[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers may be hot but so are their final opponents, the Portland Wild Things and in game one of the final regular season series it was Portland that came out on top.



Denver starter Mike Costa (9-8, 4.43) took the loss. In spite of his pedigree as a 1st round draft pick and top 5 prospect in the WPK, the feeling is that the Denver front office is ready to move on from Costa. While he has three elite pitches and great stuff, he is held back by pedestrian movement and by control that is average at best and which the Brewers scouting staff is seeing as actually heading in the wrong direction. He will likely be trade bait in the offseason, especially with a few other pitching prospects (particularly Stephen Brooks, who just needs to harness his control a bit better, and is ranked the #30 best prospect) who are mostly WPK-ready.


Meanwhile, Jon Harrington likely cemented his claim on the 1984 MGL Harris/Lee (best pitcher) Award when he earned his 20th victory with a complete game, 4-hit shutout of the offensively potent Phoenix club. The loss mathematically eliminated the Speed Devils from contention, but they still have to be happy with at least a 90-win season after having lost at least 97 games in each of the past 7 seasons, with a low mark of 52-110 in 1977. With a good young pitching staff, excellent team defense, and some young hitters who get the advantage of playing in the league's best hitters park, Phoenix appears to be a team poised to contend for the foreseeable future.