Brewers remain confident in Marcum

MILWAUKEE -- Before Monday's Game 2 of the NL Championship Series, Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said starting pitcher Shaun Marcum would pitch again in the series. After Monday's results, it wouldn't be unfair to question whether that decision was set in stone. Marcum struggled again in his second postseason start, spotting the St. Louis Cardinals an early lead in a game Milwaukee would lose 12-3 to even the NLCS at 1-1 before it shifts to Busch Stadium. Despite consecutive bad outings and a prolonged slump, though, the Brewers remain confident in Marcum and plan to stick with him over options like Chris Narveson or Marco Estrada. "As far as I'm concerned right now, he's pitching again this series," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said after Monday's loss, leaving the decision only slightly fluid. Before Marcum even got two outs Monday, the Cardinals had taken a 2-0 lead on a Jon Jay single and ensuing Albert Pujols home run. Pujols would finish the game 4-for-5 with three doubles and five RBIs. Outside the Pujols homer and a couple other hits, Marcum felt he'd had another outing typical of the past month or so. He has now allowed five or more runs in five of his last six starts, dating back to Sept. 9, but both he and Roenicke have attributed some of those struggles to plain old bad luck. "It was seven hits and three of them were hit hard," Marcum said Monday. "It was back to the same old crap that's been going on the past six weeks. There's nothing you can do about it so you move on and come out ready to play Wednesday. "I must've pissed the baseball gods off or something. This is the way it's been going for the past six weeks." It looked after the first inning like Marcum might settle down, as he pitched a perfect second inning. But in the third inning, Marcum gave up two more runs on a Pujols double that Milwaukee center fielder Nyjer Morgan seemed to misplay. Marcum surrendered one more run in the fourth inning before his day was over, giving him a final line of four innings pitched, seven hits, five runs, one walk and one strikeout. "You look at what happened today, he left the ball up to Pujols in the first inning, tried to come in on him," Roenicke said. "And beside that, he really wasn't hit all that hard. We could have made a couple of plays for him, things that would have changed that ballgame a lot." The outing was even shorter than his last start, a 4 23 inning effort in Game 3 of the NL Division Series in Phoenix. Marcum's next opportunity to pitch would be in Game 6, back in Milwaukee, as long as the Brewers take the series that far. "We all still have confidence in him," Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. "We know that he's still really good. He's just scuffling a little bit. I think all guys have tough times in the year. A lot of guys struggle. I'm not too worried about it because I know how good he is." Some have suggested that Marcum is dealing with some kind of injury or battling fatigue after reaching the 200-innings mark this season for the first time in his career. Marcum, however, said he feels just fine and was confident warming up before Monday's game. Lucroy, like Marcum and Roenicke, didn't have the answer for the pitcher's recent struggles either. "I can't really tell you what it is," Lucroy said. "He just makes mistakes to guys you can't make mistakes too." Asked about what he would look to change in Game 6, Marcum fired back quickly that the Brewers have to get there first. He, more than anyone, is eager to get there and have a chance to redeem his past two outings. "You don't want to end a season like that," Marcum said. "You don't want to have bad starts, especially this time of year."