Brewers record: 5-1 (week), 5-1, 1st place, MGL (season)
April 10-12, at Oklahoma City:
3-0,
5-3,
5-9.
April 13-15, versus Brooklyn:
8-7,
5-4,
6-3.
The Brewers open the 1978 regular season on the road against the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings, who were perhaps the biggest surprise contender (well, until the last month or so of the season, when it was a two-team race between Denver and L.A.) in 1977.
But the Brewers spoil the Diamond Kings home opener with some brilliant pitching by staff ace
Sadahige Kawasaki (1-0, 0.00) and an effective inning from closer
Tim Shore, who picks up his 1st save of the season.
Kawasaki worked 8 innings, giving up just 2 hits while striking out 8 and walking 1 but given that it was the first start of the year and he had thrown 107 pitches the Brewers manager decided not to keep him in the game to try to get the shutout. The hitting star for Denver was last year's MGL MVP runner-up
Bobby Erbakan, who went 3 for 4 with a run scored and 2 driven in and hit his first two doubles of the season.
Brett Taranto contributed his first triple of 1978 and scored twice.
Sekien Hamasaki (1-0, 3.68) was solid enough in game 2 to get his first win, working 7 1/3rd innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits.
Ben Flynn pitched the final inning for his 1st save of the season.
Rich White, who seems to get off to a strong start at the plate every season, led the way with a 3 for 4, 2 run scoring game and swiped his first two bags of the season.
Joe McPhillips only had one hit in the game, but it was also the first homer of the season for Denver.
The Brewers can't secure the series sweep in game 3 though as
Steve Green (0-1, 16.62), who didn't look sharp in Spring Training, carries his struggles into his first regular season start.
Green lasts just 4 1/3rd, giving up 8 runs on 9 hits, including 2 home runs allowed.
Brett Taranto does his part to try to lead the Brewers in a comeback bid, as he went 3 for 3 with 1 run scored and 3 RBI and hit his 1st homer of the season.
Thursday's home opener against the Brooklyn Aces was preceded by a WPK championship banner raising ceremony in front of a just under capacity crowd exceeding 48,600 screaming fans. Appropriately
John Weaver, one of the biggest heroes of the 1977 KCS, got the start, but perhaps feeling the weight of expectations following a winter with new found attention being paid to him, the 25-year old right-hander got off to a shaky start, allowing 3 runs in each of the first two innings. But, in typical
John Weaver fashion, he dug down deep and gave a gusty performance after that until he was gassed with 2 outs in the 6th inning and gave the team a chance to play catch up. And catch up they did. Some of the credit goes to
Val Guzman who was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI, hitting his first double and first home run of the season. And in the words of the Brewers long-time announcers, it was one of the longest bombs they had ever seen hit at Centennial Stadium (it was recorded as travelling 454 feet.)
Josh Schaeffer also continues his early season hot hitting, going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored in this one. And
Joe McPhillips went 2 for 4 while hitting his 2nd homer of 1978.
Rookie
Jim Atwell (1-0, 3.60) then got his first start, and win, of the 1978 season. While
Atwell wasn't the most economical, throwing 123 pitches over just 5 innings, he pitched well enough for the win, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits while striking out 5 and walking 3.The bullpen was strong behind him, with
Tim Shore earning his 3rd save of the season in as many chances. And the combination of
Josh Schaeffer and
Joe McPhillips provided most of the offense in support of
Atwell.
Schaeffer went 2 for 4 with 1 run scored and 3 driven in, walking once and hitting his 1st homer of the season. And
McPhillips has his power bat going early this year, as he went 2 for 3 with a run scored and 2 driven in, hitting his 1st triple and his team-leading 3rd home run in the game. He also picked up his 1st stolen base.
Saturday was
Cheol-han Lee Day at Centennial Stadium, as his uniform number 16 was officially retired in a grand ceremony prior to the final game of the opening home series of 1978. Fittingly,
Cheol-han and the over 48,000 fans there to see the game were witness to a match-up of the two starting pitchers who are the heirs apparent to
Cheol-han as the best right-handed starters in the game:
Sadahige Kawasaki and Aaron McNally. And in this one the hometown Ace won out.
Kawasaki (2-0, 1.59) went the distance in this one, on only 118 pitches, giving up 3 runs on just 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking none. The Brewers offense once again got to the 3-time Pitcher of the Year McNally- as they did in his final start against them in 1977- and scored 6 runs on 11 hits against in him in his 7 innings pitched.
Kawasaki himself was a bit part of the run scoring, as he went 2 for 4 in the game and scored 3 runs (he also reached on an error early in the game). Although the Brewers didn't get any extra base hits, they were efficient in taking advantage of their 12 hits and 3 walks, with
Brett Taranto once again leading the way with a 3 for 5 game and
Bobby Erbakan going 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI.
Kawasaki was also the beneficiary of some tremendous defense up the middle with
Bobby robbing the speedy Jeremy Brigatti (a thorn in the Brewers side over the years) of what looked like a lead off hit in the 3rd inning (103 exit velocity groundball between second and first that
Bobby skillfully fielded) and
Rich White making a highlight reel play on a Greg Alwardt hard hit grounder up the middle to lead off the 7th inning.
The Brewers get the series sweep and honor their legendary former staff ace and future Hall of Famer Cheol-han Lee on an historic day at Centennial Stadium!
