John Axford hasn’t been spared from this, either. After April of 2011, this guy was one of the premier closers in the game. He broke Francisco Cordero’s previous Brewers save record of 44 by notching 46 saves, which was tied for the National League lead with Craig Kimbrel of the Braves. Axford also boasted a stellar 1.95 ERA in 2011. He even appeared on the Cy Young Award and MVP ballots, placing ninth and 17th, respectively.

But it’s been a completely different season for Axford this year. Every so often, you’ll see a closer with a high ERA, but sometimes it’s deceptive because he has a better ERA in save situations. But that isn’t the case with Axford; his 5.08 ERA tells you every bit how bad he’s been in the closer’s role, as do his league-leading eight blown saves.

From what I’ve seen- and I’m sure other would agree- it’s Axford’s confidence that’s making him falter. In 2011, he looked like he was in complete control on the mound. This year, his body language looks different, and he almost looks scared to throw certain pitches. That certain pitch is probably the curveball, which he seems to have lost all control of this year. In 2011, he’s devastating 12-6 curve, paired with the high-90’s fastball and slider, was what made him such a dominant closer. The curve just hasn’t been there for him this year, and he was probably struggling to adjust.Until recently, that is. Axford converted saves in the last two games of the Cubs series. He looked like he was in 2011-form in the last game, as he struck out the side. The one thing I noticed was he didn’t rely on the curve; he got by using the fastball-slider combination. That tells me he’s finally adjusted to closing without the curveball.And Axford knows that now. Apparently, Axford personally asked Ron Roenicke for the closer’s role back. He said he wanted to restore order in the bullpen, and took blame for the inconsistency of the bullpen the past few months by not being able to lock down the important closer’s role.Axford’s problem all year, starting with that blown save in Kansas City, was confidence. But, it had to have taken confidence to personally ask the manager for the role that he’d been struggling in back, which says his confidence is starting to return. Now Axford needs to continue bringing that confidence back to the mound in the ninth inning, and he could be back into 2011 form before we know it.

So just what are we getting from this move? This is what Baseball America said about Bianchi coming in to last year, when he was still with the Royals organization:

If it wasn’t for injuries, Bianchi likely would be starting for the Royals, but he has had one completely healthy year in six years of pro ball.

Bianchi has had a tough road through the Minors, but even with all of the injuries he has outperformed his peers. In his struggles with injuries, he fell off the radar after climbing into the top 20 prospects in Kansas City’s system only a few years ago. Now, after eight seasons and finally turning the corner on injuries, it looks like Milwaukee may have found a diamond in the rough.

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Oh, how things can change in just two or so years.

Today, it’s the complete opposite. The Brewers offense has been sub-par, to say the least, this year. They’re .239 team batting average is the third-worst in the National League, only ahead of the awful offenses of the Pirates and Padres. Braun is still here and producing (but I have to admit he’s had some very bad at-bats lately, despite his success). Offseason pickup Aramis Ramirez finally appears to be heating up. The other consistent power source as of late, surprisingly, is Martin Maldonado (note that he was hitting .198 at Triple-A Nashville prior to his call-up). But, other than that, the offense is as inconsistent as it’s ever been. Corey Hart has produced solid power numbers at times, but it feels like he’s even streakier than in recent years. Weeks has been hitting below the Mendoza line pretty much all year, and it looks like he’s becoming the 2012 version of Adam Dunn.

But the one thing the Brewers can take pride in- at least right now- is the consistency of their starting pitching, especially lately. Coming into today, Brewers starters had a 2.25 ERA in their last nine games. And that ERA probably went down after Michael Fiers’ nice performance in Minnesota today. Unfortunately, though, the Brewers starters’ record in this ten game span is just 4-1. Not to say that’s a bad record or anything, but, thanks to the offense and bullpen, the starters aren’t factoring in near as many decisions as they should. And, the Brewers’ record in this span of great pitching is 6-4. That does include series wins against the Padres and Twins, but the crushing blow was the sweep in Kansas City, despite great outings from Zack Greinke, Randy Wolf, and Shaun Marcum. Wolf and Marcum should have each had wins that series, but the Brewers’ bullpen, paired with some questionable defense, managed to embarrassingly lose those games.

This run of starting pitching will have to return to earth eventually, but, before it ends, the Brewers need to capitalize on it. Their record currently stands at 30-35, fourth in the NL Central. Had the Brewers been able to win those two games they blew in KC, they could be hovering around .500, rather than sitting at the position they’re in. That position is 7.5 games behind the first place Reds, who are on a tear after winning their fifth consecutive game today. So the Brewers are still in shouting distance because of where we are in the season, but now is the time to pick up ground. The starting pitching has responded to this, but the offense and bullpen have yet to get the memo. They’ll need to soon if the Brewers want to make a season of this.

At times this year, it’s B-R-E-W-E-R-S.

Anchored by another great pitching performance by Randy Wolf – his second strong outing in a row – ended in another no-decision and another one-run  loss, this time in extra innings.

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First off, it was the former Cy Young award winner’s return to Kansas City. Kaufmann Stadium was home to some of Greinke’s greatest performances, and he and the rest of Brewer Nation were hoping he could add one more to help Milwaukee wright the ship as the season approaches the halfway mark.

He did give a great performance, unfortunately the same could not be said for the rest of Milwaukee as Kansas City edged out the Crew in a 2-1 victory.

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Marco Estrada's arm in the bullpen is valuable. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

With all the injuries the Brew Crew have faced this season, we still have shown the drive to go on. We sit at 28-32, four games behind first in the NL Central and have two series with the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins, that we should hopefully win. Injuries do not kill a season, but they can hamper it considerably, especially when a few big names on your team are out. Fortunately enough, Marco Estrada looks like he might be the first Brewer to come back. As I discussed in my previous article, we must keep Michael Fiers as a starter and have Marco Estrada help the bullpen settle down. It’s no surprise our bullpen has been unreliable this season and with the idea of breaking even and going higher in the division, that is an issue that must be settled quickly. However, Ron Roenicke believes Marco Estrada benefits the team more as a starter so he is expected to return to the starting rotation when healthy.

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Not in the way they should have, no.

The Brewers finished what could have been an extremely easy homestand- and brought them at least close to .500- with a 5-4 record. By no means is that bad. But, if you consider the caliber of the teams they were playing, it was very mediocre, and could have been a heck of a lot better.

John Axford, Brewers closer, being removed in the ninth to fittingly end the Brewers' homestand.

The Crew started the series on a pretty bad note. They were up against the Pirates, who they have absolutely murdered at Miller Park ever since 2007. But that wasn’t the case this time. The Pirates began the series by hammering Randy Wolf, and from there went on to take two of three from the Brewers. The Brewers then took two of three from the Cubs, which was a decent bounce-back. The Brewers finished off the Padres yesterday, and also took two of three from them. So, when you go back and look at it, it was just the Pirates series that killed the Brewers. 6-3 is a lot more different from 5-4 than you think.

But, the Brewers have been given a blessing. They’re being given a chance to reach the .500 mark for the second straight week, and prove that they are in the race to defend their NL Central crown. Their next two series come against the Royals and Twins, two very beatable teams who live near the bottom of the American League right now. Here’s what the pitching matchups are looking like for the Royals series:

Zack Greinke (7-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. Luis Mendoza (2-3, 5.36 ERA)

Randy Wolf (2-5, 5.45 ERA) vs. Luke Hochevar (3-7, 6.57 ERA)

Shaun Marcum (5-3, 3.50 ERA) vs. ???

Looking at the matchups, this should be a series sweep (but with the Brewers, it’s never a good idea to assume these things). I know Greinke home-road splits this year will tell you that he’s been a lot worse on the road, but it’s actually been two- maybe three- starts that have killed his road ERA. The first one was his second start of the season, when he gave up eight runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Cubs. Then, there was his disaster start in Arizona (seven runs, 2 1/3 innings). But there are two somewhat legitimate excuses for those outings: Greinke has proven he simply can’t pitch at Wrigley Field, and he’s just historically bad against the Diamondbacks. Other than those starts, he’s been fine on the road. Plus, Kauffman Stadium might still feel like home to him-  it’s been a little over a year and a half since his last start with the Royals, the team he started his career with, at Kauffman. Royals outfielder Mitch Maier recently stated that he thinks that the Royals will beat up on Greinke, but I just can’t see it happening. So I think it’ll be a good start for ZG. Mendoza, on the other hand, has bounced back and forth between the Royals’ rotation and bullpen, and is coming back to the rotation to start in place of the injured Felipe Paulino and his 1.67 ERA (thank goodness the Brewers aren’t facing him). Mendoza hasn’t been what the Royals thought he would be this year, and hopefully the Brewers bats can get going against him.

Wolf will start the second game of the series. At first, I was worried about this, like I am for every Wolf start. But, we have to remember that Hochevar is equally as bad as Wolf- if not worse. Hoch has is one of the few starters in the Majors with an ERA higher than Wolf’s, so you’d expect the Brewers to tee off against him.

Marcum will start the last game of the series, and I’m not worried about that at all. Marcum has pitched well all year for the most part, and this start is coming on the road, where he’s especially dominant. He should be pretty familiar with the Royals’ lineup from his time in the AL, and he carved them up during his time with the Blue Jays, with a 3-1 career mark against them, along with a 1.58 ERA. The Royals haven’t officially announced their starter yet, but, judging by the way their rotation works, it should be Vin Mazzaro (2-1, 3.60 ERA). He made himself famous last year by giving up 14 runs in 2 1/3 innings (I think that’s what the final line was), although that may have been one of ex-Brewer manager Ned Yost’s “lessons.” But do I even need to mention that the Brewers will be reuniting with Yost again this series?

Like I said before, this appears to be a sweep-able series. But after this comes the Twins series, who the Brewers already dropped a series to earlier this year at Miller Park. None of the pitching matchups have been announced, but let’s hope the Brewers can take two of three in Minnesota. This would all add up to a 5-1 road trip, which is very wishful thinking. But the Brewers could certainly use it to get back in the race in the NL Central. The Brewers already wasted one opportunity to officially throw themselves back into the pennant race; now they need to use this one correctly.

But, earlier today, the Brewers surprised their fan base by signing young catcher Jonathan Lucroy to a five-year extension, reportedly worth more than $11 million. The deal may not yet be finalized, but Lucroy was scratched from today’s ST game against the Indians, probably because the Brewers were closing in on a deal for him. Doug Melvin has yet to comment on the news, however.

If it does go through, though, it’s a great signing for the Crew. The Brewers haven’t had a catcher who has managed to stick with the team in years, and it appears that Lucroy will be in Milwaukee for awhile now. But Lucroy is a different catcher than the Brewers have had in recent years. They usually relied on a veteran free agent/trade piece to take on the job (i.e. Jason Kendall, Johnny Estrada, Gregg Zaun, etc.). But Lucroy the opposite of those names- he’s a young, homegrown catcher with a lot of promise.

It doesn’t appear Lucroy has hit his full potential in the Majors yet. He has only about a year and a half of MLB experience, as he got called up midway through the 2010 season after Zaun went down with a season-ending injury. In 75 games after getting called up in 2010, Lucroy hit .253 with four home runs and 26 RBIs. He started 2011 on the DL with a broken finger, but, in 136 games last year, hit 12 home runs with 59 RBIs while hitting .265. As you can see by the numbers, he’s shown flashes of power, which lead me to believe he’ll be a solid offensive catcher in the future. In fact, before a September drought that brought his average down to .265, Lucroy had been consistently hitting between .280 and .300 all season.

But one thing that really looks promising about Lucroy is his defense. It took him awhile to get used to playing defense in the Majors, but he finally got the knack for it around halfway through the 2011 season. I don’t know exactly what his defensive stats were in 2011, but it sure seemed like he was throwing out everybody who tried to steal against him, regardless of the starting pitcher.

Which leads me to my next point- how he’s handled the Brewers’ pitching staff. Lucroy has received a lot of credit from the starting pitchers, save for Randy Wolf, who uses George Kottaras as his personal catcher, because Wolf’s set of signs are “too complex” for Lucroy. Wolf only has four pitches, so I don’t know how complex his signs could be, but Wolf and Lucroy just don’t click for some reason. Anyway, other than Wolf, Lucroy has handled the pitching staff great for such a young catcher.

But back to the contract itself. In my opinion, it draws comparison to some other deals that teams gave young and somewhat inexperienced players. The Rays gave Matt Moore a five-year deal with three club options after he made just four or so regular season appearances, and one postseason appearance. Salvador Perez received a five-year deal, also with a few club options, from the Royals before going down with a knee injury. Perez had played just a few months in the Majors before getting this extension. So it appears that giving these young players “mega-deals,” as some call them, hasn’t been that uncommon as of late.

So hopefully Lucroy stays healthy and productive for a long time to come. He’s going to be held to high expectations after signing this deal, but I think he’ll live up to them.

Oct 4, 2011; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy against the Arizona Diamondbacks during game three of the 2011 NLDS at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE