I believe it was toward the end of May when I was ready to give up on the Milwaukee Brewers for this season, convinced there was no way they could turn around their disastrous start and contend for a playoff spot.  Then a few weeks ago the pitching started getting more consistent, the team was scoring and the Brewers were winning series'.  Suddenly, there appeared to be a window of opportunity as the All-Star break approached.  The Brewers would play 16 of their next 20 at Miller Park.  If they continued playing well, they could really get on a streak and get within striking distance of the division leaders by the time they reached the All-Star break.

So much for that.  That window of opportunity has slammed shut.  After Wednesday night's 15-2 thumping at the hands of the Giants, I am once again ready to give up on this team. 

And what really stood out to me this morning - as I was reading about last night's game in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - was a blurb about Brewer manager Ken Macha's reaction to the loss.  He was talking about the out-of-sync nature of his team, beginning with the starting rotation's struggles, the bullpen meltdown, a slumping offense and, recently, costly errors.  Macha said, "That's the way the season has run.  Do we have people in place who can catch the ball?  Do we have people in place who can hit the ball?  Yes.  We have people in place who can pitch, too, and people who can close the games.  What we need to do is get it all together."

Well if Macha truly believes they have all the pieces in place - and in my opinion that's debatable - then it would seem to me the blame for this team's woes would have to land at the feet of the manager.  He's saying they have what it takes to win, yet they're not winning.  In fact, they're playing truly awful baseball at times.  I think he just made the case for management to fire him.