The Milwaukee Brewers will resume their series Tuesday night with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, looking to complete a three game sweep, and move on to the NLCS. While one could make the assumption the high-gravity brew-crew are feeling pretty good about themselves at the moment, they would be the first to tell you they still got to win one more.
As I sifted through different moments of this series’ first two games today, a couple of things caught my attention.
For starters, Ryan Braun, as his teammates would say, is in full “beast mode.” The Brewers left fielder is six for eight at the dish so far with two doubles and a mammoth home run. None of his hits are coming cheaply, and the Arizona Diamondbacks might want to start pitching around this guy a tad more.
Second (and I guess this can be left up to debate since I don’t have exact decibel readings to prove my point), Miller Park could easily be the toughest park for opposing teams to play in this postseason. While home-field advantage might not factor into baseball as much as football, the fans in Milwaukee are most certainly doing their part. From what I’m hearing on the broadcasts, these people are extremely loud, and their presence might of played a role in Arizona’s tightness over the weekend.
Justin Upton’s two-run shot in the fifth Sunday that tied the game at four weathered the storm momentarily. It made the game interesting and more importantly silenced Miller Park for a few minutes. But winning teams will answer the bell, and the Brewers strung together a huge sixth inning to break things open.
Jonathan Lucroy’s successful squeeze bunt teamed with Corey Hart’s line drive single made it a 6-4 affair, and got the crowd back into it. Then Nyjer Morgan stepped in the box – the Brewer’s outfielder had been hitless in the series up until this juncture.
Morgan whistled the first pitch he saw from Brad Zeigler into centerfield for a single, plating two runs, and at that moment the fans at Miller Park went into a frenzy, and were louder than any fan base I have heard yet this postseason.
The aftermath of the two-run single was unmistakable. As the camera pointed towards Arizona’s dugout, you could see a ball club that had the wind completely drawn from their sails. The Diamondbacks, who have prided themselves in 2011 for being a club that doesn’t hit the panic button, and doesn’t quit till the final out, were clearly demoralized. After that play, there was not much fight left in the team on Sunday.
In the grand scheme of things, baseball is entrenched in mathematics. But an aspect of destiny seems to shine on teams that develop a special chemistry when postseason play hits. The Brewers clearly have a nice chemistry going. You can see it after each player successfully gets on base, looks in the dugout, and raises their arms up grizzly bear style.
While behaving like a beast won’t guarantee your ball club a set or rings, it most certainly doesn’t hurt. It is apparently helping the guys rally around each other, not to mention it probably annoys the be-Jesus out of opposing teams such as the Diamondbacks.
The Brewers are getting great contributions from all the guys on their roster so far, and the stars have been performing beautifully. The Brewers will still need to live by the old cliché – take it one game at a time. But for the moment, this might be the “scariest” team left in baseball.