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Brewers notes: Hollywood native Kapler writing his own feel-good story

Dennis Semrau  —  4/07/2008 7:10 am

MILWAUKEE -- It is fitting that Gabe Kapler was born in Hollywood, Calif.

After all, his feel-good story sounds like it was created by a scriptwriter for a TV movie of the week or a big screen drama starring Kevin Costner.

Kapler, who retired for a season to serve as a manager in the Boston Red Sox organization, is showing that he still has plenty left in his competitive tank. The 32-year-old outfielder hit his second home run in two days as Milwaukee blanked San Francisco 7-0 Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 44,014 at Miller Park.

With starting center fielder Mike Cameron serving a 25-game suspension to open the season for testing positive for a banned stimulant, manager Ned Yost opted to go with a by-committee approach of Kapler, Tony Gwynn Jr. and Gabe Gross.

"We felt good with the guys that we had," Yost said of his rotating trio of center fielders. "Kapler is a very solid player, as is Gross, as is Tony Gwynn. We just felt we wouldn't skip a beat."

They haven't.

Gwynn was hitting .571 with an on-base percentage of .500 until he was sidelined Thursday with a hamstring injury. Gross drove in a run in Saturday's 5-4 win over the Giants and threw out a baserunner. Kapler's performance the past two days speaks for itself.

"Gabe Kapler is a winning type player. He does all the fundamental things right and plays the game the way we like the game to be played," Yost said after Kapler went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs on Sunday. "I don't know why he retired in the first place."

Kapler said at the time he thought he was ready to enter the next phase of his career. But in his heart he realized that his playing career wasn't quite over yet.

"I got a good opportunity in spring training and I'm getting a good opportunity now," said Kapler, who is batting .438 (6-for-17) with two home runs and six RBI. "I feel I'm being put in a good position to have success and that's a tribute to Ned (Yost)."

"I think that the best leaders put the people that work for them in a position to have success. I think to a man in this room everybody can say they've been put in position to have success.

Kapler said he was just doing his part to help the team, deflecting any credit for the Brewers' sizzling 5-1 start.

"It feels great going into the off-day having an opportunity to relax and know that we've gotten off to a good start," he said. "Mike Cameron is a great player. But our lineup is strong enough that it can have people missing and still be productive."

Yost said he wasn't surprised by Kapler's performance.

"He swung the bat very well in spring training, a line drive, gap type hitter. He was very impressive from the first day of spring training on," Yost said. "He's not a guy who grew on you. From the first day you went, 'Whoa.' "

Record crowds: With Sunday's sellout crowd of 44,014, the Brewers set an attendance record for the first three home games of a season. Milwaukee drew 119,800 fans for the three-game series against the Giants. That surpassed the previous record of 116,752 set from April 6-8, 2001, the year that Miller Park opened.

The Brewers have scored first in each of their first six games this season. Yost said that is further proof that his club is worth watching this season.

"Come watch good, aggressive, hard-played baseball," Yost said. "That's what they saw this weekend."

Around the diamond: J.J. Hardy ended his 0-for-8 hitless streak with an RBI double off Barry Zito in the second inning. Hardy was 1-for-2 with two walks San Francisco catcher Stephen Holm collected his first career major league hit when he singled in the second inning off Sheets Corey Hart reached base safely in all four of his at-bats: on an error, single, single and hit-by-pitch. He finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Prince Fielder has hit safely in all six games this season.

On deck: The Brewers have an off day today before continuing their six-game, seven-day homestand on Tuesday with their first night game of the season. Milwaukee hosts the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday's matchup (7:05 p.m., Miller Park, FSN Wisconsin) will feature Brewers RHP Jeff Suppan (1-0, 2.84) against Reds RHP Johnny Cueto (1-0, 1.29), who struck out 10 in his major-league debut last week.

dsemrau@madison.com

Dennis Semrau  —  4/07/2008 7:10 am