Series Preview: Milwaukee Brewers

The Pirates play only six home games against the Brewers this year - a huge decrease from the 45 last year. For a team that made a lot of offseason improvements, Weeks-Gomez-Braun-Fielder-McGehee-Kotsay-Betancourt-Lucroy sure looks like a bullshit lineup to me. That looks to me like a lineup of four guys who would start on any team and four who should be platoon or bench players. Pittsburgh knows nothing about that.Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Wednesday 7:05, Thursday 7:05
Tonight, Pirates ace Kevin Correia (2-0, 1.29) faces the Brewers' Shaun Marcum (1-1, 4.22). Marcum pitched his whole career for the Blue Jays so this is the first time the Pirates will face him even though he's been around since 2006. Despite being righthanded he's a classic junkballer. He throws two different fastballs which combine for only 33% of pitches this season. Marcum also mixes in a slider, cutter, curveball, and changeup, and has had sucess with a 3.73 ERA and 7.3 K/9 since 2007. Those numbers are compiled in the AL East. For the Bucs, Correia looked like a true ace in his first two starts, then was shortsightedly used in relief. I hope there are no negative effects. My pick is the Pirates.

The quick two-game series closes tomorrow with Pittsburgh's Paul Maholm (0-1, 2.19) against Randy Wolf (0-2, 7.20). Age catches up to all men and this could be Randy Wolf's year. The Brewers got a new manager, Ron Roenicke, so don't expect him to go with Wolf too long if he gets hit hard. My pick is the Pirates.