It's about time

I find myself saying this over and over again but here it is again, it has been a while since I wrote a blog post. I'm trying my best to keep posting, I really am. But this post is dealing with how the Brewers finally appear to be getting back on track right before the season ends. Twice in the past couple weeks the Brewers had a chance to put the Cardinals away for the season and twice they lost the series to the red birds and followed up the second series losing three out of four to the Phillies and just like that the Cardinals were back in the picture. However, after this weekend sweep of the Reds the Brewers now have a six and a half game lead and their magic number for clinching the division is four.

The thing I really liked about this series against the Reds was that the starting pitching was great but also that the offense finally appears to be back. The Brewers put up 24 runs this series and only gave up five. Seeing the offense get back to its old wall-banging ways is always nice to see, but when you combine that explosive offense with shutdown pitching it makes you feel better about this team. When the Brewers were struggling a couple of weeks ago it was the offense that didn't show up, the pitching was still there. When you are thinking about how this team could perform in the playoffs you want the pitching to be sharp and the offense just good enough to get those key runs that are needed to win the game.

Now here is the part I'm still worried about. I know the Brewers can beat teams like the Reds. Its very nice to see the pitching staff hold down a potent lineup like the Reds' but I'm still concerned about how the offense will handle a stronger pitching staff. In the two series against the Cardinals and the series against the Phillies, the offense was limited and seemed to be missing that clutch hit that they needed in most of the games. In the playoffs the games will be closer and the offense will have to be clutch because they won't be scoring ten runs a game, and seeing the team struggle with that against playoff worthy teams, well it worried me.

Although I know that the Brewers can beat up on these weaker teams it will be a great way to gain some momentum as they go into the playoffs. I don't want to get to far ahead of myself but with the magic number at three and series against the Cubs, Marlins and Pirates left in the season, I think its pretty safe to say that the Brewers will win the central. So hopefully the pitching will stay good and the offense will be coming out of these series smashing the ball like we all know they can, and we carry that into the playoffs and make some noise. Only nine games left on the season, and then the real fun starts....if we do make it that is.