No O in Brewers

by
September 17, 2008

After dropping another game last night in Dale Sveum’s debut as manager, the Brewers have now lost five in a row and are no longer leading the wild card chase. September has been a disaster for Milwaukee, as they are now 3-12 in the final month of the season, frittering away what seemed to be a pretty solid shot at a playoff berth.

Most of the blame lays squarely on the shoulders of the offense, and in particular, four hitters who have just laid a giant egg.

Ryan Braun: 11 for 56, .196/.286/.286
Corey Hart: 9 for 55, .167/.207/.255
Mike Cameron: 5 for 45, .111/.200/.222
Bill Hall: 5 for 30, .167/.219/.233

As a group, they’re 30 for 186, a nifty .161 average. Hart has the lowest WPA/LI of any player in baseball in September, while Cameron comes in 3rd and Braun comes in 4th. When you have three of the four worst hitters in baseball in a given month, it’s hard to score many runs. The simultaneous collapses of that foursome have basically sunk the Brewers offense, and potentially the Brewers season.

Even things that have gone well haven’t helped – J.J. Hardy has four home runs this month, but all four have been solo shots. Prince Fielder went deep twice last yesterday, but CC Sabathia chose the same day to take his first loss since coming over to the National League.

They’ve fired their manager in an effort to salvage what’s left of the 2008 season, but unless Sveum can figure out how to make half his offense remember how to hit, they’re in a lot of trouble.

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Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.

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Tom Au
17 years ago

That’s why I keep saying offense, not pitching, is the key. The Brewers were supposed to have “sealed the deal” with C.C. Sabathia. Except that they didn’t. Offensive is every day. Sabathia is one in five (actually less, given his occasional bad start).

And the Pirates are “nothing” without Jason Bay.

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