Brewers manager Ned Yost says he's focused on team, not job

MILWAUKEE (AP) -Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio called general manager Doug Melvin after another ugly sweep, this time in Florida, with a message for him and manager Ned Yost.

"He said, 'Keep your chin up, we're a better team than that, and tell Ned the same,"' Melvin said Friday from his luxury box in Miller Park.

Melvin said he's looking for answers, and plans to meet with Yost and the rest of the coaching staff on Monday for what he described as a "monthly review."

"My focus is to get together with Ned the coaches and try to identify the problem and to see if there's cures to those issues, problems," Melvin said. "That's where our focus is. It's not focused on anything else. It's trying to solve the problems."

The problems are everywhere.

No Brewers starter besides Ben Sheets has gotten a win since April 5, and Milwaukee lost No. 2 starter Yovani Gallardo for the season with a torn ligament in his right knee last week. Eric Gagne has blown a league-high five saves and last year's setup man, former NL All-Star Derrick Turnbow, will pitch in Triple-A beginning Monday.

On offense, it's not much better.

Prince Fielder, the youngest player to hit 50 homers, is batting .256 with four homers and 20 RBIs. Ryan Braun is hitting .264 with five homers and 23 RBIs and Bill Hall is an anemic .206 with seven homers and 19 RBIs.

The trio have struck out 88 times.

Milwaukee looked lethargic much of Friday night's game, but Rickie Weeks hit a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Brewers a 4-3 victory over St. Louis. The team raised its batting average to .240 and has a team ERA of 4.63.

"We haven't played sloppy games, we haven't had errors hurt us in these games, we haven't made good pitches and we haven't had good at-bats," Melvin said. "We're last in hitting and last in pitching. If that's the case, we might end up last in the division if that continues."

Yost, the sometimes grouchy, combative manager, spent more than 40 minutes answering questions before the game about the team's slumping bats and pitiful pitching performances.

Yost said he plans to stick with his lineup for the meantime and insisted he can't worry about anything, including his job.