PITTSBURGH -- Major League Baseball teams play 162 games in 180 days, so it's silly to try to draw any meaningful conclusions after just two weeks.

But...

The Brewers have a 5-7 record after 12 games. On one hand, the pitching has been shaky at best. The Brewers have allowed five or more runs in nine straight games. They've allowed 10 or more hits in seven straight. They've scored 61 runs and allowed 75. The team leads the National League in homers allowed (19), and veterans brought in to stabilize the pitching staff (Doug Davis, LaTroy Hawkins) have scuffled.

Then again...

Prince Fielder hasn't really started hitting yet. The Brewers did lose a few heartbreakers that could have gone the other way. Rickie Weeks looks like a potential all-star, Jim Edmonds appears to be drinking from the fountain of youth. And, the third base position seems solidified after a hot start by Casey McGehee.

The consensus around the team is that things will get much better -- possibly as soon as this week against Pittsburgh.

TAKE A BREAK: Brewers manager Ken Macha gave shortstop Alcides Escobar a second straight day off on Sunday. Craig Counsell, who was 0 for 4 on Saturday, singled in his first at-bat and hit a grand slam in his second.

"For Escobar, it's not going to hurt him to have a couple, three days off on the road, after (playing) winter ball and all that stuff," Macha said. 

TURNABOUT DANCE: Nationals pitcher Jason Marquis lasted just seven hitters and 14 minutes in the series finale. Counsell hit his grand slam off Miguel Batista. "It goes to show you how funny this game is," Counsell said.

"(Saturday), we couldn't buy a hit. Today, we scored 10 runs in the first inning."

THE DOWN SIDE: After hitting a sacrifice fly to help his own cause in the top of the first inning, lefty Doug Davis scuffled for the third straight start and was unable to complete the 5 innings necessary for a victory.

"It's in the back of your mind, 'I've got 10 runs, just don't walk anybody, let them hit the ball,'" Davis said.

"You end up aiming the ball, getting behind and end up walking them or giving up hard-hit balls. That wasn't really the case here. It just seemed like the fifth inning, things happened quick. Whenever they hit the ball on the ground, it seemed like it was in a hole -- somewhere -- or a fisted hit to center field. You look up and there's a three spot within 10 or 15 pitches."

STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE: Right-hander Dave Bush will make his third start of the season Tuesday night at PNC park in Pittsburgh. Interestingly, it will be the third time that Bush has started after a scheduled day off.

"It's a little weird," Bush said. "It's never happened to me twice, much less three times in a row. It's kind of weird. I have to go to the ballpark on the day off and play catch. It's just a break from the normal routine."

STAT SHEET: Counsell's grand slam was the third of his career and first since 1998

PLAY OF THE WEEK: With two out in the bottom of the seventh, the Brewers cut down pinch-hitter Ian Desmond when Carlos Gomez threw a perfect strike to Greg Zaun.

"That was a key turning point," Counsell said.

Counsell entered the game with just one hit in 13 at-bats (.077) but quickly got things turned around during the Brewers' 10-run first inning against Washington. He singled in his first at-bat that inning and capped the outburst with the third grand slam of his career.

IMPRESSIVE STREAK: Through 12 games, Macha has used 12 different starting lineups.

"I'd love to have the same lineup every day," he said. "That means all cylinders would be clicking. It would make it easy.

"You'd like to have six innings out of your starter, a seventh-inning guy, eighth-inning guy and your closer. That makes it easy. This team's not easy. We haven't gotten it together.

"The lineup kind of works itself out. It's going to do that before the year is over. You can keep the same lineup and be stubborn about it. If that's a reflection on not having any direction, I think that's an improper assessment."