"For the first time in 26 years, the Milwaukee Brewers were headed for the playoffs. The fall of 2008 was a glorious time in franchise history, a cause for everyone associated with the club as well as its dedicated fan base to celebrate.

Yet, the Brewers' starting rotation already was starting to unravel, the beginning of a two-year freefall in that department.

Ben Sheets, to no one's real surprise, was injured again and unavailable. Pitching on short rest for the third consecutive time, CC Sabathia dominated the Chicago Cubs on the final day of the season to help secure the National League wild-card berth but was running on fumes. Jeff Suppan had gone south, becoming a liability instead of an asset.

The situation was so dire that when the Brewers opened the division series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 1, 2008, they sent young right-hander Yovani Gallardo to oppose Cole Hamels. Never mind that Gallardo missed most of the season with a knee injury and had a grand total of 24 innings under his belt.

Gallardo was amazing that day, holding the potent Phillies to four hits and three unearned runs in seven innings in a 3-1 defeat. The next day, a game but weary Sabathia went on short rest again and was tagged for five runs in the second inning, including a grand slam by Shane Victorino, in a discouraging 5-2 loss.

With the series shifting to Miller Park, Dave Bush kept the Brewers alive with a gritty 4-1 victory in Game 3. But, unwilling to further risk Gallardo's health by starting him on short rest in Game 4, the Brewers went with Suppan and the sputtering veteran provided no chance to win, allowing three early homers in a 6-2 elimination.

Under new manager Ken Macha, the Brewers pieced together enough starting pitching in the early going of 2009 to hold a scant lead in the NL Central as late as July 4. But Bush already had been struck on the pitching arm by a line drive in Florida and would miss much of the remainder of the season, never regaining his previous form.

Still in decline, Suppan also landed on the DL with an oblique strain. Unable to adequately fill those two spots in the rotation, the Brewers quickly fell out of the division race and had to rally late to finish 80-82.

The starting pitching problems only got worse in 2010, resulting in a 4.65 earned run average, next-to-last in the NL. The Brewers fell from contention early, dooming them to a 77-85 record and resulting in Macha's dismissal.

Something had to be done. The fate of the franchise hung in the balance as an exciting offense led by Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder was being wasted by ongoing pitching woes. General manager Doug Melvin and his staff had to fix the problem or risk putting their jobs on the line."