The one man team known as Ryan Braun

I tried to tell myself that losing Prince Fielder wasn’t going to be as bad as we thought. Well, it’s not that bad, but having his bat in the line-up would sure make a difference in some games. All season, Ryan Braun has been carrying more than his share of the weight (at least offensively, not counting pitching) for the Brewers and he can’t do it alone. If the Brewers want to seriously win games and not lose series to the Pittsburgh Pirates and get swept by the Kansas City Royals anymore, the rest of the offense needs to get into gear and stop leaving everything up to Braun. Yes, Aramis Ramirez is showing some life (the keyword being “some”), but that’s about it from him. Norichika Aoki has been on a tear, but Ryan Braun has been consistent all season. Braun can only contribute so much, because as a lot of people tend to forget, he’s human. He’s going to go through a slump at some point like every other player to ever in the MLB and he’s also going to be on a hot streak, much like Aoki at the moment. For the time being though, Braun is the only man we can rely on in our line-up and by doing so, it spells disaster for the Brewers if they continue to only fall back on one guy.

Fortunately enough, we as Brewers’ fans know Ryan Braun loves Milwaukee.  Will he ever leave? I doubt it. Though you have to ask yourself, if you had to do all the work yourself and your teammates couldn’t respond to it, how frustrated would you be? I’m not saying Braun is upset with his teammates, but it’s also hard to believe he isn’t the slightest bit peeved at the constant losing. We had a four game sweep over one of the MLB’s best teams in THEIR home and ever since then, it’s like the Brewers have hit a wall. The bullpen is imploding (granted that’s not anything new) and the offense is extremely sluggish. Up until Jonathan Lucroy got hurt, Braun and Lucroy were really what Milwaukee needed to win. There were small efforts contributed by Corey Hart, Aramis Ramirez and Norichika Aoki, but even that has died down a bit.

Currently, Ryan Braun has a nine game hitting streak. In his past 10 games, Braun is batting .307, with two home runs, six RBIs and five runs scored. You honestly cannot ask for better production out of one man, but clearly the Brewers do. Aside from Aoki’s .298 batting average, Braun is the only Brewer next to the injured Jonathan Lucroy, with a decent average. Everyone else and I mean everyone that aren’t the three I just mentioned, are batting below .260. The shape of the Brewers is absolutely abysmal and there’s really not much more that Ryan Braun can honestly do. Maybe we’ll have him start closing out games instead of John Axford because really, what have we got to lose at this point?

Until next time, go Brew Crew!