Focus is on learning from losses
Before the Milwaukee Brewers took the field for their season opener Monday afternoon at Miller Park, catcher Jonathan Lucroy was asked about the low expectations for the rebuilding team.
“We’re going to win some games,” Lucroy said. “We’re not going to go 0-162.”
Before you say something sarcastic such as, “Way to set the bar high, Luc,” let it be known that it was a tongue-incheek comment. Lucroy is well aware that most baseball pundits expect the 2016 Brewers to be quite awful.
We won’t know for 161 more games how bad it will be in terms of wins and losses, but the Brewers produced the expected result against the San Francisco Giants and ace Madison Bumgarner. After the Brewers put up a fight for a few innings, their bullpen allowed the visitors to turn it into a 12-3 rout and the air went out of the place.
The pity of it was that Bumgarner was dealing with flu-like symptoms and wasn’t close to being sharp, surrendering five hits and five walks in five innings. He might not be that vulnerable again
for a long time, and the Brewers were unable to take full advantage.
Meanwhile, Brewers starter Wily Peralta, feeling just fine physically, played in traffic for four innings, allowing five runs (four earned) before exiting. In his first opening-day start, it wasn’t nearly enough against a lineup of hitters who know how to keep at-bats alive.
And so it went. This being an even-numbered year, the Giants apparently can start planning another World Series at AT&T Park. The Brewers, well, their focus is a bit farther down the road. Actually, a lot farther.
“We all know we are at the beginning of something here, and we’ll all be able to look back on this and say, ‘I remember when,’ ” said owner Mark Attanasio, who was in good spirits as usual on opening day.
“That’s actually fun,” Attanasio added. “It may not be fun at some points during the season.”
The first point unfortunately came before opening day was done. With reliever Ariel Peña surrendering three consecutive home runs in the eighth inning, what had been a spirited game became a pummeling, sending many of the 44,318 scurrying back to the parking lots to reignite their grills, arctic blast be damned.
It got every bit as ugly as the 10-0 pasting by Colorado on opening day a year ago, when the immortal Kyle Kendrick shut out the Brewers for seven innings. At the all-star break, Kendrick was 3-10 with a 5.94 ERA. Just saying.
But expectations were different for the 2015 Brewers. As it turns out, they weren’t realistic expectations for a club that would take a 5-17 pratfall in April, get manager Ron Roenicke fired and eventually be stripped to start the rebuilding process.
Expectations for this team are close to ground zero, which Lucroy said players must ignore at all costs or fall into a mental abyss.
“You can’t get caught up in all of that stuff,” he said. “If you do, it’s kind of depressing and all of that. You’ve got to focus hard on playing hard and doing the little things you need to do to win.”
If the Brewers don’t post many actual victories, they will look for smaller “victories.” Such as Scooter Gennett starting to hit lefties, powerful Domingo Santana showing what he can do as an everyday player and speedy centerfielder Keon Broxton chasing down balls in the gaps.
The inexperienced players also must learn the importance of turning the page and forgetting about disappointing losses. Short memories are a must in such situations.
“This is one day,” said manager Craig Counsell, who has the perfect temperament to deal with tough games. “They are going to learn every day they are here. It is important that they learn from every day.
“Win or lose, there is a learning experience for a player without a lot of (major-league) experience that they are taking from the day. We just have to make sure as a coaching staff that we share the experience they can take from each day.”
As Attanasio put it beforehand, “This year we have to look more qualitatively than quantitatively, and I’m sincere about that. We may surprise everybody with a lot of wins, actually, but if we don’t see some of the development we’re hoping to see, then it will be too bad.”
The Brewers’ minorleague affiliates start play later in the week, and team executives and fans alike will be watching to see how fast the top prospects get ready for the majors. At Miller Park, there will be more days like the opener, when far more talented and experienced clubs have their way with the home team.
“I’m actually really looking forward to it,” Attanasio said before the first pitch was thrown. “We’ve never had a season like this, where I’m going to be as focused on player development as this season.”
The key, for everyone involved, is not to lose that focus. Even on days like this.