Brewers Week In Review: July 11 — July 17

July 17, 2022
|In Brewers
|By Ben Kenney

The Milwaukee Brewers are trending in the wrong direction entering next week’s All-Star Break. A 2-4 week to cap off the first half of the season marks the second straight frame with that same record — and was negatively highlighted by dropping the last three games of the four-game set in San Francisco. It’s the fourth straight time the team has limped into the All-Star Break, excluding the 2020 season where there was no midsummer classic. This happening for a year or two could just be an anomaly, though now four straight poor performances during this time of year is turning it into a worrisome trend.

First, Craig Counsell’s team lost six in a row during this time in 2018. Then they lost five of their last six in 2019, followed that up by losing six of their last eight in 2021 and now have lost eight of their last 11 contests this time around. A lot is in play here, including injuries and uncharacteristic struggles. But external confidence is waning with the weeks counting down to the trade deadline.

The context from the week needs to be noted. The team isn’t just losing, they’re blowing games after they’re already in hand. Which, all things considered, could be worse.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Curt Hogg outlined each of the team’s last six losses and how much of a collapse each performance was.

Loss No. 1 was a Josh Hader loss in the 9th (more on that in a bit), loss No. 2 was last Saturday when Counsell left Brandon Woodruff in the game for a few too many pitches, loss No. 3 came thanks to the bullpen allowing 5 runs in 4 innings, loss No. 4 was the walk-off home run off Hader (again), loss No. 5 was one of the more remarkable collapses I’ve ever seen (from Hader) and I don’t know how to explain loss No. 6 when Jandel Gustave allowed the go-ahead run on a balk.

A necessary note: this tweet was written before today’s game, which the Brewers lost 9-5.

Overall, these are not games the team should be expected to lose moving forward unless Josh Hader continues pitching to the 20.25 ERA he has this month. They all appear to be outliers, aside from the fact it’s happened six times in the last two weeks.

Luckily we get a few days to stew on the 3-8 record in the 11 games entering the All-Star Break. Before we return to hoping the team turns a corner as soon as it’s back in action, here is this week’s Brewers Week In Review:

 

 

Record: 2-4

Current Standing: 50-43 (1st in NL Central)

 

The Good: Devin Williams stays untouchable.

Devin Williams has done more than enough during the first half of the season to warrant an All-Star selection. Thankfully, the snub was finally corrected this morning when news broke he would indeed be playing in the game.

His week was completely dominant, an interesting juxtaposition to his counterpart in the back end of the bullpen. The line: 3 appearances, 3 innings, 1 hit, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, 1 save.

That’s now 26 appearances without allowing an earned run, a streak that has seen him record 24.2 innings and 40 strikeouts, and only allow 8 hits and 8 walks. There were some control concerns when the season began. Those concerns can be written away, as Williams is pitching like he’s the best reliever in baseball.

 

The Bad: Josh Hader’s multiple collapses

As mentioned earlier, Josh Hader’s production has dropped off a cliff this month.

The line from the week: 3 games, 0-2 record, 1.1 innings, 7 hits, 1 walk, 9 earned runs, 4 home runs allowed, 6.00 WHIP, 60.75 ERA.

The updated line for the month: 5.1 innings, 13 hits, 12 ER, 11 Ks, 3/4 saves, 0-3 record, 20.25 ERA.

It all came to an echoing crescendo on Friday night when Hader entered the game in the 9th with a 5-2 lead. One out and three home runs later, the Giants won 8-5.

I don’t really know what to say about the stretch as a whole. It seems like hitters are picking up on when the slider is coming, the execution hasn’t been clean and the ball is jumping out of the yard.

I guess the hope is this is one of the more severe outliner stretches we’ve seen from one of the game’s best closers.

 

MVP: 

-Corbin Burnes (1-0, 7.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 Ks, 0.95 WHIP, 1.23 ERA)

 

Stat Of The Week:

 

Video(s) Of The Week:

 

Tweets Of The Week:

 

 

Next Week: All-Star Break, vs. COL

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