What are we going to do when Weeks and Gomez come back?

This is something that I had not thought about until last nights game.  All of a sudden our Brewers are clicking on all cylinders (winning 17 of last 19 games), with guys like Jerry Hairston Jr., Josh Wilson, and Felipe Lopez filling in.  This morning it was announced that both Rickie Weeks (ankle) and Carlos Gomez (collarbone) will be traveling with the team on road trips.  Usually that means they are in relatively good, almost game ready, condition.  If that is the case, what is going to happen to our new friends?

After watching what Jerry Hairston did in center field last night, there is no way that he won’t be a member of this ballclub.  But Lopez and Wilson may be a different story.  We picked up Lopez as a stop-gap, plain and simple.  The Brewers will have very little need for him with JHJ in the mix, so I suspect he will be the first man to go.  They will either option him, or give him his outright release.  At his age, it just does not make sense to option him to the minors.  Let the guy see if he can find another team to play out the season.  Wilson is a bit trickier, due to age and offensive ability, I would like to see the Brewers keep him.  I feel more confident in Wilson’s bat, if I am comparing him with Lopez.  Plus, Wilson has a little more versatility as fas where he can play on the infield.  I like all three of these guys, but when Weeks and Gomez come back someone will have to go.

The question that I want to pose now is, do we really want them back (of course by “them” I only mean Gomez)?  The team is on a 17-2 run.  Now, that may have happened had they both been healthy, but it is a strange coincidence.  I can not argue with All-Star 2nd baseman Rickie Weeks coming back and getting his job right away.  We probably would still be on this run with Weeks on the field and that is a fact.  On the other hand, is Carlos Gomez really a better option in center over what JHJ showed us last night?  Maybe, maybe not.  In my mind if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  If anything, Gomez could learn a thing or two from the veteran.  Not about arm strength, speed, or range in the outfield (because Gomez has those three parts of his game on lock down), but about game awareness.  Hairston Jr. is a student of the game and with as many teams as he has played for, he should be.  Gomez is just a kid with a ton of natural talent, but he doesn’t know how to study the game.  Oh yeah, and Gomez is horrible at the plate.

     This is really a non-issue, but when the team is playing so well…this is all I’ve got.  Normally I would take some time to rip on Mark Kotsay, or insert a Jeff Suppan joke.  In my lifetime, the Brewers have never been this good.  One of RtB’s favorite sons, Colin Bennett, wrote a beautiful article that is a must read for any Brewers fan born after 1979 (because you were 3 when the Brewers made the World Series, so this will still apply to you).  Follow this link and look into the soul of a die hard Brewers fan.  You will not regret it. 

      If you have not seen the Brewers triple play from last night, you are obviously living in another country.  Click here to see it.  It was the first time since 1974 that a double play of it’s likeness has been turned.  Day in and day out now this team just blows my mind.  The defense in yesterday’s game was just flat out ridiculous.  Four double-plays and one triple-play…yup.  That just happened.

Tonight is game 2.  Gallardo against Billingsley.  Yo is after his 14th win and the Dodgers are after a run…any run will do.  In the last three games, the Brewers pitching staff has only allowed 1 run.  It is so much easier to win when that is the case.

Go Brewers!!!!1