Carlos Villanueva had his best start in three tries on Tuesday the 13th, which isn't saying much after he had his brains beaten in by Houston and Florida the previous two outings. A big part of his "success" was the fact that he kept the ball in the yard after giving up 6 homers in those previous two starts, though Matt Kemp did hit him hard in the first for a ball that might have gone out elsewhere.

As noted in an earlier blog post, Villanueva has had progressively more and more trouble getting outs as batters see him a second and third time. Currently, he has an OPS against of .672 the first time through the lineup, .930 the second time through and 1.175 after that. Last night he actually had more trouble early and then kind of settled into the game in the 5th and 6th innings, which just goes to show that this sort of thing doesn't hold true every time.

There is a strong case to be made that he is simply miscast as a starter and that he would be more valuable pitching 2 to 3 innings every three days or so. If the Brewers had not lost Gallardo and Capuano to injury and given Vargas his walking papers, I think there would be a very strong case to be made that CV should be in the pen. As things stand currently, with Jeff Weaver at AAA likely being the man who would replace him, there still may be a case for making the move.

Even if Weaver isn't able to be as good as Villanueva (though I think he can be comparable), the team probably can upgrade it's pitching staff as a whole by moving CV to a role where he stands a good chance at having a lot of success. Of course, that is as long as Weaver can eat some innings and keep the ball in the yard. With Villanueva coming off a decent start, now may not be the time to make this move. If he reverts back to giving up a lot of homers in the middle innings, this is a move that should be considered.