by Bill Johnson (bjohnson@gkbsports.com)

 

The Brewers will be better at the end of the 2012 season than they are now.

 

I guess they couldn't be much worse than they are right now, so that isn't a very bold statement.

 

I still believe in the Roenicke/Melvin/Attanasio team. While they won't mortgage the future for 2012, they will make this team competitive. They're all very good at what they do, so I have confidence it will happen.

 

The question is, will it happen in time?

 

Fair or not, the expectation now in Milwaukee is to make the post season, especially with the expanded Wild Card. I still think there's a chance. Other teams have made it in recent years after poor start, including the Brewers last season.

 

We've always been told that injuries aren't an excuse, that every team has them. Does every team lose their starting first baseman, starting shortstop, and their fifth starter in the first three weeks of the season? Not to mention losing their talented yet flighty center fielder for a month just when it seems he's finally getting it?

 

Right now, it's convenient to bash the Brewers, and some of it is deserved. Maybe they didn't do enough to address the departure of Prince Fielder. Despite Braun having another great season, the offense has been awful. Lucroy has been solid, but Ramirez has not yet given them the expected boost, and Weeks can't possibly be healthy.

 

Today, Sunday May 20 2012, I still have optimism for the Brewers for two reasons.

 

The starting pitching and the owner.

 

Greinke,Gallardo, and often Marcum should pitch well enough to keep the Brewers in games. Career numbers suggest that players like Ramirez, Hart, and Weeks can't be this bad for an entire season. Once the offense is a little more consistent, more wins will come, but will there be enough wins?

 

Attanasio gives me the most hope. While isn't as caustic as Steinbrenner, the Brewers owner will not sit idly by while three million paying customers watch a losing product. While heads may not role, their will be some different heads brought in to make the product more successful.

 

So bash away, Johnny Five Pabst!!! It's what you do. 

 

If the Brewers continue to head down the road to nowhere, you will be able to stumble around your favorite watering hole telling everyone how right you were the whole time.(as the aroma of pickled eggs and beef sticks waft around you)

 

If they turn it around, you can revel in their success and forget all the doom and gloom of mid-May.

 

That's the joy of being Johnny Five Pabst.

 

The Brewers are eight games below .500 with 120 to play.

 

120.