Apparently, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is ready todo the same by keeping his head when all around him are losing theirs andblaming it on Ken Macha.
Firing the manager is the simple-minded solution ofchoice for sports talk radio and a lot of the bugs in the stands any time abaseball team runs into trouble.
It’s even more tempting with a manager such asMacha, who rarely provides sportswriters and commentators with the fiery quotesand colorful tantrums that make their jobs interesting.
Of course, managers bad mouthing their own playersor tossing them on the scrap heap before they can work their way out of slumpsdoesn’t do a whole lot to build a successful team, either.
But a manager with a short fuse is so much more funto cover than an unflappable one.
Macha’s biggest mistake so far was giving his futureHall of Fame closing pitcher Trevor Hoffman every opportunity and then some toprove he could still save ballgames, something Hoffman has done better than anyother pitcher in history.
We’re not talking ancient history, either. Hoffmanwas terrific for the Brewers last season. There was no reason to assume in theopening weeks of this one he was washed up.
Another major problem for the Brewers wereperformances from their starting pitchers, ranging from inconsistent to dismal.
That has led to even dumber bloviation in the media andthe stands to fire General Manager Doug Melvin, the man responsible forassembling the team’s players.
It’s true Melvin wasn’t as successful as he wantedto be in strengthening the pitching staff after poor pitching doomed theBrewers a year ago.
Of two new starters, Randy Wolf may yet prove to besolid, but, even before he was injured, Doug Davis, the human rain delay, wasexcruciating to watch as he imitated one of those street performers who paintthemselves silver and move so slowly they cannot be detected by the human eye.
Melvin also has been regularly pilloried the lastcouple of years for the four-year, $42 million deal to pitcher Jeff Suppan. Inthe last year of that contract, Suppan no longer can be relied upon to start orto pitch in games where the Brewers have any chance.
But it was owner Attanasio himself who personallywooed Suppan with that contract after Suppan was voted the most valuable playerin the National League Championship Series for the 2006 World Series-winningSt. Louis Cardinals.
The “Fire Melvin” half-a-rump group seems totallyoblivious to the general manager’s extraordinary success in assembling such atalented team in Milwaukeethat everybody is disappointed the Brewers are not competing for the divisionlead in the first six weeks of the season.
Just the latest example of Melvin striking goldoverlooked by other teams has been the development of third baseman CaseyMcGehee into one of the top run producers in baseball.
McGehee is on track to join teammates Prince Fielderand Ryan Braun at the All-Star Game this year. Any other team would kill tohave those three in the middle of its line-up.
Winning Is Contagious, Too
So if the Brewers are so great, why are they so bad?
That’s the tricky part. The pitching has been horriblyinconsistent. Then, sometimes, when the pitching comes through, the offense,which has shown it can score 17 or 20 runs a game, has difficulty scratchingout 1 or 2.
The simplest explanation for the Brewers’season-worst 9-game losing streak is that in baseball losing is contagious.When nothing is going right, everybody presses harder and even more goes wrong.
Fortunately, in baseball winning is contagious, too.When a team expects to win, it is more likely to.
And with the Brewers in need of pitching, suddenlyyoung pitching prospects are multiplying like tribbles. The Brewers alreadyhave added three impressive, young stars from their Triple-A clubMarcoEstrada, John Axford and Zach Braddock.
There’s the possibility of another great pitching storystill to come from Nashville.Chris Capuano, the 2006 Brewers All-Star coming back from his second Tommy Johnarm reconstruction, has been putting up great numbers.
Earlier this season, Melvin was being criticized forassembling great offensive players throughout the system, but failing toproduce many pitching prospects. Wrong again.
Despite what you’ve been hearing, the Brewers stillhave three-quarters of the season yet to play. And neither the St. LouisCardinals nor the Cincinnati Reds are exactly running away with the centraldivision.
If the Brewers’ rich talent can start producingconsistently, Macha and Melvin can stop looking over their shoulders. Then theother teams in the division can start looking over theirs.%uFFFD
