After falling into 4th place mid-month the Denver Brewers are in the midst of a resurgence at the end of the month of August, having now won 5 straight, including a sweep of the Los Angeles Spinners to move ahead of L.A. and back into 2nd place.
Game 1 was another slug fest with top pitching prospect
Stephen Brooks getting knocked around for 4 2/3rds innings, giving up 8 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits while also walking 6 batters and uncorking a pair of wild pitches. (
Brooks earned a demotion to AAA Chester to get his head clear and work on his control after this one.) But his team took him off the hook with more offensive firepower, second baseman
Justin Banks once again leading the way, driving in 5 runs with a 2 for 4 day, hitting his 29th double of the season. The excellent
Val Guzman (.304/.388/.568) went 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored and collected his 27th double and 5th triple of the season. Veteran left-handed reliever, and fan favorite,
Rand Pinti picked up the win to improve to 4-2 on the season with a 2.91 ERA, giving up 1 run on 3 hits over the course of 2 1/3rd innings pitched.
Dan "Hero" Folk (get it, folk hero), picked up his 12th save in 13 tries this season, striking out the last 2 batters of the game after giving up a 1-out single.
In game 2,
Austin Bond continued his fine season, lasting 7 innings and giving up just 1 run on 7 hits.
Bond improves to 14-6 with a 2.58 ERA, 4th best in the MGL, and a 1.16 WHIP, 5th best. His 21 Quality Starts is also 4th best in the MGL. Catcher
Willie Ortega, who returned from an extended stint on the IL recently, went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI in the game, hitting his 3rd double of the season. It might not be coincidental that the Brewers have been playing better since the return of the excellent defensive backstop and fan favorite
Ortega. Veteran right fielder
Joe McPhillips (.282/.366/.502) also had a fine game, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and picking up his 8th stolen base of the season.
The Brewers got the sweep with an easy 7-1 game 3 victory, with young good stuff, poor control starting pitcher
Alex Canty pitching the best game of his big league career thus far (it was his 7th start for the Brewers, and in his WPK career).
Canty lasted 8 innings, giving up just the 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 6 and walking 3. He earns himself at least another start as he vies with
Stephen Brooks,
Eric Fehrenbacher, and
Jose Corpeno for a spot in the rotation next season. Like
Brooks and
Fehrenbacher,
Canty was a 1st round draft pick (3rd overall) but unlike these other two he was not drafted by the Brewers but rather by Jacksonville, back in the 1979 draft. He joined the Brewers organization last season in a trade that sent third baseman Craig Hoover to the Charlotte Sting. (He has changed organizations a few times since originally being drafted by the Wolf Pack.)
Canty has some of the best stuff among Denver starters but poor control and only roughly average movement and he is much older (28) than the pitchers he is competing against and might have best success in the bullpen. Veteran outfielder
Antonio Acuna, not happy with the limited playing time he is receiving (he is a 3-time MGL MVP, so it is hard to blame him- then again, his 0.5 WAR doesn't cry out for more playing time), paced the offense in this one with a 2 for 4, 2 RBI game in which he hit his 11th homer of the season as well as hit 10th double. And young first baseman
Gene "Basher" Brasher, who has prodigious power potential (he hit 29 bombs last year in AA over 520 plate appearances), hit his 1st big league home run in this one and drove in 2 runs.
With 3 games left in August, the Brewers are now sitting 7 1/2 games behind the first place San Francisco Velocity, who are 3-7 in their last 10 games.