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Then there are those times in a season when it seems nothing can go right. Having lost 5 of the last 7 games, the Brewers jump out to an early 3-0 lead against Oklahoma City with our best pitcher of the last several years- Daniel Torres- on the mound.
But Torres isn't sharp and gives up 4 runs in 6 innings pitched.
No matter- the team comes up with 4 big runs in the top of the 7th inning.
And then when youngster Jaden Francis starts to get in trouble in the bottom of the inning Liann-Wei Hua comes in to bail him out.
In the 8th inning things get handed over to Eric Singer, who has been our best reliever this year. With a 3 run lead Brewers fans everywhere are breathing a bit of a sigh of a relief that it looks like maybe we can steal a win here on the road.
Nope.
Singer is horrible. Clearly doesn't have it. Walks 3 and gives up 2 hits and leaves the game after recording just 1 out in the 8th. Singer leaves the game with the bases loaded.
On comes 4-time All-Star Miguel Solis, the rock of the Brewers bullpen for the past several years.
Solis gets the first batter he faces to hit a harmless flyball to centerfield. Second out recorded, runners stay put.
Maybe we can get out of this jam after all.
Nope.
Next batter is light hitting centerfielder Tony Flores. Flores hit 6 HR's in 1969 and had yet to hit one in 1970. But now he has. Grand Slam.
Brewers relinquish the hard-earned lead. And lose again.
And with that, we drop out of first place and we are looking like a very mediocre team at the moment.
It's a long season. Which could cut both ways. But we are going to have to do a lot better than this if we hope to get back to the post-season.
(Aaargh. Stretches like this absolutely drive me crazy. When we get good pitching, we can't hit. When we hit, the pitching falls apart. When we get on base, we get caught trying to steal or trying to take an extra base. When a pitcher is trying to work out of a jam or preserve a small lead our defense starts to boot the ball all over the yard, or throw it into the dugout. Sometimes it feels like it doesn't matter what you do, the team is destined to lose.)
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