While there is still more than a month of regular season baseball left in the WPK, the Brewers have entered a stretch of games that could strongly influence whether they are contenders or also-rans this season.
First up is a 4-game series against the 1st place Brooklyn Aces in Denver. Immediately following that the Brewers head to L.A. for 3 games against the 2nd place Spinners. Then after a couple of games against the Detroit Falcons they come home for 2 more games against the Spinners. It's a perfect opportunity to pull themselves back into 1st place heading into September. But it also has the potential to knock them down far enough in the standings to make a pennant winning stretch run unlikely.
Things get off to a good start in game 1 against the Aces. The Brewers get a solid enough start from reigning MGL Pitcher of the Year Erik Sloan and plenty of offense in a 9-3 victory. Sloan allows 3 runs (2 earned) in 8 1/3rd innings pitched and improves to 11-7 with a 3.70 ERA. Andrew Kennedy (.345/.390/.467), whose picture you will find in the WPK lexicon under the term "professional hitter", was 4 for 5 in the game and hit his 4th triple of the season. Jonathan Koch (.308/.328/.463) continued to show the best power on the team as he hit his 15th HR as part of a 2 for 5 day. Joe McPhillips (.290/.398/.500) also homered in the game, his 3rd as part of a 2 for 4, 2 run, 2 RBI game.
The Brewers offense then got shut down by Brooklyn fan favorite Jose Mendoza in game 2 as the Aces won 7-1. Steve Green continued his unimpressive 1973 campaign by allowing 7 runs on 9 hits (2 HR's) in 5 innings pitched. He falls to 7-11 with a 4.41 ERA. Pat Rondeau (.367/.391/.456) was 2 for 4 in the game and scored the lone Brewer run. Other than that, there isn't much good to report from this one. (Though the bullpen was quite good, unfortunately in a shut the barn door after the horses have already run far away situation.)
Harry Lyerly started game 3 for the Brewers. So it will perhaps not surprise you that we won this game 7-3. Lyerly did give up a pair of HR's but allowed just 3 runs on 8 hits in 7 innings pitched with 8 K's and 3 walks issued. With some good run support he improves to 12-5 with a 2.89 ERA. Jonathan Koch's (.309/.331/.468) team-leading 16th HR helped, a 3-run shot in the 6-run 6th inning that gave the Brewers the lead for good. Chad Brown (.287/.310/.355) went 3 for 5 in the game and drove in a pair of runs.
In a series that saw the teams play to a draw by alternating easy wins, the Aces pummeled the Brewers 10-3 in the finale. Brewers starting pitcher Matt Helm gave up 5 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits in 6 innings pitched. Relievers Justin Bismark and Jose de los Santos also pitched poorly in this one. The 4 errors the Brewers committed didn't help either. One player who certainly can't be blamed in this one is Josh Schaeffer. Schaeffer (.329/.420/.495) was 4 for 4 in the game, hit his 4th triple, and drove in a run. Mike Foster (.276/.311/.388) entered the game late and hit his 8th HR in his lone at-bat.
So after 4 games against Brooklyn things remain status quo for the Brewers. They still sit in 3rd place, 2 1/2 games behind Brooklyn and a game behind L.A., their next opponents.