What started as an early-September swoon is now inching its way into mid-September.  After losing to Philadelphia in the series-opener last night, the Brewers are now 3-8 in the season's most critical month, and the offense has all but disappeared.  As a team, Milwaukee is hitting .219 this month, which is cause enough for concern, but when/if a Brewer actually gets as far as second base, the next batter is hitting all of .174.  Add it all up and the club is averaging less than three runs per game since the page was turned from August (2.8 runs per game).  For perspective, for the season the team is 3-29 when scoring less than three runs.  There is no way to find a positive trend in all that.

  Perhaps even more worrisome is that the club suddenly cannot even beat left-handed pitching, which it has bullied mercilessly all season.  The Brewers have lost to five straight southpaw starters, a sure sign that a plague is among us.  Milwaukee has been the best team in baseball against lefties throughout 2008, but that has suddenly and inexplicably been reversed, and dynamic Philly left-hander Cole Hamels is waiting to go to the mound in a few hours.

  Believe it or not, that is not what troubles me the most.  That distinction belongs to the question of home field advantage.  Milwaukee has been just about the best home team in Major League Baseball for the past two years...that is no secret.  But by the time the team was wrapping up a nightmarish 3-7 homestand to open September, there was sudden widespread sentiment that it might be a good thing that the Brewers were heading out on a road trip.  What?!  The very idea that the team might be better off anywhere but Miller Park, even Philadelphia, is apocolyptic.   Knowing that the Brewers will finish the season with six games at Miller Park, including a closing three with the Cubs and their traveling fans, it is hard to be optimistic about a strong ending to the regular season.

  The math is still pretty fair for the Brewers in terms of the post-season outlook.  They still have a three game lead over Philly and Houston with fifteen games to play.  The Phillies have not been playing particularly well, and all the talk before the series here began was about Charlie Manuel's club "pressing" and "trying to do too much."  Sound familiar?  Still, the Phils played a good game last night and picked up a much-needed win, which might relieve some pressure.  Cecil Cooper's Astros are so hot and loose right now that I'm surprised Ike didn't take one look and turn back to the south.  There is no non-weather pressure at all on Houston and, as we saw with the Rockies last year, their hot streak has taken on a life of its own. 

  There is pressure on the Brewers and lots of it.  The fans, much more mindful of the last twenty-six years of baseball history in Milwaukee than the players are, put their pressure on during the last homestand, showing no patience or tolerance for sub-par play whatsoever.  The standings and calendar are applying rising pressure.  There is also plenty of self-imposed pressure, which can be the worst kind, because these guys want to succeed so badly.  Pressure rarely elevates performance.  Most of the time, the opposite is true.  Welcome to September pennant-race baseball.  There is also tremendous pressure on a pretty long list of other playoff-contending teams.  The White Sox, Twins, Rays, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Cubs, and Cardinals have all had significant lapses while trying to handle the same factors that are dousing the Brewers' flames.  The teams which handle the pressure the best will survive, and those which cannot find a way to relax and play the way they are capable will go the way of the '07 Mets.  This is baseball's "natural selection" process at work.

  Somehow the Brewers have to switch back to trying to impose their swagger, confidence, and talent on the opposition instead of trying to run out the clock on the regular season.  I really think the Astros are playing great because nobody expects they can actually pull this thing off, while the weight of expectations stemming from holding down a playoff spot most of the summer are dragging the Brewers down.  This has become a test of character, confidence, and leadership.  The Brewers will need all three of those in healthy doses to survive the last two and a half weeks of this season.

  To answer the original question...yes, I am worried.  Very worried.