Folks around here have lamented about how bad the Brewers pitching will be without Sheets and Sabathia this year.  Granted, those guys were/are pretty good.  However, if you all remember back to the start of last year, people had dreams of the playoffs and Sabathia wasn’t even in the picture.  Why? 

Well, the Brewers had another pitcher on staff that wasn’t too bad either.  Some 22 year old kid named Yovanni Gallardo.  Unfortunately, he only appeared in a measley 27 innings spread across 4 games last year.  He managed to amass a 1.88 ERA in that time but received no decisions either way and had a 0-0 record.  All because he blew out his knee in a bizarre play at 1st base at Wrigley Stadium early in the season.  He raced back through rehab (being a young kid will help with that), to pitch in a final series against the Cubs so Sabathia didn’t have to trot out there every stinking night. 

So, how’s he doing this year?  He got his first start last night and here’s the stats:

• 6 2/3 innings pitched
• 2.7 ERA
• 6 Strike outs
• Batted .500 with a 3 run-2 out jack in the 5th inning off Randy Johnson (you’ve heard of him, right?  5 time Cy Young award winner?  Thought so.)

Tonight Manny Parra takes the mound in hopes the Brewers can win the series.  Parra started out 9-2 last year before hitting the rookie wall.  Hopefully, this season he can start like that again and keep it going throughout the season.  If so, the Brewers will have found 2 new aces for there staff right under their own roof.