sharp really at all this season. But lately he struggles to have clean outings. His last outing was good, only one run but it was an amazing play by Betancourt that saved Loe. Today he could only get one out, and that was on a sacrifice bunt. This can't continue to happen and it is a problem that needs to be addressed. We need somebody to come in the 8th and get outs that we can trust. I can no longer trust Loe and I think a majority of fans would agree with that. This one hurt because the sweep was there for us to take and it would have been a good one to have. Loe was great last year but if he continues to struggle the Brewers need to make a change, but its not just Loe, the whole bullpen needs to step their game up.

Not much else to add on this, I'm upset over the loss so this was a quick reaction post but there are hints of truth to it. The bullpen needs to be able to get outs without giving up runs and thats something that doesn't seem to be happening a lot lately.

On a side note congrats to Prince Fielder on hitting his 200th career homerun today. It was a clutch shot that tied the game at the time. Here's hoping Prince hits a bunch more and that they all happen in a Brewer's jersey...