Win: Travis Wood (1-0)
Loss: Shaun Marcum (0-1)
Save: Francisco Cordero (1)
HR: Scott Rolen (1), Erick Almonte (1)
MVP: Prince Fielder (.034)
LVP: Shaun Marcum (-.216)
Fangraphs Depressing Win Expectancy Graph
Shaun Marcum just couldn't find his groove in his first career start with the Brewers. In 4.2 innings, he gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits and, more surprisingly, five walks. Last year Marcum only gave up two walks per nine innings, but this isn't unprecedented: The righty has now walked five hitters three times in his career. It didn't help that he also seemed to be getting squeezed by the umpire the majority of the time. Marcum's night wasn't all bad either: He still managed to strike out seven hitters, which is great to see.
Travis Wood, on the other hand, made the Brewers look utterly helpless. He pitched seven innings and allowed just four walks, with his only run given up coming on the Erick Almonte solo shot. Wood also struck out seven hitters. For the first few innings, the Brewers really couldn't even hit a ball off the ground as it was groundout after groundout with a K sprinkled in.
The Brewers bullpen pitched well: Zach Braddock quickly got the only out he was in for, Sergio Mitre pitched two innings and only allowed a hit, and Sean Green had a perfect eighth inning.
Along with Almonte, Prince Fielder had a good offensive game, going 2-4. The Milwaukee hitters failed to draw a single walk, which is slightly disconcerting.
The Brewers did spark a small rally in the ninth. Carlos Gomez led up with a single up the middle before Ryan Braun grounded into a fielders choice wherein the Reds forced Gomez out. Prince Fielder than grounded out to move Braun to second and Casey McGehee singled in Braun to make it a two run game. With Erick Almonte at the plate as the tying run, Francisco Cordero struck him out swinging to end the game.
In the big picture, though, don't worry about this loss. Shaun Marcum wasn't going to pitch great in every start. The Brewers were going to lose a second game. At some point early this season, they were going to lose two in a row. The overwhelming odds are that they will lose three games in a row sometime in 2011. We're 1.2% through the season and all of this was going to happen at some point. Just like the Brewers will win their first game and will eventually have a winning streak.
There's another game tomorrow afternoon and, just like with the other 161, the Brewers will try to win it. Join us here for more discussion, the game starts at 12:10 and the game thread will open at 11:00.