Doug Melvin fired back at Ryan Braun over the leftfielder’s comments about the Brewers’ pitching:

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin says it is “uncharacteristic” of him to publicly criticize a player but leftfielder Ryan Braun obviously struck a nerve Sunday afternoon.

“It was inappropriate for him to say what he said, and I’m not happy about it,” an upset Melvin said Monday in a telephone interview.

“To make the statements he made and also get on his teammates like that, it was irresponsible on his part. It just ticked me off.”

After the Brewers lost, 8-2, Sunday to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field to drop three of four games there, Braun implored Melvin to make a trade for a pitcher as soon as possible. He also said Chicago’s starting pitchers were “a lot better than ours.”

“They threw the ball a lot better than our starters did,” Braun said. “All four guys we saw in this series are No. 1, worst-case, No. 2-type starters. They make big pitches in big situations. You’re not always going to get hits in those situations.”

The Brewers took a big hit losing both Sabathia and Sheets after 2008. I’ve been impressed that Milwaukee was able to take that hit and stay in contention. Braun is correct, however. After Sabathia went to the Yankees, Melvin didn’t try to pick up anyone else to improve the rotation, he just stuck with what the Brewers owned. Now, however, he finds himself in a division race that Milwaukee could win, and it looks like he’s sitting on his hands while the rotation falls apart. Maybe the plan wasn’t to win this year and rebuild the rotation. That’s tough to tell, young, competitive players like Braun. Last I looked, the Brewers still haven’t won a World Series in 40 years of existence. There’s no excuse not to go for a win when you have a chance.