By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Jul 05, 2011 at 5:01 AM Photography: David Bernacchi

Normally, coming back to Miller Park has been a cure-all for the Brewers' woes this season. After another painful meltdown Monday, though, you have to start to wonder.

"We didn't swing the bats well or pitch well on the road, and that's been happening, but usually when we come back here, we play well," manager Ron Roenicke said. "I expected to come back here and have a good home stand."

Blown five-run leads both Sunday in Minnesota and Monday against Arizona leave the Brewers a game back of the Cardinals in the National League Central and just four games over .500, losers of six of their last seven games.

Everything has been going wrong for the Brewers: the offense, the defense, the relievers and even the starting rotation.

For all the blame being directed towards the pitching staff, especially after the last two games, the offense deserves a bit of attention, too. Aside from Shaun Marcum's grand slam Monday, the Brewers managed just two runs on 10 hits.

Scoring late has long been a problem for this team which can easily explode for the big inning but just as easily can lull folks to sleep, leaving a platoon of runners stranded on the base paths.

The Brewers are 11th in the National League with 108 runs scored after sixth inning and are 14th with just 221 hits. Combine that with a bullpen that is starting to show signs of fatigue along with a starting rotation going through its first sustained slump of the year, and it's a recipe for disaster.

"We better start playing good ball or we're going to find ourselves down going into the break," said Roenicke. "There's no reason for us to be down going into the break."

For now, the Brewers simply have to regroup and move on.

"(It's) pretty easy," Marcum said. "Go to bed, wake up tomorrow and come in here ready to go," Marcum said. "It's a long season and we struggled early on in the year and we're going through the same kind of funk right now, but good teams find a way to get out of it, and I'm pretty confident we'll be one of those teams."

McGehee returns: Slumping third baseman Casey McGehee was given some time off to mentally regroup during the Twins series but was back in the lineup Monday at Miller Park.

He was limited to a pinch-hit opportunity Sunday, striking out to end the game and breaking his bat over his knee in frustration but was back in the starting lineup Monday, due in part to his previous success against Diamondbacks starter Daniel Hudson (3-for-3 lifetime).

"Casey's always been a fighter," Roenicke said. "He's always grinding it out and it may help, it may push him to the point of, 'Hey, I better get this going.' It's not a lack of trying."

Mat Gamel took McGehee's place in the lineup and at third base Sunday. Called up prior to the Brewers' final interleague stretch against New York and Minnesota, it looks like he'll be sticking around for at least the near future.

Gamel's presence, though, isn't an attempt to light a fire underneath McGehee, who is hitting .221 with four homers and 33 RBI.

"We'll see how it goes," Roenicke said. "Because of the bullpen, we're kind of day to day on whether we need to get another pitcher. As long as the starters do their job then we'll probably keep it this way and see how it goes."

Greinke looking for answers: Roenicke is as curious as anyone when it comes to Zack Greinke, who despite a respectable 7-3 record has a 5.66 ERA in his 12 starts this season.

"The numbers don't jibe," Roenicke said. "I don't know why you have the strikeouts and the less amount of walks, and you give up the run totals he has? That's really baffling, because there's not too many pitchers that have those kinds of numbers."

Greinke has surpassed the 10-strikeout mark three times this season and has walked just 14 batters. Looking deeper into the numbers, opponents have a whopping .341 batting average on balls put in play, something which tells Roenicke that when Greinke makes a mistake, hitters certainly aren't missing it.

Greinke isn't happy with the way things are going, either.

"If I knew what to do differently, I'd do it right away. Obviously I don't have the answer right now, so I'll just keep trying," Greinke said.

Injury report: Ryan Braun was held out of a second straight game while he nurses a strained left calf, suffered Saturday at Minnesota. Roenicke says he expects to have Braun available Tuesday night against Arizona.

On the farm: RHP Mark DiFelice and LHP Sam Narron will represent Class AAA Nashville in the Pacific Coast League All-Star Game ... Class A Wisconsin banged out 20 hits in an 11-inning victory over Beloit Monday.

Quick hits: Braun's 22-game hitting streak is the sixth streak of 20 games or more in Brewers history and the third-longest, behind Paul Molitor (39, 1987) and Dave May (24, 1973) ... The Brewers are 10-4 against the NL West this season ... Craig Counsell is hitless in his last 21 at-bats ... Heading into Monday, Yuniesky Betancourt was hitting .372 (16-for-43) with two home runs and six RBI in his last 12 games ... Only four players have started every one of their team's games this season, including Prince Fielder ... The Brewers have worn their full, white home uniforms just five times this season ... RHP LaTroy Hawkins had gone 22 innings without allowing a run until Stephen Drew's RBI single Monday ... For the first time since 2005, the Brewers will not send a pitcher to the All-Star Game.

Attendance (through 41 home dates): Total – 1,434,825; Average – 34,996; Sellouts – 12.

This week: The Brewers wrap up the first half with two tough series, including two more games against the Diamondbacks. The Cincinnati Reds come to town Thursday, for a four-game weekend set which could determine who heads into the break atop the NL Central.