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Semrau: Hot or not, Brewers off to a productive start

Dennis Semrau  —  4/11/2008 7:05 am

MILWAUKEE -- There is hot: Jason Kendall leading the National League in hitting.

And there is not: Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy all without a home run through the Milwaukee Brewers' first nine games this season.

But a week ago, if you would have asked manager Ned Yost if he would have taken a 6-3 overall record for the Brewers as they headed out of town on a nine-game road trip over the next 10 days, he would have looked at you and said, 'Are you kidding?'

Despite the newly vegetarian Fielder being hitless in his last 11 at-bats, Hardy barely hitting his weight and Milwaukee dropping the last two games on its six-game home stand, the Brewers are in the thick of the National League Central Division pennant race.

Just one game separates division-leading St. Louis and fourth-place Cincinnati, with Chicago and Milwaukee tied for second a half-game back.

Yet to listen to the sports talk shows and read the blogs and e-mails from area baseball fans, you would have thought the Brewers had crashed and burned and were languishing in the Central Division cellar.

Once again, it shows that the priorities of the fans and critics and those of the teams and its players aren't always on the same page.

So don't get Fielder started about his decision to quit eating meat during the offseason and its effect or not on his lack of power, or Yost on his soap box about his closer's early season lack of success.

"I know I'm not producing, just look at the scoreboard," said Fielder, who is aware that he has more strikeouts than RBIs (6-to-5) this season and has not hit a home run in a regular-season game since last Sept. 25. Last season, Fielder became the youngest player ever to hit 50 homers in a season, roughly one for every three games he played.

However, a 0-for-4 performance on Thursday left him hitless (0-for-11) in the Reds series and saddled with a .242 batting average entering tonight's opening game of a three-game series in New York against the Mets, weather permitting, of course.

"I'm not any weaker. Eating a hamburger isn't going to change anything. I just have to work myself out of it," Fielder said earlier this week.

Yost isn't concerned, either, and quickly defended his first baseman, who narrowly missed delivering his first home run in the sixth inning Thursday when he just got under a pitch from Cincinnati ace Aaron Harang.

"He got a pitch that he just missed," Yost said. "He just got under it and skied it straight to right field. We're talking about maybe a half an inch or a quarter of an inch more and that ball is in the seats. So there's no concern."

Not yet, but Yost would prefer people relax and let Fielder and the rest of his teammates settle into the season before getting worked up about any hot streaks or lack of production. That includes closer Eric Gagne's two blown saves in three chances, including Tuesday's 3-2 victory in 10 innings over the Reds.

"Eric Gagne made a mistake ... plain and simple," Yost said of the game-tying home run he allowed on Tuesday to Corey Patterson on a 2-2 pitch with two outs in the ninth inning. "He tried to go down and away and he got the ball over the middle of the plate. That has nothing to do with stuff or any command.

"His fastball is 94 miles an hour. So yeah, he threw 97, he threw 98 before. OK, so if you want to downgrade three miles and hour and call it a downgrade, knock yourself out. He's got a nice breaking ball. He's got a nice change-up. He made a mistake and the guy hit it out for a home run. Like anybody, he's trying to get better like most players do every single day. His stuff is still closer stuff."

Yost also has tired of defending his decision to bat Kendall ninth in the order, after the pitcher, and explaining why it works.

"You have to have the right player. And it doesn't have to be a catcher. It just happens that Jason Kendall is a catcher. But he's a high on-base, low-slug, high-contact, ground ball hitter, and that all plays into those scenarios," Yost said.

"It's nice that he's getting a bunch of hits. But it's not why he is in the nine hole. It's to increase our run production. We just feel that over the course of the year we're going to score more runs with him in the nine than we would with him in the eight. That's the while idea."

In reality, Yost -- a former big league catcher who was a reserve on Milwaukee's 1982 World Series club -- doesn't care how Kendall bats at the plate as long as he does his job behind the plate.

"I don't care one iota about his offensive performance. Whatever he gives us offensively is gravy. What I care about most, and what I love about Jason Kendall, is his passion to work those pitchers and to be defensive-minded."

Those thoughts will be much debated during the Brewers' road trip to New York, St. Louis and Cincinnati over the next 10 days. That will also bring the club much closer to regaining the services of center fielder Mike Cameron, who is sitting out a season-opening 25-game suspension for testing positive for a banned stimulant.

Yost said Wednesday that Cameron can join Triple A Nashville after Milwaukee has played 20 games and play five rehab games to prepare him to join the Brewers.

Then there will be something else to talk about, hot or not.

Dennis Semrau  —  4/11/2008 7:05 am