[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 4-2 (week), 79-47, 2nd place, 1 gb L.A., MGL (season)

August 21-23, at San Francisco: 0-3, 4-3, 4-5.

August 25-27, versus Oklahoma City: 12-4, 20-1, 10-8.

After dropping two of three in San Francisco (the most pitcher friendly park in the league) the Brewers returned to the friendly confines of Centennial Stadium and blasted the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings in a three game series.

The first game in San Francisco saw the Brewers get shut-out by Velocity fan favorite, Jose Mendoza. He improved to 6-8 with a 5.14 ERA by holding the Brewers to just 3 hits and 1 walk. Tough loss for Steve Green (9-6, 4.80), who deserved better after giving up 3 runs on 7 hits over his 8 innings pitched. RodRod collected 2 of the 3 Brewers hits including his 15th double of the season. Josh Schaeffer also doubled, his 17th, for the other hit.

Game 2 went into extra innings tied up at 3 apiece but the Brewers rallied for a 10th inning run off former Brewer reliever Jeremy Walker, capped by a Jon Williams sacrifice fly, and held on for the narrow victory. John Weaver wasn't bad in the start, giving up 3 runs, only 2 earned, on 7 hits over 6 1/3rd. Reliever Evan Perez (2-0, 0.66) got credit for the win and Ben Flynn picked up his 9th save of the year in as many opportunities. RodRod again picked up 2 hits in 4 ab's though he also committed his 9th error of the season. Josh Schaeffer hit his 9th homer of 1977.

The rubber match of the series went to the home club. Although the Brewers led 4-3 going into the bottom of the 9th, the bullpen could not hold the lead. Closer Tim Shore (6-3, 3.00) came in to preserve the lead and instead not only blew the save but lost the game, getting only one out before the Velocity got the walk-off win. Another win stolen from staff ace Sadahige Kawasaki who gave up 3 runs on 9 hits over 7 1/3rd innings pitched. Brett Taranto collected just one hit in the game but it was his 15th home run of the season and drove in 3 runs. Casey Bromwell, who has been starting to show some hitting ability, went 2 for 4 in the loss.

Having struggled to score runs in San Francisco, the Brewers hitters were clearly happy to be back home in the more hitter friendly Centennial Stadium. The 4th place Oklahoma City Diamond Kings had mostly held their own against the Brewers coming into this series. Not so much in these three games.
In game 1 the Brewers plated 12 runs, having collected 19 hits, including 4 doubles. Erik Sloan wasn't great in the start (he did not get a decision), allowing 4 runs on 6 hits, including a pair of home runs, over just 5 1/3rd innings. But reliever Ben Flynn (6-3, 3.13), having his breakthrough season, went the final 3 2/3rds nearly flawless innings to get the win. Flynn, probably the best power hitter on the club and one of the best hitters overall, also went 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI in the game, hitting his 5th double. It was also a great game for the young Jo(h)n's on the team: John Flores (.292/.370/.554) went 4 for 6 with 2 runs scored, an RBI, and hit his 3rd double and Jon Williams (.325/.372/.462) was 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored, 2 RBI, hit his 11th double and drew a walk. Brett Taranto (there will be more from him this series) went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI and hit his 27th double, though he did also commit his 11th error.

Then, in case their dominance wasn't clear enough in game 1, they simply demolished the Diamond Kings in game 2, to the tune of 20 runs on 21 hits. And not that they needed great pitching, but hey, they got that too. Starter Sekien Hamasaki (14-4, 3.40) allowed the only Oklahoma City run of the game when he gave up a 5th inning solo homer to Diamond King catcher Carlos Lopez, but he went 8 strong innings, giving up that 1 run on just 5 hits. It would take far too long and far too much space to mention all of the offensive stars for the Brewers. But RodRod's (.343/.382/.507) 4 for 4, 5 RBI, 2 runs scored game in which he hit his 16th double and 8th home run is certainly worth mentioning. And young outfielder Val Guzman (.266/.371/.436) collected just a pair of hits in his 6 at-bats, but one was his 12th home run of the season, and he scored 3 runs while driving in 3 more. He also picked up his team-leading 21st stolen base. Oh, and we mentioned Brett Taranto had a pretty good series. Well, in this one he went 3 for 5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI, hitting a pair of doubles to get to 29. But one last hitting line we need to highlight, the one from the most surprising source. Starting pitcher Hamasaki, admittedly probably the best hitting member of the rotation, went 3 for 5, scoring twice, driving in 4 runs(!), and hitting his 1st double of the season.

Game 3 was the closest game of the series and the home team was actually trailing 6-4 going into the bottom of the 7th but then they exploded for 5 runs in that frame and picked up one more in the 8th to hold on for the win and the series sweep. The big hit in the 5-run 7th? Well, a home run by relief pitcher Ben Flynn of course. For big Ben it was homer number 6 of the season, in just 60 plate appearances. Flynn poses a bit of conundrum for management. He did come up through the minors as a two-way player and he can play first base, though not spectacularly. And on a team without a true power hitter, the closest they have is the Longmont, Colorado native who turned 27 on the day he hit his 6th long ball of 1977. He is doing a fine job out of the 'pen this year as a multi-inning reliever. But boy does the front office, as well as his manager and coaches, have to wonder how many balls he could hit into the seats in fair territory if he got more AB's. The Brewers hit 4 homers in this one. The others hitting them: Jon Williams (5), Nick Ward (2), and Jake DiCesare (5). This was certainly a game where the relatively unknown backup players got to shine for Denver. (Ward, for instance, known for his great glove and not his bat, went 2 for 4 while scoring 3 runs and driving in 3 more.) More well known is All-Star first baseman Brett Taranto (.348/.394/.545). All he did in this one was go 3 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI which made him 9 for 15 with 4 runs scored and 6 RBI in the 3-game sweep. Following up his Rookie of the Year 1976 campaign with an equally impressive 1977 season seems to have solidified Taranto's grip on the first base position for the foreseeable future in Denver.


This was certainly a roller-coaster week for the Brewers as at mid-week they had fallen to 4 games behind the 1st place L.A. Spinners and then with the 3-game sweep of Oklahoma City and with the Spinners inexplicably getting swept in three games by in-state rivals, the San Francisco Velocity, the Brewers are right back in things, breathing down L.A.'s neck. The Brooklyn Aces had a good week, winning 4 straight to end the week, and are hanging in there at 5 games back. No other team in the MGL is closer than 13 games out.

And in the SJL the Columbus Whalers have currently lost their grip on first place, after having sat in that position most of the season, and the surging Jacksonville Wolf Pack now lead the Whalers by 2 games. Boston and Pittsburgh are both just 3 1/2 games back and several other teams remain in contention in the tight SJL race.