When the Milwaukee Brewers experience such extraordinary success for most of the season and such extraordinary failure at the end, barely eking out a winning season, fans demand an explanation. So here it is.
It’s Carlos Gomez’s Fault
In sportswriter code, the phrase appearing again and again was that the Brewers were a team of “free swingers.” That wasn’t really true.
The term didn’t apply to most of the Brewers’ offense at the top of the order—Ryan Braun, Aramis Ramirez, Jonathan Lucroy (the doubles machine) or high average youngster Scooter Gennett.
So it was Gomez doing most of that free swinging with such dramatic flair that it was pure entertainment. Gomez routinely swung out of his helmet, his shoes and his under garments.
His success at that, along with his great glove, raised his game to the All-Star level, led the Brewers in home runs and fueled the joyful spirit behind the team’s extraordinary early success.
But, what the heck, blame everything on the cocky Latino.
It’s Ryan Braun’s Fault
For those who enjoy hating Braun for his dishonesty in denying his use of banned substances, the easy explanation is one of the team’s most important cogs was never really any good. Braun’s sub-par performance this year after last season’s 65-game suspension proves his talent was just a drug-enhanced mirage.
As Journal Sentinel baseball writer Tom Haudricourt noted, that ignores the fact that in 2012, the year after Braun’s failed drug test when he was regularly tested within an inch of his life, Braun had one of his best seasons ever. Braun now will have the surgery the team hopes will repair the thumb nerve damage that made it difficult for him to grip the bat all season.
But, hey, maybe Braun’s lying about using his thumb when he bats.
|
|
It’s Ron Roenicke’s Fault
Always a popular choice, especially when a baseball manager seems to be a nice guy. Fans don’t want sports managers to be nice guys.
Even though fans have favorite players, they really resent the enormous salaries of sports stars at a time when politicians are making their rich pals richer, destroying the bargaining rights of working people and there’s been no increase in middle-class incomes, adjusted for the cost of living, for more than 30 years.
That’s why fans prefer old-school tough guy managers who treat players like dirt. Any player in a slump—and the best of them experience slumps—should never bat again.
But there aren’t really any Billy Martins or Lou Piniellas left. There are only mild-mannered managers of winning teams who are candidates for manager of the year, which Roenicke was for much of the season, and mild-mannered managers of losing teams who get fired, which Roenicke easily could be now.
Players might not play any better for a manager who’s a jerk, but at least somebody besides drunken bozos in the stands would be yelling at them.
It’s Doug Melvin’s Fault
The second-most-popular person to fire after a disappointing season is the general manager, since he’s the one who hires the players. But owner Mark Attanasio already has announced Melvin will be back.
For a long time, the rap on Melvin was his failure to put together a pitching staff to match his impressive lineups. So Melvin kept building the Brewers’ starting rotation and bullpen until pitching was the real strength of this year’s team and the offense failed.
Over the years, by a wide margin, Melvin’s moves have been more successful than not. Melvin has found impressive stars in players other teams didn’t know how to develop, like Gomez, or didn’t think had much left, like Francisco Rodriguez.
Attanasio clearly involves himself in most major moves, relying heavily on Melvin’s deep baseball knowledge. Their growing success together is one of the reasons this year’s failure was so disappointing.
It’s the Fans’ Fault
When teams win, it’s always a cliché to lavish credit on “the greatest fans anywhere.”
Despite drawing 2.8 million to Miller Park, the Brewers have never really seemed to have the greatest fans anywhere. Even when the Brewers were in first place for months, many fans kept predicting they would collapse. You’d think they’d be happier to be proven right.
Logically, there were four potential winners of the National League Central most of the season and all four couldn’t win. St. Louis and Pittsburgh ended up on top. Cincinnati plunged into even more ignominious depths than we did.
But we’ve seen Attanasio is always ready to make moves, sometimes big moves, to try to create a championship team. He won’t stand still.
So next season maybe fans should try enjoying themselves when everything is going well, instead of dreading doomsday. Who knows? Maybe it will never come and we’ll all be jumping up and down.
