Losing Nelson is a big blow to Brewers

CHICAGO It ain’t over till the fat lady sings … or till Jimmy Nelson tries to stretch a single into a double, gets halfway to second base and changes his mind, turns and goes back to first, slides into the bag and hurts his right shoulder.

Strained rotator cuff. Partially torn labrum.

Severe damage to an upstart team’s playoff hopes.

Nelson's season came to a premature end Friday night in the fifth inning of the Brewers’ 2-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs -- a game in which the righthander had turned in another rock-solid start.

You wouldn't know it from the Brewers' 15-2 victory Saturday at Wrigley Field, but Nelson's freak injury was a huge blow to the team even as it pulled to within three games of the Cubs, with a chance for a series sweep Sunday.

Although Zach Davies has more victories and Chase Anderson has a lower earned-run average, Nelson has established himself as the Brewers’ unquestioned ace.

“(He’s) probably the single biggest reason we are where we’re at,” Ryan Braun said after the game Friday, before the extent of Nelson’s injury was known. “There’s not a lot of time left in the season so any time he misses will significantly impact our chances of making it to the postseason.”

Consider them impacted. Nelson likely would have made four more starts, or one-fifth of Milwaukee’s 20 remaining games. Mixing a mid-90s fastball with a knee-buckling curve, he’d given up just eight earned runs in 30 innings over his last five starts, all Brewers victories. And his toughness was on display when he went out and pitched the bottom of the fifth Friday with a “weird” feeling in his arm.

But if we know one thing about the 2017 Brewers, it’s that there’s no quit in them. You’ve got to appreciate a team that won’t go away, a team that can implode one day and explode the next, a team that doesn’t know it’s not supposed to be here, knocking on October’s door. There’s a resiliency about this bunch that flies in the face of how a young team is supposed to respond to adversity.

“I think it’s really a tribute to the energy that we’ve been able to create the entire season,” general manager David Stearns said. “Part of that probably is youth, part of it is guys enjoy each other’s company, part of it is guys enjoy coming to the ballpark every single day. I certainly think that helps create an atmosphere that allows the team to be resilient.”

When you pick apart the Brewers and study their shortcomings – far too many strikeouts, a maddening inability to manufacture runs, long stretches when RISP might as well be RIP, bullpen flameouts, Matt Garza – you conclude they can’t possibly contend for the postseason.

They’ve gotten precious little help from Junior Guerra and none from Wily Peralta, both former staff aces. Braun has missed big chunks of the season. Jonathan Villar sleep-walked through the first four months.

Yet, here they are, playing meaningful games with September’s chill in the air.

“One of the best qualities of this team is that there’s no hangover or carryover, good or bad,” Stearns said. “Guys show up every single day just worrying about the game that day. That’s served us well throughout the entire season.”

Still, the math and the circumstances are not in their favor, and losing Nelson is a blow that will be difficult to overcome, psychologically and on the field.

There’s a cemetery a couple blocks down Clark St. from the Friendly Confines. The Brewers didn’t come to Wrigleyville to get buried, symbolically or otherwise. They’re far from dead. But somewhere, somebody is warming up her pipes.