Milwaukee Brewers stand by Shaun Marcum – MLB Playoffs
The Milwaukee Brewers rebuffed any suggestion that playing Shaun Marcum proved ultimately disastrous for the team’s race in the National League Championship Series. Marcum who gave up four runs in only one inning of Game 6 against the St. Louis Cardinals
brought about a costly 12-6 loss to the team, prompting their exit from the World Series’ race.
His ERA stood at a costly 16.20 and crumbling any hope of the Brewers to stay afloat in the best-of-seven game series as the Cardinals won it 4-2. Marcum’s inclusion in the team at a time when he had hardly secured any victory in the post-season games raised
a lot of questions, but the Brewers’ team manager Ron Roenicke stuck to his decision.
The fact that the available option to the team manager was Yovani Gallardo as well also brought to focus how prudent it was to opt for Marcum. However, Roenicke thought it was the best decision given the situation.
"I know it was the right decision," Roenicke said. "I'm not second-guessing anything there. It was the right decision. With the options that we had, these guys pitched well all year. I still thought that they had good starts in them."
Marcum who had 13 wins in the regular season in the 33 appearances seemed to be the perfect choice for the Brewers in the post-season games as he had a 3.54 ERA throughout the season, having had an impressive record of 158 strike-outs.
Despite whatever happened, the Brewers and Marcum himself seemed determined to perform better in the upcoming season.
"Obviously, pitching one inning, you can't be too happy about that," Marcum said. "You've got to give those guys credit."
The seemingly unending guess work as to what could Gallardo do in Game 6 refuses to end. However, even if he could manage to secure a victory, the Brewers had to ultimately go for Marcum in the Game 7 of the series, whereby whatever happened in Game 6 might
repeat itself there.
The fact that the Brewers were knocked out of the National League Championship Series by the Cardinals, has given rise to second guessing and doubt amongst many fans of Milwaukee. The decision to go with Marcum in Game 6 will continue to haunt the Brewers
for many seasons to come.
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