Wild card lead doesn't look that good to Brewers

Todd D. Milewski  —  9/08/2008 6:32 pm

MILWAUKEE -- With 19 games to play, the Milwaukee Brewers entered the final three weeks of the regular season Monday with a four-game lead in the National League wild card race.

Sounds good, right?

"It doesn't sound good," Brewers manager Ned Yost shot back.

It might sound better if the Brewers, who opened a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds at Miller Park on Monday, had been playing better of late.

At 2-5 so far in a 10-game home stand, Milwaukee hasn't been able to take advantage of the Chicago Cubs' struggles, and the Brewers were still four games back in the NL Central race.

"The four games (in the wild card race) is nice but it doesn't mean anything with 19 games to go," Yost said. "If you tell me we've got a four-game lead with a week to go, I might feel a little better."

To get that, they'll have to get through a four-game series at the Philadelphia Phillies starting Thursday and a three-game set at the Cubs next week in addition to six games against the Reds. The Phillies trailed the Brewers by four games for the wild card entering Monday.

The most referenced deficiency for the Brewers over the last week has been an offensive dropoff. In the first seven games of the home stand, they scored only 16 runs.

The first eight batters in the regular starting lineup are hitting .224 (41-for-183) on the home stand.

"We've faced some good pitchers, but that doesn't take away from the fact that we're a good offensive club and we've got to find ways to beat good pitching," Yost said. "We've done it in low-scoring games, but not near enough on this home stand. We need to find ways to just swing the bats a little bit better and just pick up a few more runs. We'll be all right."

Yost continues to preach the patience during down periods that is his trademark. He maintained that his team is doing nothing different than when it put together a 5-1 home stand last month.

"When things start going a little south, the worst thing you can do is start tinkering because it sends you farther down the road," he said. "It's harder to find what you're doing. They've been successful for a reason, and have been consistent for the most part all season for a reason. You don't start making wholesale, major changes or start tinkering when you start struggling a bit. You just stay with it, and all of a sudden it'll come back."

First hit 'awesome' for Gamel

Mat Gamel only knows that when he laced a ball to right field for a pinch-hit double in the ninth inning Sunday, his first major league hit, someone from the team collected the ball.

"I don't know where the ball is," said Gamel, the Brewers' fourth-round pick in the 2005 draft.

The double was doubly impressive in that it was one of only two hits the Brewers mustered against San Diego Padres right-hander Chris Young in a 10-1 loss.

Gamel, one of 10 players brought up to the big leagues when rosters expanded to 40 on Sept. 1, shared the Brewers' minor league player of the year award with Alcides Escobar after posting a .329 average, 19 home runs and 96 RBIs at Class AA Huntsville.

The third baseman doesn't figure to get too much playing time with 11 infielders now on the roster, but he's trying to soak up as much as he can before he reports to the Arizona Fall League.

That includes "just what it's like to be here, the experience of being here and seeing how our guys go about their business day to day and how I need to take care of mine," he said.

Escobar, a shortstop, and first baseman Brad Nelson also have recorded their first major league hits since being called up last week.

"The goal is to get everybody's feet wet," Yost said. "Get all the hitters their first major league hit and get that out of the way. We've accomplished that with everybody but (catcher Angel) Salome now."

Gamel, meanwhile, said he wasn't concerned that his first name was spelled wrong (Matt) above his clubhouse stall. "I'm used to it," he said.

C'mon back ... next season

Another indicator of how popular the Brewers are at Miller Park this season: Anyone looking to cash in on a promotion that offered a free terrace reserved ticket to the Sept. 23 game against Pittsburgh with six fill-ups at a BP gas station is being redirected to next season.

The C'mon Back Card promotion has sold out of tickets for that game, the final offering of the season, and those who submitted redemption forms are being offered tickets for a game next April.

Through Sunday, 72 home games into the season, the Brewers totaled 2,734,606 in attendance (37,981 average) with 41 sellouts. They're expecting to crack 3 million fans for the first time.

Todd D. Milewski  —  9/08/2008 6:32 pm