Content after a strong opening series with the rival Cubs in the Windy City, the Brewers will travel home tonight to get set to play the San Francisco Giants on Opening Day in Milwaukee. The Brewers were able to take two of three from Lou Pinella’s club, chosen by some prognosticators as the early favorites to reach the World Series. Recapping the three-game set, Ben Sheets wielded a gem in the soggy opener, much like his showing to kick off the 2007 campaign against the Dodgers. Sheets went 6 1/3 innings pitching two-hit ball, both hits coming off the bat of new Cubs sensation, outfielder Kosuke Fukudome.  Unfortunately for Sheets, Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano was pitching equally strongly. Sheets didn’t last long enough to notch his first victory of 2008, but a great start nonetheless. Jeff Suppan, although he didn’t quite outperform Sheets, also pitched solid in the second game of the series (6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 2 K), good enough to propel the Brewer offense to a 8-2 win. And going for the sweep this afternoon, Dave Bush struggled mightily with his command, walking five batters through 5 1/3 innings. Bush was tagged with all six earned runs, and due to the Brewer offense’s inability to figure out Ryan Dempster, the Cubs won the finale, 6-3. In all, it was a great series to get the ball rolling. The one thing that irks me is the fact that Dave Bush was sent out by Ned [Yost] to start the sixth after giving up four in the previous inning. Hopefully this kind of start sends a message to Bush that he won’t be able to stay in the rotation consistently having poor starts this year, especially if Carlos Villanueva, Manny Parra and Yovani Gallardo (when he comes back) all show they are clearly superior. The formula for the Brewers, despite a bit clique, lies in this sentence: play .500 baseball on the road, play great baseball at home, and if you do that, the rest will take of itself. Tomorrow, the Brewers will begin a six-game home-stand with series against the Giants and Reds, before heading out east to take on the Mets. Let’s take a look at the pitching matchups for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday series with San Fran:

Game 1: Jonathan Sanchez (1-5, 5.88 ERA) vs. Carlos Villanueva (8-5, 3.94 ERA)
Game 2: Kevin Correia (4-7, 3.45 ERA) vs. Manny Parra (0-1, 3.76 ERA)
Game 3: Barry Zito (0-1, 7.20 ERA) vs. Ben Sheets (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
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*Note: Game 1 & 2 statistics from 2007. Game 3 stats from 2008. Game times are 1:05, 12:05, and 1:05, respectively (all Central Time).