The 2009 Major League Baseball season, scheduled to last six months is just two weeks old, and I already feel like I have been on an emotional roller coaster. The Brewers have seen their share of ups and downs (okay, 4-8 is mostly down), and judging by what I've seen up close and personal (having been in the press box for four of the six games they've played at Miller Park) there are some things to like and some things not to like.
But one thing I'm not going to do is make any pronouncements like 'They're done.' If it were just one fan saying it, then I could write it off as a fan who was talking out of his you know what. But it hasn't been just one fan.
Look, there are three radio stations in this city that do Brewers post-game shows every night. I like to listen to all three (when I can) to get a feel of what is going on in the minds of Brewers fans. Maybe the same fans are calling all three shows (which could be happening), but I'm hearing a lot of people willing to wave the white flag for the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers. This may stun some of you, but it's the radio hosts who are actually being the voice of reason this April, trying to talk some of the die hards down off the ledge.
If you're one of the flag waving fans, I'm certainly not going to stop you. It's your right. If you think you've seen enough of this team to sit there and say with confidence that they're 'done,' then say it. I won't try to stop you (even though I disagree with you).
I won't give you all the reasons that are out there to try and convince you the Brewers will turn it around. I won't tell you that the bullpen could settle down once Trevor Hoffman returns from his injury. I won't tell you that the sleeping big bats (Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun to be specific) will eventually wake up. I won't tell you the starting pitching (shaky the first turn through the rotation) will get more consistent as the season wears on. I won't use any of that logic to get you off your ledge.
I will use two words, though. Two words that should make every Brewers fan breathe a little easier during this rough start. Ken Macha.
I believe the Brewers will turn it around, and the main reason I fell that way is because of the manager. He inspires a lot more confidence than the last guy - Ned Yost - ever did. Macha's knows that it's bound to get better. Heck, he's been through it before, both as a coach and as a manager. The baseball season is a six month equalizer. Everything evens out in the end (for the most part). Teams that got off to hot starts are guaranteed nothing (remember the 2007 Brewers?). Teams that start a little slow (like last year's Brewers) aren't necessarily playing out the string in May.
It's not like Macha's sitting back and doing nothing. He's trying a lot of different things. Ned Yost liked to sit back and wait for his big bats to wake up and crush homer after homer. Macha doesn't do that. This Brewers team is running (playing small ball) a lot more than I can ever remember them running in the four years I've been covering this team. Anyone who had questioned whether Macha could make the transition from the AL to the NL doesn't have to worry. He's making the transition just fine.
Macha's willing to think outside the box, too. Just look at what he's done with Todd Coffey. Macha didn't trust anyone other than Coffey to close out Sunday's win over the Mets, so he let the big guy throw for a few innings as opposed to bringing in anyone else. Is Coffey - who has had a journeyman type of career - a guy you can count on for an entire season? That I can't tell you. His track record doesn't really help his cause. But Macha is riding the hot guy right now, and Coffey just happens to be that guy. Macha's taken the proverbial book and junked it (especially when it comes to his bullpen right now). It's refreshing to see.
The biggest reason I think Macha will preside over a turnaround, though, is this. He's not Ned Yost. Please don't misunderstand me. Ned was, and remains, a good baseball guy. In fact, there might be only a handful of managers in the game that know the game as well or better than Yost. But Ned's biggest problem was his demeanor.
Do you remember the movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off?' Well, Ned was Cameron. To say Yost was wound a little tight is like saying Rush Limbaugh leans to the right. Ned was fine as long as things were clicking, but if things started going bad, Ned managed nervous. The tension was written all over his face. That attitude affected the rest of the clubhouse. The coaches (with the exception of Ed Sedar, who I've never seen without a smile on his face) were tight. The players were tight. It affected the way they played. When Yost turned into Nervous Ned, the team didn't play to win. They played not to lose.
That's just not going to happen with Macha. Macha can get angry. But Macha doesn't manage nervous. He won't let his players play not to lose. If Yost was Nervous Ned then Macha is like Grandpa. You want examples? I'll give you a couple.
There has been a lot of hand wringing over the Cory Hart/J.J. Hardy lineup flip. If Ned were still in the manager's office, there's a good chance he would have ended that experiment fairly quickly (based on ending the Prince/Braun flip a year ago). Macha's been asked how long he's going to let the Hart-Hardy experiment go on before he ends it. His answer - that he hasn't given a single thought to it not working to begin with. Macha's going to let his players play. Hart and Hardy will have to get used to their new spots in the order. He's not going to switch it back, even if Hardy's more comfortable in the two-hole. He's not going to switch it back - even if the players ask him to (like Prince and Braun did last year).
I've been around this team long enough to know that Yost would have handled Jeff Suppan differently than Macha did. Yost would not have done a thing with Suppan, telling anyone and everyone who would listen that 'Supp' would work his way out of it. Macha handled Suppan a bit differently.
First of all, there was criticism thrown Suppan's way in the media. Macha said publicly that Suppan's walks were unacceptable. That's something Yost would never have done. He would never have taken a player to task,using the media as a way to send the message. Macha didn't scream or shout, but he got the message through to Suppan. He also met with the veteran pitcher and devised a way to try and get him on track, so they pushed his start against New York back a day and gave him another side session.
The results - at least for one start - were good, as Suppan kept a dangerous New York lineup in check. I can't sit here and tell you that Suppan's now going to pitch like a Cy Young award winner for the rest of the season. But I do know that Macha, and how Macha handled the situation, had an impact in how Suppan pitched Sunday.
If the Brewers were 4-8 with Yost at the helm, I'd probably be as nervous as some of the Brewer fans are right now. But Yost is gone. Macha's in his place. To quote the late John Belushi in 'Animal House:'
"Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we say it is?"
Truer words have never been spoken, especially with 150 games left.
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