Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

With the victory, and with Detroit having dropped 2 in a row, the Brewers are in 2nd place by themselves, 1 game behind league leader Portland.
Phoenix moves into 3rd place, 1 1/2 games back.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers win 2 tightly-contested games against the Charlotte Sting to complete the 3-game sweep.
Veteran outfielder Ryan Rodgers had a great week and takes MGL Player-of-the-Week honors.

[BirdWatcher]

Portland and Phoenix continue to win as well and the Brewers remain 1 game behind Portland and 1/2 game ahead of Phoenix and still cling to 2nd place.
With 5 games left in the season, perhaps the biggest 2 games in Brewers history are next: a 2-game series at Brewers Field against 1st place Portland.
Nobody expected the Brewers to be hanging on to pennant hopes this late in the season. Probably not even Brewers management, players, and fans.
But here they are, nevertheless.

Following the 2-game series against Portland, the Brewers head to San Francisco to face the Velocity in the last 3 games of the season. It is very possible, perhaps even likely, that the season will come down to the final day of regular season play. At this point our Brewers could finish anywhere from 1st to 4th place.
But one thing is certain- they have made great strides this season. They have already surpassed their previous best season win total. And even if they don't manage to finish the season with an MGL title in hand, they should enter the 1969 season with great optimism and high hopes for the future.

[BirdWatcher]

In the end the Portland offensive firepower proved too much for the Brewers. We drop both games of the series as Portland's superstar firstbaseman Frank Hernandez, a former league MVP, leads his team to easy victories, going 5 for 8 in the two games, scoring 4 runs, driving in 8, and hitting 3 HR's.
The Brewers enter the last series of the season, against San Francisco, not mathematically eliminated but with virtually no chance of winning the league title. They fall to 3rd place, 3 games behind Portland.

[BirdWatcher]

Meanwhile, in the SJL, the Columbus Whalers clinch their first league title and await the results of the MGL to see who they will be facing in the WPK World Series.

[BirdWatcher]

It takes a 9th inning rally, but in the first game of the final series of the season (in San Francisco) the Brewers get another strong performance from starter Daniel Torres and get a 4-3 win.
With Portland losing the Brewers stay alive for another day and move into a 2nd place tie with Phoenix.

[BirdWatcher]

In the second game of the series another 9th inning rally falls short (Arturo Baca strikes out in a 7-pitch at-bat and strands Bobby Erbakan- who had tripled home Antonio Puente to get Denver within 1 run of San Francisco- at third base.
With the loss the Brewers are officially eliminated from contention on the penultimate day of the regular season.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers provide evidence of their competitive spirit by claiming a narrow victory on the road in the last game of the season after having been eliminated from contention the day before.
With the victory the Brewers finish with 90 wins, 3 more than the previous team high (1965), and with a loss by Phoenix they end the season in a tie for 2nd place, 2 games behind Portland, who once again claims the MGL title.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers farmhand, reliever Justin Bismark, wins the Reliever-of-the-Year award for his performance at single A Bainbridge. Bismark, who was Denver's first round draft pick- #16 overall- in 1966, continues to look like a pitcher who will play a critical role in the Brewers bullpen in the future.

[stevem810]

Great action down the stretch.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

Great action down the stretch.

Yes, indeed.
It was a bit disappointing that the team couldn't compete a bit more in the 2 games against Portland, but still a fine ending to a mostly fine season. I find myself looking forward optimistically to the 1969 season.

[BirdWatcher]

The 1968 WPK World Series is well under way but before I report on that I thought it would be good to give some final wrap-up regarding the Brewers 1968 season.
Coming down the stretch, as mentioned earlier, the Brewers offense perked up a bit and while we still finished the season in the bottom half of the league in most offensive categories, there was marked improvement from the first half of the season in pretty much each of these categories. Of course, as always, the Brewers finished first in stolen bases. The team was near, but not at, the bottom in HR's, even though our top HR producer only managed 10 during the 1968 season. With a good number of extra-base hit producers and very good speed on the base paths, the Brewers did climb to 5th in runs scored in the MGL.
And given that the pitching staff (and defense) was the best in the MGL at preventing the other team from scoring, that was enough to make the team competitive. The Brewers finished 4th or better in every single major pitching category (and defensive efficiency) in a year in which dominant pitching was the rule.

Interestingly, by the end of the season the team's performance against left-handed and right-handed starters had evened out quite a bit, which might bode well for the 1969 season. The team did continue to perform much better at home than on the road and will have to improve their away record in 1969 if they are to take another step forward. The Brewers were very good in 1-run games, which given our pitching and defensive strengths probably shouldn't surprise, but it would be good if the offense improved enough in 1969 to avoid being so dependent upon such narrow victories.

[BirdWatcher]

The team continued to get fine performances from 4th outfielder Pat Rondeau, who played gold glove level defense at all 3 OF positions and was a reliable bat much of the season. Rondeau led the team in triples with 12, was 3rd in stolen bases (behind Ruben Souffront and Chad Brown) with 20, was 4th in runs scored, and 4th among position players in WAR at 3.3.

Arturo Baca was also a pleasant surprise for the team and may push Tanner Yurek in the next few years for the starting second base job. Baca, a great defender at multiple infield positions, was 6th on the team among position players in WAR with 2.5 in just 73 games played. He showed some power potential as well as the ability to get on base and was 4th on the team in stolen bases with 15 while being caught trying on 4 times.

Fifth (and sometimes sixth) starting pitcher Bobby Arends also continued to perform beyond expectations. While Arends is far from dominant, he does consistently keep the team in games and has shown a knack for working out of jams. It remains to be seen whether he will start the 1969 season in the rotation but he has certainly made a strong case for inclusion.

[BirdWatcher]

Among established stars who did not disappoint in 1968 is last off-season's big free agent acquisition, centerfielder, Ryan Rodgers.
While Rodgers offensive numbers took a dip from previous levels, this is attributable to a generalized league wide trend. Rodgers finished 1st in the MGL in OBP and 2nd in BA, 3rd in WAR, 4th in OPS, OPS+,weighted OBA, and triples, and 6th in hits. All while providing his usual gold glove caliber defense.

Lefthanded flame-thrower Daniel Torres continued to be the ace of the staff (with apologies to Steve Alonso, who was also very good).

And the bullpen continued to be anchored by the All-Star reliever Miguel Solis, who took another step forward to super-stardom at age 28.

[BirdWatcher]

A few Brewers stars did not fare so well in 1968 though.
Principle among them is leftfielder Antonio Puente.
While Puente remains a great defensive outfielder, his bat was cold most of the season and the absence of his usual HR production in the middle of the order may have been the deciding factor in the Brewers not taking the MGL title this season. Puente did still manage to finish 2nd among position players on the team in WAR and is still a valuable member of the team, but will need to bounce back at the plate in 1969 or risk losing some playing time to Pat Rondeau and young hitting specialist Andrew Kennedy.

Secondbaseman Tanner Yurek also took a big step backwards in 1968, after having somewhat broken out in 1967. Yurek is 3 years older than Puente and at age 27 does not have as much time to prove this season was a fluke, especially with Arturo Baca showing strong evidence of being ready to take over as the starter at that position.

[BirdWatcher]

A few young Brewers starters had mixed results this season but remain important elements of the team's plans for the future.

22-year old shortstop Chad Brown continued to show progress in the field and looks to be among the finest defenders in the game. His bat was streaky but overall his offensive potential still seems strong too. There was evidence this year that his running speed, which was already considered top flight, if anything took a step forward this season. Although he needs a bit more experience to become a more efficient base-stealer, he did finish 2nd on the team in swipes with 26 and is a great base-runner.

23-year old rightfielder Ruben Souffront got a bit hotter at the plate towards the end of the season and finished with acceptable offensive production, even if down considerably from 1967. Ruben once again led the team in stolen bases and continued to show some evidence of the possibility that power hitting could become part of his repertoire, but while he hit a normal number of triples for him, his doubles production was down considerably. Ruben is a solid, though far from spectacular, fielder. He did finish the season with 10 assists from his position in RF, mostly collected in the first half of the season.

22-year old flame-throwing reliever Armando Cruz put up very nice numbers in 1968 but continues to struggle with control issues which often required other members of the bullpen to bail him out of jams.

[BirdWatcher]

The Columbus Whalers hold serve, winning the first two games of the 1968 WPK World Series at home, 1-0 and 7-0.

[BirdWatcher]

The series shifts to Portland, but the results remain the same as the SJL once again claims the WPK Championship, this time in an easy 4-game sweep that gives the Columbus Whalers their 1st Championship and the Portland Wild Things their second consecutive World Series loss.
Veteran thirdbaseman Bob Pena is awarded the series MVP as he hits .438 in the series and hits the big 2-run HR in the top of the 10th inning that breaks a 2-2 tie in Game 4 and gives the Whalers a lead they would not relinquish.

[BirdWatcher]

Word has been received that the Denver Brewers sent their hitting coach, Nate Harville, packing and elevated AAA Chester hitting coach, MIchael Hawkins, to the big league club.
Harville has gained a reputation as an ineffective hitting coach and the feeling in the organization is that the Brewers hitters have under-performed these past several years. On the other hand, Hawkins is thought to have done a fine job with Chester and the hope is that his balanced approach can help the Brewers hitters get the most out of their inherent talents in the upcoming seasons.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers 1968 1st round draft pick Steve Green received the short-season A ball Pitcher-of-the-Year award for his fine performance in his first season as a Denver farm-hand.
His teammate Steve LaCoste finished 5th in the voting.