[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 4-2 (week), 83-43, 1st place, MGL (season).

August 22-24, at Portland: 1-2, 6-4, 7-1.

At Riverfront Stadium in Portland, the Brewers fail to muster much offense in the first of three games against the seventh place Wild Things. Portland starter Michael Esco holds the Brewers to 1 run on 4 hits in his 7 innings pitched and improves to 6-3 with a 2.30 ERA. Tough loss for Sekien Hamasaki (12-4, 2.82), who gives up just 2 runs on 6 hits in 7 innings pitched. Bobby Erbakan hits his 6th homer of the year to give the Brewers their lone run.

Shortstop Rich White led the Brewers to victory in game 2, going 2 for 4 with a run scored and 3 driven in, hitting his 24th double and 6th triple. Erik Sloan (11-6, 2.86) got the win, having given up 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits over 6 2/3rd innings. Ben Flynn pitched the final 2 1/3rd for his 6th save.

In the rubber match, the Captain, Matt Helm (11-2, 2.85), had perhaps his best start of 1976. Helm lasted 8 innings, giving up just 1 run on 5 hits. Professional hitter Andrew Kennedy went 4 for 5 in the win, collecting his 24th double of the season. Brett Taranto went 2 for 5 and drove in 3 runs to raise his team high RBI total to 77. Taranto hit his 25th double in the game.

August 26-28, versus Los Angeles: 1-4, 6-3, 7-6.

The Los Angeles Spinners have been chasing the Brewers for some time, and have been playing very well and gradually closing the gap in the standings. The Brewers, meanwhile, are trying to avoid a repeat of 1975, when they led the MGL much of the way only to see the Spinners overtake them and earn the pennant.
In other words, for a late August series, they don't much bigger than this.

The Spinners draw first blood in game 1, as starter Jason Wilson, who doesn't have the stuff he did in his earlier days but possesses great control and savvy at age 37, stifled the Brewers offense on 3 hits over 7 innings. Sadahige Kawasaki (10-7, 2.40) takes the loss, having given up 3 runs (2 earned) on 10 hits over 7 innings. Kawasaki was not sharp and was lucky to not give up more runs than he did. Andrew Kennedy (.356/.388/.440) was 2 for 4 in the loss.

The Brewers erase a 3-0 deficit by scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th in game 2 to get the home win. Kerry Krieg had shutdown the Brewers up to that point but the offense broke through for 4 runs against Krieg and 2 more that were charged to reliever Shouta Hori. Cheol-han Lee continued his fine second half of the season but didn't get a decision in this one, lasting 7 innings and giving up just 2 runs on 4 hits. Eric Marino (3-2, 2.43) gets the win in relief and Jason Gottula picks up his 13th save. The big hit for the Brewers was a 2-out, 3-run triple off the bat of Brett Taranto, his 12th triple of 1976. Outfield Val Guzman, recently called back up from AAA when Brad Tesh was put on the 10-day IL (suffering from conjunctivitis), went 2 for 4 at the plate. (The current sentiment in the Brewers front office is that Guzman and Jon Williams will likely be the 4th and 5th outfielders on the 1977 roster.)

And in game 3, it was Brett Taranto (.337/.382/.490) to the rescue again. In a back-and-forth game, Taranto helped give the Brewers an early lead with a run-scoring single in the 1st, hit a 3-run HR in the 7th that put them back on top after the Spinners had tied the game 3-3, and then hit a crucial 2-out single in the bottom of the 9th that put Joe McPhillips into scoring position and set up the game-winning single off the bat of Rich White to give the Brewers the victory in the game and the series. The home run was Taranto 7th of the season and he also picked up his 15th stolen base and 10th error. Steve Green got a no-decision in spite of a solid start. Green lasted 6 2/3rds, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 8 hits. Tim Shore (2-3, 2.93) got the win in relief. Bobby Erbakan (.305/.356/.419) went 3 for 5 and hit his 15th double. And RodRod (.290/.315/.372) contributed with his 4th HR of the season.

Notes from around the league: It looks like it should be an exciting finish in the SJL this year, as the El Paso Dawgs (78-48) now have just a 1/2 game lead over Columbus (77-48). Milwaukee (72-54) remains in third, 6 games back.
The Brewers, with the series win over L.A., extend their lead to 7 games over the Spinners (76-50) and hold a 10 game advantage over the recently hot Brooklyn Aces (73-53.)