In Defense of Matt Garza

I for one am thankful that Matt Garza missed his chance to sign with the Angels when he didn't answer their phone call because he was on vacation with his wife in the offseason. Although he has been without a doubt the weak spot in the Brewers rotation this season, let's not get ahead of ourselves writing off the hard-nosed Garza. Since the Brewers made a splash in free agency and actually signed a bonafide pitcher, Matt Garza has the most losses in the rotation and the highest ERA and to be honest there's no close second. The Brewers rotation has been phenomenal this season so it's easy to point fingers at Matt Garza when you look at him relative to the other pitchers. Let's not forget Garza is exactly the kind of guy you want on your locker room and don't want to face on the field. The kind of competitor who wants to "kick [his opponents] teeth in" (to use his words) and the kind of fun-loving guy who pranks teammates and coaches during interviews. Plus he hates the Cubs so that's always a plus too.

If you compare his numbers to his career they are a little on the low side. Garza has allowed more walks and has had less punchouts per nine innings than the last few years. One of the contributions to the strikeout slump might be the loss of velocity on his fastball. Garza's fastball is almost down an entire mile per hour as last year. He has also had a tough time getting out of the first inning as over a third of his earned runs on the season have come in that inning. If you take away all of Garza's first innings his ERA drops over one run to 3.80. If you just look at the bare numbers they do not tell the whole story. A 4.83 ERA and 2-4 record barely scrape the surface of Garza's body of work. Garza has tossed five quality starts and has as many losses in those games and he does wins. As seen today getting shutout against the Cubs Garza hasn't been the beneficiary of a whole lot of run support. Beyond all that, an interesting stat is that Garza has the second-lowest FIP (3.74) in the starting rotation. FIP is "fielding independent pitching" which calculates ERA based on average fielding and average timing. Based on this you could almost make the case that Garza has been pitching the second best on average.

The Brewers have managed to win Garza's three no-decisions so they are actually 5-4 in his starts on the season. He has battled through some tough outings and shaky defense behind him at times and has labored in times Roenicke needed him to. He is the kind of guy who can be an absolute buzzsaw to any lineup and the Brewers have managed the best record in the majors with him out of form, so when he puts it all together look out.

"Right Now It's Fun To Be A Brewer"

The Brewers are clicking on all cylinders again after walking off this afternoon to take the series from the Yanks. Matt Garza toughed out five solid innings after having a rough first inning in which the Yankees scored three of their five runs. Rickie Weeks looks like he hopped in a time machine back to when he was an All-Star in 2011 and was the key to the last two Brewers wins. In my last post I said Weeks was gonna have a big day Saturday off CC Sabathia but I didn't see his day today coming. Roenicke gave Weeks the nod again and he went 3-5 with a couple runs knocked in and a huge double in the 9th to set up the walkoff single by Reynolds. The Brewers continue to prove they are the real deal overcoming K-Rod's first blown save of the season in which he gave up a game tying homer to Teixera in the 9th. A series win is always sweeter when it comes against teams like the Yankees, and the Brewers are now 5-1 against them and the Red Sox this season. I was at the game Friday but I wish I had been there for either of the wins so I didn't have to listen to Yankee "fans" embarrass themselves by being sore winners. A team that spends that kind of money should win against a team like the Brewers who have over a hundred million dollars less of a team salary, but I guess that's what makes baseball great. Anytime they can steal wins without Braun or Ramirez in the lineup says volumes about the team too. Braun expects to return Tuesday and Roenicke said after the game Ramirez might be able to avoid the DL. The best team in the majors pads their 5.5 game lead over the Cardinals in the central, and will be back in action Tuesday against the Pirates. Mark Reynolds said it best after the game: "Right now it's fun to be a Brewer."

Brewers - Cubs Storylines

Battle of Familiar Pitchers: Carlos Villanueva (1-4 10.93 ERA) comes back to the Brew City where his career was the epitome of a roller coaster experience. One game he would be getting Albert Pujols out in a big situation and the next he would be giving up late game hits to the likes of Reed Johnson which just left me scratching my head. Something to keep in mind: Aramis Ramirez is a career .500 hitter (4-8) against Villanueva dating back to his Chicago days and he has been on fire early this season. On the other side the Brewers send out Matt Garza (0-2 4.50 ERA) who had strong feelings when asked about pitching against the Cubs this season after being traded last year at the deadline. Garza did not mix words when he said he was going to "try to kick [the Cubs] teeth in" every time he's given the chance. It's no secret he is one of the most competitive players on the field so a little added fire should be interesting. Garza has had tough luck but pitched well in this season and looks to get going on the right track against the Cubs who have been cold offensively.