Never over till it's over
Phil Garner – who would be fired in August after eight years on the job – moved him to the bullpen.
March 31, 2008, Wrigley Field Every opening day at The Friendly Confines seems somewhat magical, weather permitting, but the Brewers and Cubs staged a finish for the ages in this one. It began innocently enough with a pitching duel between Milwaukee’s Ben Sheets, starting his club-record sixth opener, and Chicago horse Carlos Zambrano, and it was still 0-0 entering the ninth inning.
Both teams had new closers – former starter Kerry Wood for Chicago and record-setting (with the Dodgers) Eric Gagne for Milwaukee – and it didn’t go well for either. The Brewers broke through for three runs against Wood in the top of the ninth on a run-scoring single by Ryan Braun and two-run double by Corey Hart.
The Cubs tied it against Gagne before he recorded a single out, with Kosuke Fukudome – playing his very first major-league game after coming from Japan – delivering a game-tying, threerun homer. To his credit, Gagne got the next three outs to keep it a tie game after nine.
Craig Counsell led off the Brewers’ 10th with a double and eventually scored on Tony Gwynn Jr.’s sacrifice fly off Bob Howry (the same Bob Howry who would give up an absolutely huge homer by Braun on the final day of the season in Milwaukee, snapping a 26year playoff drought with a wild-card berth) that made the score 4-3. Unheralded David Riske pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th and the Brewers had one of those “Whew!” season-opening victories you don’t forget.
And, as the Brewers discovered that season, every win counted.
Here today, gone tomorrow
March 29, 2018, Petco Park Manager Craig Counsell says every spring that the Brewers’ opening day roster is exactly that – the roster for the first day, subject to change. And that’s how it played out for reserve first baseman Ji-Man Choi, who made the club as the final position player with a big spring camp.
The opener at Petco Park quickly evolved into a pitcher’s duel between
Milwaukee’s Chase Anderson (six shutout innings, one hit) and San Diego’s Clayton Richard (seven innings, one run), with the Brewers taking a 1-0 lead to the bottom of the ninth. The Padres rallied against closer Corey Knebel for a two-out run on Freddy Galvis’ RBI single, and the game went on. And on.
With two down in the top of the 12th, Choi lined a double to right and Orlando Arcia followed with a run-scoring single to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Jacob Barnes struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to end the marathon but with newly acquired reliever Dan Jennings on the way to join the team, Choi was sent down after the game.
“He had an inkling that it might be coming, but he was probably hoping it was a little farther away,” general manager David Stearns said. “He was disappointed but I would be disappointed, too.”
'Not today,' says Cain
March 28, 2019, Miller Park Brewers centerfielder Lorenzo Cain, a noted stealer of home runs with leaping catches at the wall, has a favorite saying after doing so: “Not today!” And it’s usually uttered with a wag of the finger and a big smile. But he never had done so to save an opening-day victory until this game against St. Louis.
There were many highlights for the Brewers, including home runs by Mike Moustakas, Christian Yelich (three-run blast) and even starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacín against St. Louis right-hander Miles Mikolas. But the Cardinals kept punching back, with Kolton Wong smacking a pair of homers, the second coming off reliever Junior Guerra in the seventh to cut the Brewers’ lead to 5-4.
After striking out the side in the eighth on 11 pitches, left-hander Josh Hader retired Yadier Molina on a fly to deep center in the ninth, then struck out Dexter Fowler. Pinch-hitter Jose Martinez then sent a deep drive to right-center that had game-tying homer written all over it but Cain raced over, leaped against the wall and snatched it back for an electrifying game-saving catch, sending the 45,304 on hand into a frenzy.
“Every time he does it, it’s still surprising to me,” said Moustakas, who played with Cain in Kansas City and witnessed many home-run thefts. “That was incredible. And every time he does it, it was the best catch I’ve ever seen.”