[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 6-1 (week), 68-39, 1st place, MGL (season).

August 3-4, at Brooklyn: 6-5, 4-5.

After dropping game 1 to the second place Aces, the Brewers find a way to win a back-and-forth extra inning game in the middle game of the series. The Brewers score a run in the top of the 11th when the ever impressive Zacarias Martell hits his 6th HR of the season. Tim Shore works the final 2 innings to get the win and improves to 2-3, 4.91 as a Brewer. Cheol-han Lee got the start and worked 8 innings, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits. Rich White hits his 2nd HR as a Brewer in the game. And Joe McPhillips drives in a pair of runs with his 18th double.

The Brewers lose the series though when the Aces get a walk-off 10-inning victory in the final game. Jaden Francis' poor season continues as he takes the loss, dropping to 1-3 with a 4.91 ERA. (Rumor has it that Francis, who is arbitration eligible at the end of the season for the last time might not be around in Brewer purple for the 1976 campaign.) Steve Green gave the team another solid start, lasting 7 and giving up 3 runs on 7 hits. And Joe McPhillips (.313/.387/.566) led the offense with a 3 for 5, 1 HR (13) game.

August 5-7, versus Detroit: 8-4, 9-3, 6-4.

On their way from one coast to another, the Brewers stopped in Denver to take on the slumping Detroit Falcons for three games. The Falcons came to Denver with an 8 game losing streak, and left having lost 11 in a row.

The Brewers win in game 1 came with a cost though: Joe McPhillips, legging out an infield hit in the 3rd inning came up limping and had to leave the game with a sprained knee, the second time this season that knee has bothered him. The prognosis was that he would probably be hurting, with moderate effects on his running, for 5 days, but the Brewers, not wanting to take any chances with their MVP at this stage of the season, put him on the 10-day IL and recalled Jorge Gonzalez, who was just sent back to AAA Chester when Bobby Erbakan returned. (And yes, Joe got injured the same day Bobby came back.) Harry Lyerly (7-5, 3.68) got the win in this one, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits in 7 innings. Josh Schaeffer, who came in to the game when McPhillips had to leave, went 2 for 2 and scored 2 runs. Bobby Erbakan came back strong with a 2 for 5 game, hitting his 12th double. And Oscar Vargas hit his 3rd HR of the season.

Bobby Erbakan was even hotter in game 2- pacing the offense with a 3 for 5 game, being just a single short of hitting for the cycle, with his 13th double, 3rd triple, and 7th HR. Josh Schaeffer hit HR #14 and still leads the team in this category. Both Jorge Gonzalez and RodRod went 3 for 5 in the game, which set the tone pretty well since they were in the 1 and 2 slots in the lineup. Erik Sloan (7-4, 3.17) got the win.

And it was the Erbakan show again in game 3, as Bobby was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, and hit his 8th HR. Andrew Kennedy (.355/.385/.438) was 3 for 4 in the game with 2 RBI and hit his 21st double. And Jorge Gonzalez (.352/.368/.473) is turning into a doubles machine, collecting 3 in this game to get to 10 on the season. Sekien Hamasaki (2-1, 3.68) got the victory, allowing 4 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits in 6 2/3rds. Tim Shore got save #10.

August 8-9, at Los Angeles: 5-4, 2-1.

Heading next to L.A., where the Spinners were the anti-Detroit, having won 7 in a row. And to conclude the week the Brewers may have had 2 of their most impressive games of the season.

In game 1 they lost Sadahige Kawasaki early to a foot injury (the third base coach inexplicably had him try to score from second on a 1-out RodRod single (Kawasaki having singled to lead off the inning) and not only was Kawasaki easily thrown out but he as mentioned he bruised his foot and had to be lifted from the game. So the Brewers not fully rested and not very good bullpen would be tested, and meanwhile the Spinners had probably their best pitcher this year, Mike Stagner, on the bump. And sure enough, the Spinners led 4-1 going into the 7th inning. But then the Brewers started doing what they do best- hitting. They chipped away with 2 runs in the 7th, another in the 8th, and one more in the 9th to take a 5-4 lead. And then another incredible thing happened. The bullpen closed it out! Eric Marino (3-1, 3.66) got the win and Jeremy Walker (6, 4.84) earned the save. Player of the Game was RodRod, who went 4 for 5 with a run scored and 2 RBI. Jorge Gonzalez got 2 hits, and guess what they were? Yup, that's right, doubles (12). And Andrew Kennedy picked up his 22nd double as well. Against all odds, the Brewers found a way to win.

And then did it again in game 2. Cheol-han Lee got his groove back, giving up just 1 run on 6 hits in 8 innings pitched to improve to 12-3 with a 3.40 ERA. Jason Gottula was called on to work the 9th, with much apprehension. And what did he do? Struck out the side, that's what he did. He earns his 1st save as a Brewer. And you are expecting me to talk about RodRod's bat, right? But no- here's the amazing thing about RodRod in this one. In the 7th inning, when the Spinners were threatening to score thanks to 2 errors in the inning- no, none by RodRod- 1 by Little Joe Willemse (who went 2 for 3 in the game) and the other by Rich White, on what should have been a routine popup out. So after our two defensively gifted middle infielders had botched make-able plays to put runners on 1st and 2nd with only 1 out, Bryan Ostrovsky hit an absolute screamer into the hole between Rich White and RodRod (100 mph EV) and somehow, against all odds, RodRod dug it out and tossed to first to get the speedy Spinners centerfielder. Sure the runners moved up to second and third, but the air seemed to be let out of the rally and the next batter meekly hit into a ground out to Willemse at second to end the threat.

A week when the Brewers play 4 of 7 games against their main competitors, Brooklyn and L.A., and only lose a single game (and that one by a single run) is a pretty darn good week to be a Brewer.

Notes from around the league: The Columbus Whalers (72-35) maintain a 5 game lead on Boston (67-40). Philadelphia (61-46) is in 3rd place, 11 games out. The expansion Chicago Fire have to be pretty happy with themselves right now. Not only have they won 7 of their last 10 but they are currently in 8th place with a 48-59 record, which means that 4 teams in the SJL are worse than them, and that's pretty good for a first year club. Their counterparts, the Houston Cavaliers, in comparison, are now 36-71, a distant 36 games off the pace in last place.
The Brewers manage to hold onto first in the MGL, 3 games up on the Brooklyn Aces, who have now won 6 in a row. L.A. drops back into 3rd place, 4 games back. And the Baltimore Lords (57-50), playing very well lately, are in 4th place, 11 games back.

EDIT: I probably should have said that Kawasaki's foot injury isn't serious and he should be able to make his next scheduled start.