Don't expect to see any of the Brewers at Six Flags or in the Dells during the three-day All-Star break. These guys have been on enough of a roller-coaster ride the last three months.

The Brewers limp into the traditional midpoint of the 2009 major league season as something of an enigma. They started out awful, righted the ship and became baseball's hottest team thanks to solid starting pitching and a locked-in bullpen, then watched both of those pillars crumble as they went 3-7 in their last 10 games.

So now what?

With his team 45-43 and just two games behind St. Louis in the Central Division race, manager Ken Macha is feeling optimistic about the Brewers' chances in the second half, especially when it comes to the much-maligned starting rotation.

For starters, Manny Parra's seven-inning performance Thursday, his first big league start in nearly a month, put a smile on the skipper's face. He's hoping the young left-hander has found some much-needed confidence and will evolve into one of the National League's best southpaws.

"That was just a tremendous outing," Macha said. "The confidence he exuded was off the charts."

The rotation will get another boost if all goes well for Dave Bush in an exhibition start Wednesday. He could be back with the Brewers in time for a series with Pittsburgh next week, giving the Brewers all five of their opening day starters, and all of them at full strength.

Bush went 4 2/3 innings Friday night with Class A Wisconsin, allowing four hits and striking out five. His next start will come with Class AA Huntsville.

"We're going to get our rotation intact," Macha said.

The pitching has been problematic as of late, especially the bullpen, which coughed up a couple of leads in the last week. But at the same time, the offense hasn't exactly been knocking the cover off the ball. The Milwaukee lineup failed to get Yovani Gallardo a run in his last three outings and, as a team, the Brewers are hitting .255 (12th in the National League).

There have been bright spots, though. Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun have been a formidable 1-2 punch in the middle of the lineup all season and they're starting to get some help, especially from third base.

Mat Gamel got off to a slow start but has come on strong of late, hitting .289 with a pair of home runs, six RBI and 12 walks in 19 games heading into Sunday. Combine those numbers with Casey McGehee, who's hitting .352 since May 20, and the Brewers are getting some solid production from the hot corner – and protection for the big boppers in the lineup.

"I think we've been swinging OK," Macha said, "We're going to score some runs. I'm looking forward to the second half."

Their last 10 games haven't been helpful in the standings, but the Brewers were going up against some of the best the National League had to offer in Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles and they were doing so with a pair of fill-in starters.

With three days off, the players are hoping to clear their heads and come back strong for the final 74 games.

"We have to look ahead," said Braun. "Dwelling on that's not going to do us any good. (We need to) focus on the future, focus on the second half. "We have a pretty favorable schedule to start the second half, so we need to take advantage of that."

The Brewers open the second half with seven games at Cincinnati (42-45) and Pittsburgh (38-50). which has lost 17 in a row to Milwaukee. The Brewers finish out the month with four games at home against the Washington Nationals, owners of the worst record in baseball.

"There (is) a lot of baseball left, no doubt about it," said closer Trevor Hoffman. "I think its a deserved and well-needed rest for everybody."

Despite losing eight of their last 11, the Brewers are still in the thick of a tight NL Central race. The top five teams are seperated by just five games and only four games seperate the top four.

"We have guys out there playing hard and battling," Macha said. "We just needed a little bit here and there. Obviously you're not pleased that in your last 10 games you only win three of them, but you have to forget about that.

"The fortunate thing is we're still in the hunt."  Page 1 of 2 (view all on one page)

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Posted by TosaJim on July 13, 2009 at 1:05 p.m. (report)

Yikes! It's happening again! The All-Star break and the Brewers start their traditional fade.....in three weeks the talk will be all about the Packers....too bad....I hope I am wrong