So here we are, down to the final day of the 1984 WPK regular season, and the MGL West contenders San Francisco and Denver are tied at 93-68 each thanks to the results detailed below from the penultimate day of the season.
The Brewers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in Portland and then just hung on for a 5-3 victory. Right handed starter
Jose Corpeno (6-4, 4.23) wasn't spectacular in this one but as he often does he kept the team in the game long enough to turn it over to the Brewers vaunted bullpen (more about that in a later post) and gave them a chance to win.
Corpeno is likely to be one of the main beneficiaries, in terms of rotation opportunities, at least in the short run, should the Brewers trade
Mike Costa in the offseason.
We have talked quite a bit about newer faces on the team, so let's give some love to one of the old veterans,
Joe McPhillips. At age 35,
McPhillips remains a steady and hard-working presence on the team. This year he has gone .285/.356/.428 with 15 doubles, 3 triples, and 11 home runs, putting up 1.9 WAR in 418 plate appearances. These days he mostly plays right field where his defensive skills remain very high and while his stolen base numbers were not good this year (9 stolen bases, 13 times caught trying) he remains fast and a very savvy baserunner. He went 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI in today's win. He is only under contract for one more season and the club has a buy-out option at the end of this season, but the thought is that he is well worth the relatively modest pay he is due and he should remain a Brewer for at least one more season.
While the Brewers were holding on to a road win, the Velocity saw their bottom of the 9th inning rally fall short against Phoenix in San Francisco, setting up the possible tie-breaker scenario depending upon what each team does in their final regular season game.
