Cubs just too 'hot' for Yost's Brewers
MILWAUKEE - Brewers manager Ned Yost sat relaxed in his dugout before Wednesday's game at Miller Park and joked about how poor he was at math.
"I don't do math well," Yost said. "I got a 'D' in geometry and I went (to class) every single day."
These numbers should crunch easy, even for Yost: Three straight losses to the Cubs equals 4 games behind the North Siders in the NL Central.
For the third night in a row the Cubs got better starting pitching than the Brewers, with Ryan Dempster picking up where Carlos Zambrano left off Tuesday in the 7-2 victory.
Dempster matched Zambrano with 9 strikeouts, allowing just 5 hits in 7 innings to run his record to 12-4.
"(Ted) Lilly was great Monday and Zambrano was unbelievable," Dempster said. "I was just glad I could do my part."
The Cubs have outscored the Brewers 20-7 and outhit them 40-20 in the first three games of the series.
"That's a good hitting club over there, and they're hot," Yost said. "They're hitting on all cylinders right now. Our job is to find a way to cool down a hot club, and it starts with David Bush (today's starter in the series finale)."
Cubs pitchers have silenced two of the Brewers' biggest guns in Ryan Braun (2-for-11) and Corey Hart (2-for-12). Prince Fielder is 5-for-9 but with just 1 RBI. Braun, Hart and Fielder have combined to drive in 3 runs in the series.
"We faced two all-star pitchers the last two days," Yost said in reference to Dempster and Zambrano. "You can talk all you want about (not hitting with) runners in scoring position, but those are two very good pitchers.
"Every team goes through these types of little spells and you wait them out."
The Brewers had a few chances against Dempster. Pitcher Manny Parra led off the third inning with a double but didn't score. Parra tripled in the fifth, but it came after Jason Kendall was thrown out stealing.
"Dempster was just very tough," Yost said. "I asked Braun in the sixth inning and he said his slider, he just couldn't pick up the spin. It looked like a fastball and broke hard."
Dempster said his best pitch still was his fastball.
"I had good command of my fastball and that's still the toughest pitch to hit," Dempster said. "That lineup, as good as it is, you've got to stay aggressive."
Yost did his best to put a positive spin on where the Brewers sit after 3 disappointing losses to the Cubs.
"With two months to go it doesn't matter really what happens this series because there's enough time to make it up, one, and we play them again, two, and circumstances can change drastically between then and now," Yost said.
"Generally the best teams win over the course of 162 games. We feel we've got a team that's capable of winning and that over the course of 162 games we're going to be right there in the end in contention."
The Cubs and the Brewers still have six games remaining against each other after today, but the next one isn't until Sept. 16 at Wrigley Field.
"(Today) is a must-win game, but I'd be saying the same thing if we had won the first three games," Yost said.