Have the Brewers turned the corner?

The Brewers wrapped up an 8-1 home stand yesterday afternoon with another dominating pitching performance by Yovani Gallardo, a 6-0 shutout of the San Fransisco Giants. The Crew impressed over the past week and a half, going from two under .500 to five over with sweeps over Colorado and Washington to once again fire up a fan base that had been getting rather antsy in the wake of a 7-game losing streak earlier this month.

While the Brewers' most recent home stand was no doubt impressive and important for the team's success this year, can we really be sure the team has turned their previously disappointing season around?

Not quite. The true test starts tonight, when the Brewers try to conquer two of their biggest stumbling blocks during this streaky 2011 season: winning on the road, and beating the Cincinnati Reds. While the Crew has the league's best home record at 21-7, they also own the worst road record in the league at 8-17 (Yikes!). Their poor record is reflected in their home/road hitting splits (amazingly, Brewers' pitchers actually have a better ERA on the road): at Miller Park, the Crew is hitting .288/.361/.486 (Wow!) with 151 runs scored and 40 home runs in 28 games; in 25 games on the road, they have a .220/.279/.333 slash line with 71 runs and 16 homers. Those are some unbelievable splits, and the kind of numbers that almost certainly will even out on both ends as the season progresses. However, the Brewers have shown an inability to score runs on the road this year, and it remains to be seen whether they can figure it out.

What should be noted is that the Brewers' hot streak through May has coincided with the return to the team of several key players, including Corey Hart, LaTroy Hawkins and of course, Zack Greinke. The Brewers were at a season low six games under .500 before Greinke's first home start on May 9, and they are 15-4 since. Despite Greinke's struggles in the early going, his return has given the Crew confidence and has also bolstered the bullpen, which got another shut down arm in spot starter Marco Estrada.

As for the hitting, with Hart back in his regular spot in the lineup (once he returns from his illness), Nyjer Morgan taking at bats away from the ever-mediocre center field platoon of Carlos Gomez and Mark Kotsay, and Jonathan Lucroy continuing to make Ron Roenicke look stupid for banishing him to the 7th or 8th hole every night, there seems to be absolutely no reason, and no excuses left to be made, for their road woes to continue.

Russell Wilson could put the Badgers over the top

Before the 2011 Wisconsin Badgers spring game, Big Red had what appeared to be a sizable hole at the quarterback position, with the Badgers needing to replace graduating senior and Unitas Award winner Scott Tolzien. The heir apparent, sophomore Jon Budmayr, was relatively highly touted out of high school, being ranked by Scouts.com as the 17th-best quarterback in the nation. He appeared in mop-up duty three times last year, going 8 for 10 with a touchdown.

Since the spring game, however, that hole has grown into a deep chasm, with the Badgers on one side and a return to a BCS bowl fading away in the distance on the other. Budmayr and the Badgers two other quarterback hopefuls. freshmen Joe Brennan and Joel Stave, combined to complete 22 of 61 passes for 3 interceptions and no touchdowns. For now, Budmayr is still considered the starter, but few believe he is ready to lead the Badgers if they plan to compete for a Big Ten title.

Enter Russell Wilson, college football's first "free agent". Wilson, a former standout quarterback at NC State, left school after his junior year after he was drafted by the Colorado Rockies to play in their minor league system. Wilson now wants to return to finish his eligibility as a quarterback and pursue a career in the NFL. Having been granted his release from NC State, Wilson is now free to take his talents to any school he chooses, and because he has already graduated, he is not required to sit out a year, as is customary for transferring athletes.

Wilson initiated contact with Wisconsin to indicate that he might be interested in playing for the Badgers this season. Other teams are also in the running, including defending national champion Auburn. However, Wisconsin gives Wilson the best shot to be the unquestioned starter for a BCS contending team.

Could Wilson and the Badgers be a good fit? The Badgers' pro-style, run-first offense would take some getting used to for Wilson. However, he certainly has the talent to make the Badgers a major force in the Big Ten and in the nation next year.

May MLB Power Rankings

One month is in the books in the 2011 MLB season, so it's time for the first edition of the Notes From the Nosebleeds Power Rankings. We've got just about 1/6 of the season gone, yet it seems for most teams, we don't yet fully know what we're going to see this season: apart from a couple pleasant surprises and a couple more disappointments, most teams are hanging around the .500 mark. So for this edition, we'll rank the teams not only by what they've done so far, but by what we think they can do for the rest of the season.

Records through May 1, 2011

The Zoidberg Division
"You're team's bad and you should feel bad."

30) Houston Astros (11-17)
The Astros pitchers seem completely incapable of keeping runs off the scoreboard (unless, of course, they're facing the Brewers), and in fact seem better at scoring runs than stopping the other team from doing so: their pitchers are hitting a combined .306 this season.

29) San Diego Padres (11-17)
The pitching has been decent but as we expected, the offense just can't score enough runs to keep the Padres afloat.

28) Seattle Mariners (13-16)
King Felix and his aging sidekick Ichiro have very little in the way of support from the rest of their teammates.

27) Arizona Diamondbacks (12-15)
Casual baseball fan: name three Diamondbacks. Go! ... No, "that guy who almost threw a no hitter last year" doesn't count.

26) New York Mets (12-16)
The lineup is theoretically above average, but the mediocre starting rotation will continue to keep the Mets buried in the cellar this season.

25) Pittsburgh Pirates (13-15)
A steady diet of NL Mediocre division opponents has kept the Bucs' record respectable early: Pittsburgh has series wins over each division opponent other than Milwaukee.

The Carlos Gomez Division
The potential is there but the production just...isn't.

24) Minnesota Twins (9-18)
The team with the league's worst record has a built-in excuse with All-World catcher Joe Mauer on the DL and closer Joe Nathan apparently not fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, but at some point, you need to start winning games anyway.

23) Chicago White Sox (10-19)
There are no excuses for the ice cold White Sox, who are losing games at an alarming rate for absolutely no reason. Their abysmal April is almost as shocking as division rival Cleveland's hot start.

22) Detroit Tigers (12-16)
It's fitting that the division that spawned the Brewers center fielder fills up the Power Rankings division that bears his name sake. If you're waiting for the upside-down AL Central to right itself, don't hold your breath. Free agent Joaquin Benoit has been a disaster in the bullpen.

The Pretenders

21) Baltimore Orioles (13-13)
The Orioles surprised everyone with a 6-1 start to lead the division, then surprised no one by dropping their next eight to fall under .500. The lineup is just too weak to survive in the cutthroat AL East.

20) Kansas City Royals (15-13)
The Royals were feisty a year or two ahead of schedule thanks in large part to hot starts from long presumed dead outfielders Alex Gordon and Jeff Francoeur. They'd be the talk of the American League if not for the scorching hot Indians.

The Also-rans

19) Chicago Cubs (12-15)
The renaissance of Alphonso Soriano and the emergence of Starlin Castro have been bright spots, but big free agent acquisition Carlos Pena has been a disappointment, if a guy who hit .180 last year can disappoint. Other than Matt Garza, the starting rotation has been atrocious.

18) Toronto Blue Jays (13-15)
Last year's breakout player, Jose Bautista, is mashing once again, hitting .357 with 9 home runs. The rest of the lineup, and the pitching staff, has been exceedingly average, and that's not good enough in the AL East.

17) Washington Nationals (13-14)
The Nationals have been inexplicably competitive so far this season, especially when considering that Ryan Zimmerman is hurt and their biggest off-season acquisition, Jayson Werth, is hitting just .242 with 4 home runs -- and leads the team in both categories anyway.

16) Oakland Athletics (14-14)
They are who we thought they were: they lead the American League in ERA, but are dead last in runs scored. You can only win so many 1-0 games before the lack of offense starts to catch up with you.

15) Los Angeles Dodgers (14-15)
Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are white hot at the plate, but the pitching has been merely average. Ethier's 27-game hitting streak is the longest in the majors since 2005.

The Sleeping Giants

14) San Fransisco Giants (13-14)
An offense that was already struggling to score runs didn't get any help from the loss of resurgent Pablo Sandoval, who leads the team in batting average and home runs. He's set to miss all of May, and possibly more.

13) Atlanta Braves (14-15)
The pitching staff has been stellar, which bodes ill for the rest of the league, as their lineup is unlikely to continue to flounder (.230 team batting average) for much longer.

12) Milwaukee Brewers (13-14)
Not even Zack Greinke can save a Jekyll and Hyde offense that refuses to get hits in clutch situations. The lineup around MVP candidates Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun has been unreliable at best.

11) Boston Red Sox (12-15)
What happened here? It was fun for a week, then it was just bizarre. Why can't this mega-offense score runs? How long can a slump last before its stops being a slump?

10) Cincinnati Reds (14-14)
Their getting plenty of run support -- the Reds rank 2nd in the league in runs scored -- but the starting rotation's combined 5.14 ERA is keeping the Reds down.

The Giant Sleepers

9) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (16-12)
Jered Weaver and Dan Haren have been absolutely stellar, leading the Angels to a surprise spot a top the AL West. It remains to be seen if they have enough offense to stay here, however.

8) Florida Marlins (17-9)
The Fins are white hot, despite star shortstop Hanley Ramirez being mired in a month long slump (.200 BA, 1 HR). Josh Johnson (0.88 ERA) has been unhittable.

7) Cleveland Indians (19-8)
Nobody, not even the Indians themselves, no matter what they tell you, thought this team could be here right now. And they're doing it sustainably: winning at home, excellent pitching, and timely hitting.

The Enigmas

6) Tampa Bay Rays (15-13)
After starting 1-8 and losing their best hitter to injury, it looked like it would be a long year at the Trop. But the Rays have won 14 of their past 19 and are right back in the race, just in time for Evan Longoria's return.

5) St. Louis Cardinals (16-12)
Almost everyone counted the Cardinals out after losing Adam Wainwright to season ending shoulder surgery, and almost everyone should have known better: pitching coach Dave Duncan is a wizard. It doesn't hurt that the offense leads the majors in batting average and runs scored.

The Contenders

4) Texas Rangers (16-12)
The Rangers have come back down to earth a bit after they lost Josh Hamilton to injury and saw the back of their rotation bottom out after a hot start. They're still the favorites in the West.

3) Colorado Rockies (17-9)
The Rockies hot start comes as a bit of a surprise, especially with Carlos Gonzalez (.232 BA, 1 HR) and Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2, 7.20 ERA) off to such horrible spots. Todd Helton's resurgence has been key, as has Troy Tulowitzki's rise to mega-stardom.

The Favorites

2) New York Yankees (16-9)
The back of the rotation has been stellar so far, and the once ugly pitching staff doesn't look half bad, even with the stuggling Phil Hughes on the DL. Russell Martin has been a revelation at catcher.

1) Philadelphia Phillies (18-9)
Doc Halladay is averaging a ridiculous 7.2 innings per start, but with the starting rotation stealing all the headlines, the bullpen has been quietly brilliant.