[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 6-0 (week), 90-49, 1st place, MGL (season)

September 4-5, versus Baltimore: 10-6, 3-2.

September 7-9, at Charlotte: 8-6, 9-6, 5-1.

September 10, versus Portland: 6-4.

The Brewers are playing inspired baseball right now, having won 8 straight games. Unfortunately, they are still having a hard time shaking the L.A. Spinners from their tail and the Spinners remain a well within reach game and half out. The Brooklyn Aces, on the other hand, have dropped to an impossible 12 games off the pace and it is clearly just a two team race the rest of the way.

Having won the first game of a three game set against the power-hitting Baltimore Lords, the Brewers prevailed in a slugfest in the middle game of the series. The Brewers got three homers to power them to a win: Joe McPhillips' 13th, Josh Schaeffer's 10th, and RodRod's 9th. Erik Sloan (8-5, 4.06) got a somewhat undeserved win, having allowed 5 runs on 10 hits over 7 innings. Val Guzman had a nice game, going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and a walk and swiping two bags to get to 24 on the season.

The Brewers got the series sweep on Monday in a pitching duel between veteran Lords great Jesse Hartong and the Brewers under-rated 24-year old righty John Weaver. Weaver pitched 6 2/3rds effective innings, giving up 2 runs on just 4 hits but did not get the decision. The win instead went to Ben Flynn (8-3, 3.31) who pitched the final 2 innings. Bobby Erbakan, in a bit of a slump, did produce the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 8th inning, his 108th RBI of 1977.

After a day off, the Brewers traveled to Charlotte to take on the Sting.
In game 1, the Brewers scored two 8th inning runs to break a 6-6 tie and keep their winning streak alive. The runs came from an unlikely source, as little Joe Willemse hit his 2nd home run of the season, a 2-run blast that proved the game winner. Brett Taranto also homered for the Brewers, his 16th of the season. A pair of youngsters in the lower half of the lineup did much of the damage as Jake DiCesare went 3 for 5 with a run and 2 RBI, hit his 9th double and stole his 4th base, and catcher Erik Bettencourt, starting to show his bat skills, went 3 for 4 with 2 runs and an RBI, hitting his first two big league doubles.

In game 2 Sadahige Kawasaki suffered another tough start, allowing 6 runs on 6 hits over 5 2/3rd innings, not getting a decision. Fortunately the bats and the bullpen bailed him out. The win went to young Ryan Muilenburg (1-0, 9.64), recently re-called from AAA to bolster the bullpen. Ben Flynn picked up his 10th save of the year and more importantly hit a two-run pinch-hit single in the 8th that put the Brewers up for good in this one. The Brewers hit 4 homers in the game: Joe McPhillips (14), Val Guzman (14), Zacarias Martell (8), and John Flores (3). (Note: this was the game in which Guzman was ejected after being hit by a pitch and starting a bench-clearing brawl.) The final score may have been very different if it weren't for RodRod going 0 for 6 and stranding 11 runners.

The Brewers get the series sweep when Sekien Hamasaki (15-5, 3.59), who has been struggling lately, finally had a really strong start again. Hamasaki lasted 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking 3 batters. Jon Williams (.332/.374/.473) continued his surprising rookie season with a 3 for 5, 1 run scored performance and hit his 12th double. Brett Taranto's lone hit of the game was also his 32nd double of the season and drove in 2 runs to open up a nice lead that the Brewers would not relinquish.

The Brewers end the week by returning home to Denver to take on the Portland Wild Things. Josh Schaeffer (.333/.486/.506) had a great game to lead the team to their 8th straight win. Schaeffer was 3 for 4 with 4 runs scored, 1 driven in, and hit his 21st double and 11th home run while also swiping two bases to get to 15 stolen bases on the season. Steve Green continues to have a mediocre season and gave up 4 runs on 9 hits over 7 innings with no decision. The win went to left-handed reliever Victor Colon (3-1, 2.65) who pitched the 9th inning and kept the game tied 4-4. It was RodRod, who had failed to get hits in the game two days ago in spite of being up many times with runners in scoring position, who got the walk-off game winner in this one, his 10th home run of the season, sending the fans home happy. He went 3 for 5 in the game, scoring 1 run and driving in 3 and also hit his 5th triple of the season earlier in the game.


Meanwhile, things remain very tight in the SJL, with Columbus and Jacksonville again tied for first at the end of the week (with 79-59 records) and the red-hot Pittsburgh Roadrunners right on their tail, just a half game back. The Boston Berserkers have fallen to 3 1/2 back in 4th place, followed by Milwaukee and El Paso both at 5 1/2 behind.