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Yovani Gallardo Tabbed by Brewers for Game One Against Phillies

Sep 30, 2008 – 11:02 AM
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Pat Lackey

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It seems unlikely that CC Sabathia will be able to pitch every game in the NLDS for the Brewers. I'm certain that Doug Melvin and Dale Sveum have thought about it, but the truth is that if the series goes five games, the Brewers are going to need at least two and maybe three other starters. Since Sabathia pitched on Sunday and the series opens tomorrow, they've gone ahead and tabbed Yovani Gallardo as their starter for Game One against the Phillies on Wednesday.

This caps a pretty improbable journey for Gallardo. He tore his ACL on May 1st and has made one start since then, a four-inning outing against the Pirates last week in which he struck out seven and held the Pirates to one run, keeping Milwaukee in the game for Ryan Braun's walk-off later that night. His arm is in great shape since the injury was to his knee, but there's got to be some concern about his stamina at this point.

Really, I think Gallardo is the key for the Brewers in this series. The Brewers still aren't sure that that Ben Sheets can pitch against the Phillies and they need somoene to stare down Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Pat Burrell once or twice in the next week. Gallardo is supremely talented and I don't think anyone in Milwaukee would be worried about him if he wasn't just coming off of the injury. If he can slide into Sheets' role as the second starter, I think the Brewers will be hard to beat in a short series.
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