Ugh!  The Brewers entered the ninth inning today with a 5-4 lead.  They left the game losers again.  Why?  Pitching.  Just take a look at the stats for today:

Ryan Braun – 3-5 hitting with 1 HR, 2 RBI’s and 1 SB (he also hit into a double play, but that’s still good hitting)

J.J. Hardy – 3-5 hitting with 1 double

Corey Hart – 2-5 hitting with 1 RBI

Tony Graffanino – 1-4 hitting with 1 HR and 2 RBI.

Now look at the pitching.  Middle relief did it’s job.  Shouse inherited a runner in the 6th and got out with no runs scored.  Villanueva got all the batters he faced out in the 7th.  Turnbow matched that in the 8th.  So, what went wrong?  Bush started and lasted only 5 innings.  He gave up 7 hits, 4 earned runs and walked 3 guys.  When he left the game the Brewers were down 4-3 and he allowed the Reds to set the tone with a 1st inning HR to Griffey.  But, the hitters battled back and they were in a position to win until Cordero mucked it up.  In 1 and 1/3 innings (he pitched the ill fated bottom of the 10th as well), he gave up 5 hits, 2 earned runs and 1 walk.

See what happens when your pitching has a bad day?  It doesn’t matter how good your hitting is.  You win division titles with good pitching.  Suppan had a bad game yesterday.  The Crew threw away a gem by Cappy a couple of days ago.  Why?  Because Aaron Harang pitched every bit as well and the Brewers reliever single-handedly loaded the bases (2 walks and an error) and then gave up the game winning single.

Pitching.  It’s always the pitching, people.