by South Side Rob.

There was some good, some bad, and a lot of ugly. Some quotes after the game:

• “We just didn’t pitch very well.” — Ken Macha.
• “When you get [Lincecum] out of the game, you’ve got to feel good about
  it. When it’s in the third
  inning, you feel like you’re going to score some runs.” — Bill Hall.
• “Those were the two at-bats that really stick out in my mind. In those situations, you’ve got to make the pitch. Both of
  [those] pitches were in a location where they could drive it.” — Jeff Suppan.
• “Rebuild the first inning — take a look at it. With the
  exception of that changeup he left over the plate to Ishikawa, he
  didn’t get knocked around a lot and he gave up three runs.” — Ken Macha.
• “There were a few little things, but regardless of how you get there,
  you’re always working to get out of it. You have to keep making
  pitches.” — Jeff Suppan.
• “I don’t go out there and argue very often.” — Ken Macha
• “How you play on Opening Day doesn’t dictate how the season plays out.” — Jeff Suppan.

On Macha saying we didn’t pitch very well, that’s obvious. I sometimes wonder what pitchers are thinking about on how they approach certain hitters. I mean, we were playing what will probably be one of the worst offenses we see all season with 3 rookies making their major-league debut. Suppan pitched like he was facing a veteran 3-hitter all day. If he dreams of being Greg Maddux, that’s fine as long as he wakes up and remembers he’s Jeff Suppan. He talks about location constantly. Everytime Suppan was hit hard, the location was easy to see which was just below the waist and right down the pipe with an off-speed pitch that had zero movement.

Rickie Weeks had a nice game. Corey Hart had 2 3-pitch strikeouts, I guess he’s back to guessing wrong again. Braun had a nice hit but failed twice with runners in scoring position. Fielder had a nice double but also failed with runners in scoring position. Hardy had a strikeout and bounced into 2 double plays. Cameron walked 4 times and stole 2 bases. Billy Hall had an RBI double when the Brewers were down 5 runs (ala 2006) but didn’t do anything worth noting. Kendall tried to call a good game but Suppan can’t locate. He didn’t do anything at the plate. Suppan actually had an RBI double and drew a walk. Come to think of it, the Brewers drew 10 walks and were hit by 2 pitches for 12 free passes. Throw in their hits and they only managed 5 runs while knocking out last year’s Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum after 3 innings, his shortest outing in over a year. Yet, the Brewers lose 10-6.

Seth McClung showed why the Rays traded him away 2 years ago. Jorge Julio was an embarrassment as well.

It’s just one game but given the circumstances in facing one of the best pitchers in the game and getting to him early, the game was a complete waste.

Thank god for tomorrow. Baseball is cool that way. Have a bad game, let it simmer and then, go out and get them tomorrow. We hit lefties and Randy Johnson is just a shell of his former self. No excuses. We have to knock him around and win tomorrow’s game.