Master winners:
Allfor-one Brewers demonstrate how a modern team wins.
DENVER — Still pushing himself around on a leg scooter after tearing an Achilles tendon a few weeks back, Mark Attanasio was a bit tardy to the celebration, but he was feeling no pain.
“Best pain-killer in the world – champagne in the clubhouse!” the Milwaukee Brewers principal owner proclaimed as his runaway club celebrated yet again.
Three clubhouse celebrations in 12 days for the Brewers, all on the road. If that sounds like a lot, it is. First came merely making the playoffs, clinching in St. Louis. Then came beating the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in a one-game showdown to claim the NL Central crown. Now, a three-game sweep of Colorado to dominate the NLDS, capped by a convincing 6-0 victory Oct. 7 at Coors Field.
Along the way, the Brewers have won 11 games in a row, an unheard-of streak of excellence this time of year. You can’t blame them if they think nothing can stop them now.
In an impassioned speech to teammates in the clubhouse, before the champagne really got flowing, Ryan Braun presented the team’s mission statement.
“Two weeks ago in St. Louis, we came out with a goal,” Braun shouted. “The goal was to win the World Series. We’ve taken steps in that direction. Two weeks ago in St. Louis, we said let’s make this the first celebration and not the last. Two celebrations later, we’ve got two celebrations to go.
“We accomplished this by everybody playing to the best of their abilities. Everybody here is doing their job the best they possibly can. That’s why we’re winning baseball games. Nothing’s going to change. The lights are going to get brighter. It’s going to be more fun than we’ve had to this point. We will keep doing the same (stuff )!”
General George S. Patton couldn’t have delivered a more motivating speech to his troops. Makes you want to go run through a wall, doesn’t it, Brewers fans?
The Brewers dominated the Rockies so thoroughly, it was difficult to digest. Of the 28 innings played in the series (the first game went 10 innings), Colorado scored in just one, for a total of two runs. That two-run output was the lowest in NLDS history.
All the Brewers have heard since the end of last season is that they don’t have enough pitching, but that joke is on the rest of the baseball world, not them. The bullpen once again was dominant, covering the final 4 innings without damage, but the “initial out-getters” – don’t use the word “starters” around this club – didn’t allow one run in 12 2/3 frames in the series.
Veteran lefty Wade Miley set the tone in the clincher with 42⁄3 innings of three-hit ball. Then came what has been the death knell for opponents this season – the parade from the bullpen. Revunated flame-thrower Corey Knebel. Wily veteran Joakim Soria. Unflappable rookie Corbin Burnes. Emotion-fueled Jeremy Jeffress. Scary good Josh Hader.
You fall behind the Brewers, that relief corps comes in and puts you to bed without dinner. It’s virtually painless, the way they anesthetize hitters.
“They stepped up, they really did,” outfielder Christian Yelich said of the entire pitching staff. “They rose to the occasion. It goes without saying, this ballpark is a really tough place to pitch.
“For Wade to come in and do what he did was unbelievable. The guys in the bullpen did their job like they’ve been doing all year. It was an unbelievable performance.” Shut out in the last two games, the Rockies finished with a mere 14 hits, batting .146 collectively with a .188 “slugging” percentage, if you can call it that. The Brewers pitching staff emerged with a 0.64 ERA, with 30 strikeouts over those 28 innings.
“We’ve pitched at a really high level for some time,” manager Craig Counsell said. “To give up two runs in three games, and finish it with a shutout here in the most difficult place to pitch in baseball ... those guys on the staff deserve a ton of credit.
“Eleven (victories) in a row at this time of year is not something you see. It’s kind of heady stuff, to be honest with you. You don’t want to think about it, almost. But what it goes to is we’re playing at a really high level.”
That will have to continue doing so if the Brewers are to get to their first World Series since 1982. The next series, the NLCS, will be best-of-seven, putting more pressure on the pitching staff to piece things together.
Thanks to the three-game sweep, the Brewers will have four days of rest and workouts before playing Game 1 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Miller Park on Oct. 12. They have the home-field advantage in that series as well after winning the most games (96) during the regular season.
The Brewers’ next victory will be No. 100 but they have no intention of stopping at the century mark.
“It’s fun right now,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. “You play for this exact reason, to celebrate at the end. We’re still a long way from our main goal.”
These celebrations never get old. The Brewers had to wait seven years since last popping champagne corks in the clubhouse. The way they see it, they might as well do it twice more.