Game Two was rough. I feel badly for Sabathia because he's done so much for this team, I know he didn't deserve this as his last start, if it was indeed his last start. But there are consequences for organizational decisions, and this seems to be the obvious effect of pitching someone that was already approaching 240 IP for the season on short rest several times, pushing that workload ever higher.

I am not sure anyone can fully disagree with the strategy in hindsight, other than saying that short rest inevitably places a pitcher in a routine that he is not used to, and puts his body through a new combination of rest and stress. After pitching on full rest for most the season, pitching on short rest might work in some instances, but also likely adds to the chances of producing a poor outing due to a lack in stamina, a sore arm, or simply a tired arm. I think we finally saw Sabathia running on fumes yesterday, and it was difficult to watch -- he is a very good pitcher when he is at his best, but there are some situations where he is not likely to succeed.

The more I think about this, I am happy that he pitched on short rest in the regular season, to finish those last two weeks, because the fact of the matter is, our rotation is shredded, there were less effective options for pitching, and the playoffs rested on those final two weeks. Part of the miracle of making the postseason, in  such an improbable manner, is coupled with C.C.'s improbable performance on continual short rest. Of course it was an undesirable scenario, and of course it set C.C. up to become ineffective due to soreness, fatigue, or both. 

Now, the offensive approaches were no better. The Brewers seem to press more, and become less patient, when they need a run the most. Now, maybe it is natural to the instincts of baseball players -- the ever-patient Cubs were awful in that regard last night, as soon as they went down by 5 runs. Maybe teams that need to score a ton of runs cannot help but press -- and of course, it only makes the situation worse because no one can hit a 5-run home run.

The Brewers need to improve their plate discipline, and improve their patience, and improve their means of getting on base via the walk for 2009. I do not believe they need to overhaul the offense with contact hitters, or hitters that do not have power. The answer to an impatient power team is not to get rid of the power, but to get rid of the impatience. The worst thing this team could do would be to set up a group of offensive players that do not improve the patience of this team, but are different because they do not hit the ball with power, or drive the ball. The answer to a great many offensive debates is not either/or, but both. What I mean is this: although there are indeed certain characteristics between power players and non-power players, neither one is privileged to patience, more privileged than the other group hitters. Meaning that the Brewers need to be careful about how they revamp this offense in 2009 --- I seem to think that coaching and ideology changes, and maybe a different player here or there would help add some patience to this team.

Because driving the ball is still the most important thing this team could do, or any team, for that matter. There can be a correlation between hitting for power, driving the ball, and developing walks -- Ryan Braun, at his best, could take a walk every single time he goes to the plate because the pitcher will not throw him good pitches to drive when Braun is hitting his best. The point is for someone like Braun to realize that, not to get rid of someone like Braun. 

That goes for a good number of Brewers...