An A-Z visitors guide to Milwaukee Wisconsin. Sponsored by Key Magazine Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Key COVER FEATURE Veteran pitcher added Less than a week before the season opened, the Brewers obtained free-agent pitcher Kyle Lohse. The verteran pitcher won 16 games and lost only three last season for the St. Louis Cardinals. Fountain of Youth on the mound as Milwaukee Brewers open 2013 By CHRISTOPHER PEPPAS IN ONE SIMPLE declarative sentence, Milwaukee Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin signaled a paradigm shift for his ballclub. ���It���s time to see what these young arms can do.��� Melvin now is the popular dad in the neighborhood who gives the keys to the Cadillac to his boys. The somewhat risky move to a youthful pitching lineup was based on a hunch, but the GM got a pretty good idea of what his young pitchers could do after the way they performed in the push at the end of last season. This year, the Brew Crew will try to return to the top of the National League���s Central Division, where they were in 2011. The ace of the pitching staff continues to be Yovani Gallardo. Yo punched his ticket to the top with 13 wins in 201 innings, which saw him strike out 203 batters, walking just 72. 8 Marco Estrada, Mike Fiers, Chris Narveson (back from rotator-cuff surgery) and Wily Peralta are expected to be nailing down the rest of Manager Ron Roenicke���s starting rotation. Behind them should be even more young pitchers, like Mark Rogers and Tyler Thornburg, both of whom had successful stints with the Crew in 2012. Departed are the older arms of Zack Greinke, Randy Wolf and Shaun Marcum, making room for the youth movement and the leaner payroll that comes with it. Talking about his younger teammates, veteran Gallardo comments, ���They had opportunities to show what they could do in key situations and did a great job. I think (the rotation) we���re in a pretty good spot.��� The bullpen also underwent a makeover of sorts. Lefthanders Tom Gorzelanny and Mike Gonzalez came to the party from the Washington Nationals as the Crew said farewell to Francisco Rodriguez, Kameron Loe and Manny Parra.