Series 51 - Milwaukee Brewers vs Pittsburgh Pirates September 23 - September 25 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WIWe have played some stellar baseball against the Pirates this year, and like the local schoolyard bully, we have beaten them up pretty bad. This series could not have come at a better time. See, we needed wins bad, real bad. What better team to get wins against than a team that we already had a 11-1 record against (including 6-0 at home)? We needed some momentum big time going in to the final series against Chicago, and there was no doubt in my mind that we needed to win out the season just to have a chance to make it to the playoffs. The Brewers had an off day on Monday September 22, but the Mets played the Cubs and lost. In fact, the Mets are playing a huge 4 game series against the Cubs, and it was the first and only time that I cheered for the Cubs. It hurt really bad to have to root for the FIB Southsiders to win, but one of my friends made it easier by saying that we shouldn't root for the Cubs, we should root for the Mets to lose. No matter what semantics you use to describe this awkward situation, for 4 days only, I was saying let's root root root for the Cubbies!, if they don't win we don't go to the playoffs. I'm sure that both the Mets and Cubs knew what was at stake here for the Brewers, because it was pretty hard to ignore it. All you have to do is turn on SportsCenter or log onto the internet and be constantly reminded that the Brewers were seeking a return to the postseason for the 1st time since 1982. That year has been emblazoned into our memory for the past few years, so I'm ready for a new year to take it's place. Can it be 2008? If the Brewers take care of business at home against the Pirates and Cubs, and the Mets tank it just like they did last year, then we'll be popping champagne right along with the players as we dance in October. But we have to get there first, and the first order of business is to take down the Pittsburgh Pirates and put a couple more W's in the appropriate column. Let's now stand up, cheer our asses off, and get on with the wrap-up.
Game 1 (Tuesday) - Dave Bush (9-10, 4.25 ERA) vs Jeff Karstens (2-6, 4.03 ERA)
I got home from work just in time to see the Brewers score 2 runs in the bottom half of the 1st inning. Cameron reached on an error, and Braun sent a laser beam triple to center field that Nate McClouth (Pirates center fielder) just barely missed on an all out dive. The ball caromed off of the indentation in the center field wall and started heading away from McClouth and towards right field. Braun scored on the play, and originally I thought that he just hit an inside the park homerun. I guess I was just cheering too loudly to hear Brian make the call that Braun scored because of a throwing error by McClouth. Oh well, we still scored 2 runs in a very promising 1st inning. But Bush gave them all back plus 1 in the top of the 2nd, when all 3 batters that he walked (including the pitcher Karstens) came around to score. It was tough to watch that shit. Walks almost always come back to haunt you, and I cringe whenever a Brewers pitcher walks a man to start off the inning. Those 3 runs proved to be costly cause the Brewers just couldn't put together any offense after that. I was worried that we would get shut down today, and I was even more nervous when I saw that the Mets won. We certainly couldn't afford to fall further back of the Mets in the standings, so today was a must win. In the 7th inning, Mike Cameron hit a double scoring Counsell and Lamb, and the Brewers took a 4-3 lead. Guillermo Mota, who has been pitching so well lately, chose a really bad time to serve up a homerun, and the Pirates took a 5-4 lead. The season seemed to be crashing down around us just when we were on the verge of greatness, but then Jason Kendall came through with a clutch hit in the 8th to score Hardy. Torres came in with the score tied 5-5, and kept it that way to give the offense the chance to walk this one off and send the crowd home happy. And that is exactly what they did tonight. With 2 outs, Braun legged out an infield single, which gave Prince Fielder a chance to win the game. He connected on a pitch from TJ Beam and sent it deep into the Toyota Tundra Territory for a huge walk off homerun. I was yelling and jumping all around my apartment, and it's a good thing that there aren't any dead bodies in the vicinity because I was yelling loud enough to wake the dead. I sure hope the bar downstairs heard me, because I sure as hell couldn't hear them. They should've been going crazy. Damn fairweather fans. The Brewers gave me something to cheer about though, and I loved every second of it. 5 games to go now baby. This is freakin' exciting. Final score Brewers 7, Pirates 5.
Brewers record : 86 - 71, 2nd place NL Central, 2nd place NL Wild Card (1 game behind the New York Mets)
Game 2 (Wednesday) - CC Sabathia (16-10, 2.80 ERA) vs Paul Maholm (9-9, 3.71 ERA)
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The Brewers were in a must win mode, so it was no surprise when they brought CC Sabathia back on 3 days rest to face the Pirates. We probably could have thrown Carlos Villanueva or Jeff Suppan out there against the Pirates, but neither of those were guaranteed wins. CC is as sure as they get to being guaranteed, so it was nice to see him out there. Things didn't start out so hot, as CC ran into some trouble early and needed 28 pitches to get out of the 1st inning. But he didn't give up any runs, so it could have been a whole lot worse. The Pirates did manage to get on the board in the 3rd inning, but the Brewers took the lead in the 4th thanks to some patience at the plate. Maholm couldn't find the strike zone, and both Weeks and Kendall walked with the bases loaded to score some runs after Fielder had already knocked one in. And it turns out that those 3 runs were all that CC needed (as usual) to win the ballgame. Just to be safe, the Brewers tacked on a Badger Mutual Insurance run in the 6th inning to put them up 4-1. CC made it through 7 innings, and although Torres gave up a run in the 9th inning (continuing his recent struggles on the mound) the Brewers were able to hold on and win this one. And since the Mets lost today, the Brewers pulled back to even in the Wildcard standings with 4 games left to play. Wow. This is the most incredible time that I have had in my entire life and I can't imagine anything being as exciting as this year's playoff race. Final score Brewers 4, Pirates 2.
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Brewers record : 87 - 71, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card (tied for 1st with the New York Mets)
Game 3 (Thursday) - Yovanni Gallardo (0-0, 1.88 ERA) vs Zach Duke (5-14, 4.82 ERA)
Today's game was one of the best games that I have ever seen in person. I would easily place it in the top 5, but I don't think that I could call it the #1 of all time. It was mega important because of what was at stake, and also because Yovanni Gallardo was making his 1st start since May 1st when he went down with a torn ACL. All eyes were on him from the beginning of the game, since he would be on a limited pitch count (somewhere around 70 pitches). He started off a little shaky, but ended up going 4 innings (57 pitches), while striking out 7 and only allowing 1 run. The Brewers really couldn't have asked for anything more out of him. My God did Yovanni look good today. It mad me wish that he never got injured and that we would have had him for the entire year. But then I have to ask myself a question - if Gallardo had stayed healthy all year, do we still go out and trade for CC Sabathia? I don't think that we would have, because Gallardo would have been that front of the line pitcher that could have stabilized the rotation just like CC Sabathia did when he came to Milwaukee. But who knows what could have been, we only know what is, so we welcome Gallardo back onto the pitching staff with open arms and loud ass cheers. As promised, Dale Sveum emptied out the bullpen in an effort to win the game at all costs, and the bullpen answered by holding the Pirates to just that 1 run. Unfortunately, the Pirates starter and relievers also held the opposing team to just 1 run in regulation. By the 7th inning, the Brewers players and fans had already learned that the New York Mets had defeated the Chicago Cubs, so we needed to win if we wanted to remain tied for the Wildcard lead. Things were looking a little bleak, but at least it was tied 1-1 in the 9th inning, which is always favorable for the home team. But the Brewers came up empty in the 9th. We went into extra innings, and Coffey (a real nice and surprising waiver pickup who will be in the Brewers bullpen next year) and Stetter blanked the Pirates. In the 10th inning, Weeks singled, Kendall bunted him over, and Durham and Counsell walked, which made way for Ryan Braun to be the hero today. Braun launched a 2-2 pitch into the leftfield bleachers for his 1st career grandslam and 1st career walkoff homerun. I moved down to the leftfield bleachers (I was working tonight up in the Club Level) for the final 2 innings, and it was electric out there. Hell, the whole goddamn stadium was electric tonight. Everyone who entered got a white Brewers towel, and in the 10th inning, everyone was on their feet waving the towels and screaming like crazy. When Braun leaped into the arms of his teammates at homeplate, the place went absolutely nuts. The players then made their way back to the dugout and to the clubhouse. The fans kept on cheering their asses off and wouldn't shut up until Braun came back out for a curtain call. What a way to end the series and remain tied at the top of the Wilcard standings. Final score Brewers 5, Pirates 1.
Brewers record : 88 - 71, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card (tied for 1st with the New York Mets)
Boy, the Pirates must really hate the Milwaukee Brewers this year. The Brewers finished the season with a 14-1 record against the Pirates, with the only loss against them coming at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. That's not just beating a team, that's mollywhooping and manhandling them. If the Brewers go on to make the postseason, it will be because of teams like the Pirates. Sure, you gotta win the big time important games, but if you don't beat up upon the teams that are worse than you are, then there's no use talking about October baseball. Our 14-1 2008 record against the Pirates was awesome, and the Pirates streak of consecutive losing seasons adds another year. It must suck to be them, but I can't feel bad for that team, the city, or their fans, because I'm way too busy getting excited about our team, our city, and our fans. After all, Pittsburgh was last in the playoffs in 1992, so they haven't been suffering nearly as long as we have. Sure, we're getting better and playing competitive baseball until the end of the year. We've got a good mix of young players and veterans. We've got a great pitching staff. We have an owner who invests money in the team. We have a general manager who does what it takes (trading the top prospect Matt LaPorta for CC Sabathia, firing Ned Yost with 12 games remaining) to field a competitive team. We have the fans (over 3,000,000 passed through the turnstiles at Miller Park) who continue to come out to support this team. And then we have me, a diehard Brewers fan who has been waiting for this moment for my entire life. Come to think about it, I kind of do feel bad for the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fans. Except for the sweet ass team name and logo, there's not too many reasons why I'd be proud to call myself a Pirates fan if I was one. I guess they do have it pretty rough. But teams like Milwaukee, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay have really turned it around lately, so who's to say that the Pirates aren't next? I don't mind if they do, as long as they still let us beat them 14 out of 15 times a year. Wouldn't that be awesome if the Brewers and Pirates were 1 and 2 (respectively) in the division next year? That would be like a complete opposite of 5 years ago. And just to make it sweeter, the Cubs and Cardinals would have to be dwelling down in the cellar. Man that would be cool. Yeah right, in my dreams. So get hyped, and enjoy every moment of this playoff run while it lasts Milwaukee. It could be another 26 years before baseball is this exciting in late September again. Here's hoping that it won't be. Take care.
Next up - September 26 (Friday) - September 28 (Sunday) Milwaukee Brewers vs Chicago Cubs at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
- pookon -http://www.pookon.com/
email : pookondotcom@gmail.com
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