We’re just a little over an eighth of the way through the MLB season and Brewer fans are already panicking and criticizing their team, even though they have been over .500 the entire season so far.

Yes, the Brewers haven’t been hitting to what they are capable of as their .240 team batting average indicates, but they have shown signs of coming out of it this last home stand, especially Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. Fielder hit three long balls last week and Braun hit .300 during the seven-game home stand.

And despite the lack of hitting, Milwaukee has been pretty much in every game, as they have only lost by three or more runs twice and have already been in eight extra-inning games.

The pitching has been pretty good so far this year with a team ERA under four. Yes, Eric Gagne hasn’t been perfect with four blown saves (although his last one wasn’t his fault as he got the double play ball he needed to end the game, it just was a bad throw by Rickie Weeks), but he has started to pitch better and the bullpen is the main reason the Brew Crew has been able to have a shot in pretty much every game this season.

But with Ben Sheets missing a start last week and Mike Cameron serving a 25-game suspension, Ned Yost hasn’t had all the weapons to his disposal.

So even though the Brewers have played 25 games, in my mind, their season truly starts today when they take on the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The reason I see the Brewers season officially starting today is because today is the first day that the team general manager Doug Melvin and Yost envisioned will be complete as Mike Cameron ends his 25-game suspension. Ben Sheets will also avoid a stint on the DL when he takes the mound tonight.

So give it time Brewer fans. Let’s see if the addition of Cameron in the two-hole makes the impacted Melvin thought it would when he signed the centerfielder to a deal this offseason.

Is Cameron going to come in and change the entire team around immediately? Probably not. But he might just be the spark the Brew Crew needs at the top of the order.

Is Cameron going to be the savior for the season? No, but the Brewers’ season doesn’t need to be saved. It is still early and a lot can still happen.

Look at last year when Milwaukee started the year out 24-10 and had and eight-game lead but ended the year two games back and only two games above .500. The Brewers are three games over .500 now and they have faced a lot tougher competition to start the year than last year (Carlos Zambrano, Johan Santana, and Aaron Harang twice, to name a few).

If we are going to judge this team and the job that Melvin and Yost are doing, we can only judge when they have all the pieces they believed they needed to win. Well, starting tonight, the Brewers will have all the pieces so the judging can start now.

If after 50 games, the team is still not hitting; if they are falling further back in the division race and the pitching isn’t holding up anymore, then start to get worried that this season might be a waste.

Until then, sit back and relax and let’s see if the team Melvin thought the Brewers would win with turns it around now that it is completely together.

�

Greg is a senior majoring in communication arts. Let him know when you think it is time to start worrying about the Brew Crew at [email protected]