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Well, the season just keeps getting worse for the Brewers. They lost 2 out of 3 to the Cardinals to bring their season record to a dismal 2-7. And as if that wasn't bad enough Carlos Gomez who is either the best or the second best player on the team hit the disabled list with a hamstring injury.
The Pirates's season hasn't gone much better. In point of fact it's gone exactly one game better in the standings as they are just 3-6. Two of those wins came against the Brewers in their recent series at Miller Park. Now the two rivals meet on the Pirates home turf in the pitching friendly confines of PNC Park. That can't be good news for a team whose offense has struggled to get going.
Let's take a look at their numbers from last year.
The Position Players
| Player | Position | DRS | UZR | PA | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR |
| Francisco Cervelli | C | -1 | N/A | 162 | 6.8 | 25.3 | 301 | 370 | 432 | 358 | 128 | 1.2 |
| Tony Sanchez | C | 0 | N/A | 80 | 3.8 | 35.0 | 267 | 300 | 360 | 294 | 88 | 0.0 |
| Pedro Alvarez | 1B | 0 | --- | 445 | 10.1 | 25.4 | 231 | 312 | 405 | 316 | 103 | 0.0 |
| Neil Walker | 2B | -2 | -6.8 | 571 | 7.9 | 15.4 | 271 | 342 | 467 | 356 | 130 | 3.6 |
| Josh Harrison | 3B | 9 | 2.9 | 550 | 4.0 | 14.7 | 315 | 347 | 490 | 365 | 137 | 5.0 |
| Jordy Mercer | SS | 9 | 0.5 | 555 | 6.3 | 16.0 | 255 | 300 | 387 | 299 | 91 | 2.0 |
| Starling Marte | LF | 10 | 1.5 | 545 | 6.1 | 24.0 | 291 | 356 | 453 | 358 | 132 | 4.3 |
| Andrew McCutchen | CF | -11 | -10.8 | 648 | 13.0 | 17.7 | 314 | 410 | 542 | 412 | 168 | 6.8 |
| Gregory Polanco | RF | -3 | -3.2 | 312 | 9.6 | 18.9 | 235 | 307 | 343 | 293 | 87 | 0.3 |
| Corey Hart | 1B/OF | --- | --- | 255 | 6.3 | 23.1 | 203 | 271 | 319 | 266 | 70 | -1.1 |
| Sean Rodriguez | UTIL | --- | --- | 259 | 3.9 | 25.5 | 211 | 258 | 443 | 305 | 99 | -0.1 |
| Jung Ho Kang | UTIL | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Andrew Lambo | OF | --- | --- | 39 | 0.0 | 20.5 | 256 | 256 | 359 | 269 | 71 | 0.1 |
The Pitching Staff
| Player | Position | IP | K% | BB% | HR/9 | BAA | WHIP | ERA | FIP | xFIP | SIERA | fWAR |
| Francisco Liriano | SP | 162.1 | 25.3 | 11.7 | 0.72 | 215 | 1.30 | 3.38 | 3.59 | 3.40 | 3.10 | 1.9 |
| The Whiny Child Gerrit Cole | SP | 138.0 | 24.2 | 7.0 | 0.72 | 243 | 1.21 | 3.65 | 3.23 | 3.25 | 3.23 | 2.3 |
| AJ Burnett | SP | 213.2 | 20.3 | 10.3 | 0.84 | 249 | 1.41 | 4.59 | 4.14 | 3.95 | 3.03 | 1.5 |
| Jeff Locke | SP | 131.1 | 16.2 | 7.3 | 1.10 | 252 | 1.27 | 3.91 | 4.37 | 3.90 | 4.07 | 0.3 |
| Vance Worley | SP | 110.2 | 17.3 | 4.8 | 0.73 | 259 | 1.21 | 2.85 | 3.44 | 3.54 | 3.68 | 1.6 |
| Mark Melancon | RP | 71.0 | 25.6 | 4.0 | 0.25 | 1.94 | 0.87 | 1.90 | 2.09 | 2.47 | 2.07 | 2.0 |
| Tony Watson | RP | 77.1 | 26.6 | 4.9 | 0.58 | 225 | 1.02 | 1.63 | 2.69 | 2.84 | 2.39 | 1.5 |
| Jared Hughes | RP | 64.1 | 14.1 | 7.4 | 0.56 | 221 | 1.09 | 1.96 | 3.99 | 3.79 | 3.25 | -0.3 |
| Antonio Bastardo | RP | 64.0 | 29.9 | 12.6 | 0.56 | 183 | 1.20 | 3.94 | 3.10 | 3.81 | 3.17 | 0.8 |
| Rob Scahill | RP | 15.0 | 15.3 | 12.5 | 1.80 | 274 | 1.73 | 4.80 | 6.27 | 5.07 | 4.71 | -0.4 |
| Radhames Liz | RP | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Arquimedes Caminero | RP | 6.2 | 25.8 | 12.9 | 2.70 | 296 | 1.80 | 10.80 | 6.43 | 4.57 | 3.70 | -0.2 |
Pitching Match-Ups
Friday, April 17th - 6:05 pm CST: Jimmy Nelson vs Vance Worly
Jimmy Nelson faced the Pirates in the last go around and introduced them to his brand new curveball much to their dismay. He held them scoreless for 7 innings. I'm very interested to see how he fares against them after such a quick turnaround.
The Brewers teed off on Worley notching 6 ER against the pitcher. If Nelson is as dominant this could be a nice start to the series for the Brewers.
Saturday, April 18th - 6:05 pm CST: Kyle Lohse vs Jeff Locke
Kyle Lohse has not been able to find his stride this season. In his first two start he got shelled. I doubt he's just done as a pitcher but it'd be nice to see him turn it on sooner than later. Perhaps PNC will help.
The Brewers struggled against Locke last time out. It might be more of the same as they'll have to have a lefty in center field, most likely Gerardo Parra. I'm worried about who Ron Roenicke will play at 2B and 1B. The right choice might be to put Hector Gomez at 2B and either Jason Rogers or Jonathan Lucry at 1B. That doesn't mean that's what RRR will do though...
Sunday, April 12th - 1:10 pm CST: Matt Garza vs The Whiny Child Gerrit Cole
Gerrit Cole is very talented. He has tons of potential and there's no reason he can't starting putting everything together this year. As far as repertoire goes he features a mid-90's fastball, slider, curve, and change.
Matt Garza, much like Lohse, has had trouble finding his groove. Much like Lohse I don't expect that to continue for the whole season. Handing a loss to the Pirates and their whiny ace in the making would be a nice time to start.