Dwight Bernard

Offense Reappears, Brewers and Indians Split

Indians 4, Brewers 1 (Game 1)
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Brewers 7, Indians 2 (Game 2)
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Brewers now 59-43 (1 game up)
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Don Money led the offensive attack in the second game to help the Brewers get a split.

MILWAUKEE — After the first game of today’s double header with the Cleveland Indians, Brewers fans were starting to wonder if the second game would be worth watching. Luckily, it was.

The first game was an example of something we’ve seen far too often lately. It was either poor hitting or dominant pitching, but given the consistency in that department lately, you’ve got to point the finger at the offense. This is a team that was routinely scoring seven runs or more a couple of weeks ago. Through today’s first game, the Brewers had scored four runs or fewer in 10 of the last 13 games.

And Game 1 today was painful. The immortal Ed Whitson held the Brewers to one run on three hits through six innings. He retired the Brewers in order three times. Then future first ballot Hall of Famer Dan Spillner took the hill and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced.

That’s sarcasm. Whitson and Spillner are capable pitchers, sure. But this is ridiculous.

In between games, manager Harvey Kuenn remarked about his Wallbangers: “Looks like our bats are on vacation.” No kidding.

The Brewers put down their margaritas for Game 2 and the bats came alive, pounding out seven runs on 12 hits. Gorman Thomas led the way with three hits and two RBI while Don Money had two big hits and drove in three.

Early, however, it looked like this game would be a painful continuation of the first. Rookie Bud Anderson cruised through the first three innings, allowing only one hit to the Brewers. But then the Crew reached on four straight singles (where are the home runs?) to score four runs and knock Anderson from the game. They then tacked on three more in the fifth on RBI hits by Cecil Cooper and Money.

Of course, as tends to be the case, it wasn’t just hitting that won this game. Jim Slaton allowed only two runs through seven innings before giving way to Dwight Bernard, who pitched two perfect frames.

“Everybody contributed just like we used to,” Kuenn said after the second game. “Hopefully this shows we are back on track.”

If so, the AL East is in trouble. Despite the Brewers’ recent struggles, they are now one game up on the Red Sox, who fell to Chicago today.

Game Notes: Robin Yount‘s hitting streak came to an end at 13 games in the first game when he went 0-for-3 with a walk.

Brewers Complete 5-Game Sweep of White Sox

July 18 Leave a Comment

Brewers 9, White Sox 3
Brewers now 53-35 (1st)
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Jim Gantner managed 11 hits in the five-game series.

MILWAUKEE — Today was Helmet Day at Milwaukee County Stadium, and the White Sox could have used those spare helmets to protect their heads from flying baseballs.

The White Sox took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning, but it could have been worse. Through those two innings, they had left three runners on base. Two runs is not enough to hold back the high-scoring Brewers.

“Sure it runs across your mind that today may not be your day,” Ben Oglivie told the Milwaukee Sentinel, “but we were only down two runs. The score doesn’t matter to this team. It doesn’t mean anything.”

In the bottom of the second, the Crew pounced on rookie Rich Barnes, who was making his major league debut. Just not fair, really. The first five batters he faced that inning reached base, and with two down in the inning the Brewers held a 6-2 lead. Barnes’ day was already over, and the White Sox had a big hole to climb out of.

While the Brewers hit .336 with 12 homers, 26 doubles and two triples on the home stand, the story of this five-game sweep was the bottom of the order. Don Money, Charlie Moore and Jim Gantner combined to go 8-for-12 with four RBI and three runs scored today, and of the Brewers’ 56 hits in the series 26 came from the bottom of the order.

Jim Gantner is a big part of that. The White Sox killer went 11-for-15 in the series and has gone 21-for-38 against Chicago this season.

“I betcha Jim Gantner couldn’t tell ya how to get Gantner out,” White Sox starting pitcher Britt Burns moaned.

A three-game sweep isn’t an easy thing to do. A four-game sweep is almost unheard of. And a five-game sweep? Thanks to a make-up game of a contest previously rained out in Chicago, the Brewers pulled off that unthinkable task.

“It’s just one of those streaks,” Gantner said of the eight straight games and overall success against the White Sox. “Chicago’s unfortunate enough to play us right now. They had the lead in four of the five games but we just kept coming back.”

The biggest surprise is that the Brewers kept scoring runs without the home run ball. Coming into the series at a pace to challenge the 1961 New York Yankees for the team record of most home runs in a season, the Brewers’ only homer was by Don Money on July 16.

“We finessed them,” manager Harvey Kuenn laughed. “Seriously, we not only hit for power, we can hit for average too.”

They can. And they can pitch. The bullpen now has a 2.15 ERA under Kuenn. The team is 30-11 under his leadership and now has the second best record in all of baseball, one win behind the Atlanta Braves who are 54-35.

The Boston Red Sox, by the way, lost to the Royals 9-0 today and fell 1 1/2 games behind the Brewers for the AL East lead.

Game Notes: Brewers starter Randy Lerch lasted 6 2/3 innings before handing the ball to Dwight Bernard for his fourth save. The White Sox managed only an Aurelio Rodriguez solo home run off of Lerch after the second inning.

Twins Blast McClure

July 7 Leave a Comment

Twins 11, Brewers 8
Brewers now 45-34 (2nd)
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MILWAUKEE — It’s pretty easy to boil today’s 11-8 loss to the Minnesota Twins down to one inning and one player: The second inning and Bob McClure.

After neither team had a hit in the first, the Twins came out swinging in the second. After retiring rookie Kent Hrbek for his fourth consecutive out, McClure endured the following:

Engle (walk)
Laudner (walk)
Ward (single)
Gaetti (home run)
Castino (single)
Mitchell (single)

Dwight Bernard then relieved McClure and got the final two outs, but not until his inherited runners scored.

Down 6-0 in the second inning, the Brewers offense didn’t give up. They never do. They played up to Harvey’s Wallbangers standards, scoring eight runs on 13 hits, including home runs by Ed Romero (1), Robin Yount (14) and Ted Simmons (12).

Of course, even if your offense scores eight runs, when you spot the opposition six you have to expect your bullpen to allow fewer than two runs over 7 2/3 innings. That didn’t happen.

And not to bag on the bullpen, but other than Bernard they didn’t do their job. After Bernard held things together with only one earned run over 4 2/3 innings, Jamie Easterly allowed two runs in two innings and Rollie Fingers allowed two more in one inning. So, if you want to get technical… Really, all the Brewers needed was for Easterly and Fingers to shut out the Twins over the final three innings. If you want to assign some blame there, feel free.

The loss was the Brewers’ second in three games and their third in six. Not awful. But the Red Sox beat the Rangers 8-5, so the Brewers now trail by a full game.

Game Notes: Robin Yount, Ted Simmons and Charlie Moore each had three hits.

Brewers Benefit from Seven Chicago Errors

July 5 Leave a Comment

Brewers 10, White Sox 4
Brewers now 45-33 (2nd)
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It was Jim Slaton, not LaMarr Hoyt, who looked like the early Cy Young candidate.

CHICAGO — You know those games when everything possible seems to go wrong? Have no fear, Brewers fans, this wasn’t one of those games for your team on a nationally televised scale. But it was for the White Sox.

Chicago had early Cy Young candidate LaMarr Hoyt on the mound. Coming in with a 10-6 record and 2.34 ERA, there was certainly an expectation that the Brewers would have a challenge scoring runs.

But these are Harvey’s Wallbangers. What Hoyt faced today was a level of competition he hadn’t seen all season. Formerly a reliever, he made his first start of the season against the Brewers on April 27 and allowed one earned run over eight innings for an 11-2 White Sox win. From that point forward, he had lasted eight innings or more in 10 of 13 starts. Only once had he not lasted at least 6 2/3 innings.

Today? Well, today was different. Hoyt would face 11 batters and retire only four of them, though one would be via the sacrifice. By the time he left in the second, he was shellshocked. The Brewers were already up 5-0.

Though the White Sox would come back and make it a 6-4 game, their defense would put this game out of reach. Or I should say, their lack of defense.

Seven errors. Seven. Have you ever seen a big league game where players committed seven errors? I haven’t. I’ve seen Little League games. Maybe some school games. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it on the college level, and certainly not in the big leagues.

Seven errors led to four unearned runs. Shortstop Bill Almon would get the hat trick, flubbing three plays. It got so bad that in the ninth inning Comiskey Park fans were chanting, “We want an error! We want an error!”

“It was an embarrassing loss in front of a national audience,” said White Sox manager Tony Larussa, “or even if there was no audience at all.”

It was embarrassing. For you.

White Sox fans will see this game as one that was lost due to a lack of defense. In reality, there was also some outstanding pitching coming from Milwaukee. While starter Randy Lerch nearly let a big lead get away by giving up four runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings, Jim Slaton was his usual dominant self in relief. He threw 6 1/3 easy, shutout innings, allowing only three hits.

Slaton’s ERA overall is 3.12, but just as a reliever it’s 1.72 in 47 relief innings. Manager Harvey Kuenn is strongly considering keeping Slaton in the relief role only, even though he’s often used as a spot starter.

Want some bad news? No? Well, I’m going to give it to you anyway. Robin Yount was removed in the fourth after pulling his hamstring while, you guessed it, running out Bill Almon error.

“He said he felt a slight pull after rounding first base and that if we wrapped up he’d be Ok,” Harvey said. “I figured he’d be at 85% and there’s no way Robin goes 85%, it would have been 110% and I was afraid he would pull it more.”

Yount is not expected to play tomorrow.

Game Notes: Of the last 11 games, the Brewers have reached double digits in hits nine times. … Dwight Bernard‘s wife Barbara had a baby girl this morning. Kelly Dawn weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz., and both baby and mother are resting comfortably. … Division leading Boston did not play today, so the Brewers are now back to a half game back. … Jim Gantner took infield practice prior to the game without trouble, but Kuenn didn’t think he was ready to return from a shoulder injury.

Stormin’ Gorman Brings Thunder to Yankees

June 30 Leave a Comment

Brewers 9, Yankees 7 (12)
Brewers now 42-31 (2nd)
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Gorman Thomas — Gorman Thoams hit a two-run homer in the 12th to beat the Yankees.

NEW YORK — What started out as a rout ended up as a thriller. But the Brewers kept their composure and again won in impressive fashion on the road.

The Crew sent Yankees starter Tommy John to the showers early, scoring one in the first and five on six hits in the third. Holding a 6-1 lead midway through the seventh, the lead appeared safe.

But that’s about the point that the clock strikes midnight for Brewers starter Randy Lerch, even on a good day. He quickly hit the wall, allowing three consecutive hits after a leadoff fly out by Graig Nettles. Dwight Bernard and then Rollie Fingers came on to try and stop the bleeding, but by the end of the inning it was a one-run nail-biter.

The drama was a bit unexpected, particularly after a Ned Yost RBI single gave the Brewers a two-run lead heading to the bottom of the ninth with Rollie Fingers still on the mound. Then, Rollie lost grip of the lead again and blew his fifth save, allowing the Yankees to tie the game on two sacrifice flies.

The game was nearly ended in the tenth when Roy Howell hit a two-out single to left with Ben Oglivie on second. But Dave Winfield pegged him out at the plate on a perfect throw, and the game continued.

Gorman Thomas, who previously in the game exacted revenge on Dave LaRoche by smacking a “LaLob” for a single (LaRoche had struck out Thomas on the same slow-pitch softball-styled looper during the playoffs last season), had power in mind in the twelfth. After Cecil Cooper led off the inning with a single, Gorman smashed a booming shot over the left field wall off of reliever Shane Rawley to give the Brewers a two-run lead.

Of course, this was a game filled with dramatic twists and turns, so the bottom of the twelfth wouldn’t be easy. After Rollie Fingers reached the end of his line (he went 4 2/3 innings for his longest outing of the season), Jamie Easterly took the mound. Oscar Gamble and Jerry Mumphrey reached to start the frame, and the Brewers appeared to be in big trouble. But Graig Nettles failed to get a bunt down and would then strike out. Roy Smalley singled to load the bases with one out, and then Dave Collins hit a swinging bunt that Easterly would field and tag out Oscar Gamble at the plate. With two down and the bases still loaded, catcher Juan Espino flied to center to finally end the game.

It was a marathon game, a roller coaster of emotions. But as the Brewers have repeatedly shown under Harvey Kuenn, this team is a powerful, strong-minded and resilient bunch.

The Brewers go for the sweep tomorrow.

Game Notes: After Boston’s 12-3 loss to the Tigers, the Brewers now trail the Red Sox by two games for the AL East lead. … Gorman Thomas now has 19 home runs, tying him with teammate Ben Oglivie and Cleveland Indian Andre Thornton for the league lead. … Thomas is 13-for-24 with five home runs and 13 RBI on the six-game road trip. … Jim Gantner, nursing a sore shoulder, is making improvement and will try to throw in a couple of days. … Don Money has a sore hamstring, but still played.

McClure, Wallbangers Too Much for Boston

June 27 Leave a Comment

Brewers 7, Red Sox 5
Brewers now 40-30 (2nd)
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1982 Donruss Diamond King Gorman Thomas — Gorman Thomas mashed two home runs today.

BOSTON — Another day, another Brewers win. Another impressive win. Another powerful win.

What else can you say about this team? Three games down against the AL East-leading Red Sox at Fenway Park, three wins for the visiting Brewers. They’ve scored 27 runs on 41 hits, including eight home runs.

Silly.

The star of the mash fest continues to be Ben Oglivie, who slugged his seventh home run in seven days, giving him an AL-leading 19 on the season. “On fire” doesn’t begin to describe how hot Oglivie is right now. He has 12 hits and 12 RBI in his last 26 at bats. Silly.

Gorman Thomas also hit two today, giving him three on the series and 17 on the season. The Brewers now have a league-leading 99 long balls on the season. They hit the ball hard.

What more can be said about this team?

Well, we can talk about how they were eight games back just a couple of weeks ago before they won nine of their last 10 games against the Red Sox, Yankees and Tigers, all but the three Yankees games being on the road. They are now two games back. We can talk about how they are 17-6 under manager Harvey Kuenn. And we can fawn over their home run power some more. But that’s been done.

How about we talk about the pitching? Despite the final score, mound work was actually a major reason for today’s win. Unlike the first two games when the Brewers allowed 15 hits each time, Bob McClure was in complete control through seven innings. He had allowed one run on four hits through that point, having had streaks of seven and 11 consecutive batters retired.

Then the Red Sox broke through for four runs in the eighth to make things somewhat interesting before Dwight Bernard shut the door. But for the most part, this game was owned by Milwaukee from the start.

The only complaint Brewers fans can have is that their players continue to get little respect from the rest of the league’s fans. No Brewer leads his position in the fan voting. Not even Robin Yount, in the most obvious choice of obvious choices, as he continues to trail Bucky Dent, who is on track to be the worst shortstop ever to be voted into an All-Star Game.

Bahhh. But that’s a meaningless game. The Brewers will just keep winning the ones that matter. And we’ll keep smiling.

Game Notes: A decision will be made tomorrow on whether second baseman Jim Gantner will be placed on the DL with a sore right shoulder suffered 10 days ago against Detroit … The Brewers have hit back-to-back home runs 11 times this season, bringing them to within five of the MLB record of 16 set by the 1977 Red Sox. The NL record of 12 was set by the 1956 Reds.