S.O.S.

Sparks On Sports

by Troy A. Sparks

sparkstroy@sbcglobal.net

We did it!!! We did it!!!

After a four-game sweep by the Philadelphia Phillies more than two weeks ago, which led to the firing of former manager Ned Yost, the Milwaukee Brewer players searched deep in their hearts and pulled off a stunning turnaround.

They made believers out of more than 3 million visitors to Miller Park.  The players, nearly left for dead two weeks ago, proved the naysayers wrong.  The Brewers are in the playoffs for the first time in 26 years.

Of course they had some help from the Chicago Cubs.  Houston was knocked out of the playoff wild-card picture when the Cubs beat them at Miller Park, September 14 and 15.

The New York Mets lost two of four from Chicago last week.  That put the Brewers in a tie for the last playoff spot with three to go.

They had to sweep Pittsburgh at home.  Mission accomplished.  Milwaukee had to win at least two of the three remaining regular season games from the Cubs.

It would protect the slim lead for the wild card.  Mission accomplished.  Okay, so the Cubs helped us along the way. But we had to help ourselves. We wanted it bad.

After Yost was fired on Sept. 15, the Brewers named Dale Sveum the interim manager.

During a conference call later that day in Chicago, Sveum was asked what his message to the players was.

“To make them understand that this isn’t about statistics to them or anything like that.  This is about winning this wild card or division and get in the playoffs.”

It was late-inning heroics, courageous pitching and a belief that a manager wouldn’t decide their postseason fate. The players would. The thrill of making the playoffs was indescribable.

“A week ago, we were two and a half games out and look where we are now,” Brewer principal owner Mark Attanasio said after his team’s 3-1 win Sunday.  “We’ll see what happens in New York and we’ll celebrate.”

The Mets had a one-hour rain delay in their game at home against the Florida Marlins. Milwaukee and New York had the same record at 89-72 before the regular season finale. A Met win and Brewer loss would knock us out. If both teams won or lost, the Mets would’ve hosted the one game playoff Monday because we lost the coin flip to host it.

After the Brewers won, many of the 45, 299 fans watched the ninth inning of the Marlins-Mets game on the big screen scoreboard.

In the bottom of the ninth, the fans cheered every strike and every out. After the last out, they rejoiced.  That included the media and Miller Park employees.

  Two of the workers pushed two large plastic laundry carts in the clubhouse. In it were bottles of champagne on ice. The players watched the ending of the game on TBS.  Everything was covered with plastic bags.

When the final out was recorded, the corks popped.  The players sprayed and dumped champagne and beer everywhere. It was truly a memorable moment.

“You can see what it means,” baseball Hall of Famer and bench coach Robin Yount said in the clubhouse. “It’s right here in front of you.  And I guarantee you it’s equally as exciting out there.”

The Brewers put the entire season and the playoff hopes on the line this past weekend. On Friday, they beat the Cubs, 5-1. Saturday, Ben Sheets, who hasn’t pitched since September 17, thought his ailing arm was good for at least six innings. Sheets gave up four runs in 2 1/3 innings. After the game, he admitted he never felt right on the mound.

“I thought I could make some pitches, get us five or six innings,” Sheets said. “If I’d thought I could only go one or two innings, I’d have never taken the ball.”

A four-run cushion was enough to jumpstart the Cubs. They led 4-0. The Brewers came back in their half of the seventh, scoring a run on a J.J. Hardy sacrifice fly. Ryan Braun came home, cutting their deficit to 4-1. With two men on in the eighth, Craig Counsell’s base hit scored Alcides Escobar, who ran for Russell Branyan. After Braun was hit to load the bases, Prince Fielder’s RBI single scored Escobar. It was still 4-3, Chicago, and the momentum shifted to the Brewer’s side.

In the Chicago ninth, reliever Solomon Torres gave up a two-run homer to Kosuke Fukudome. That killed the momentum, and Torres knew it. The Cubs won 7-3. Game No. 162 determined whether the Brewers or Mets made the playoffs.

“We’re back to square one,” Torres said Saturday. “Tomorrow (Sun.) is a do-or-die situation. We leave everything on the mound, everything on the field.  That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to try our best.”

 Sveum and everybody in the house knew who would pitch the final regular season game.  “You got the best pitcher in baseball in the last two months (CC Sabathia) pitching the final day when you need a win,” he said in the pre-game press conference.

Sabathia pitched a complete game. And on his 122nd pitch, he got the Cubs’ Derrek Lee to hit into a game-ending double play.

“This guy is just phenomenal,” Attanasio said.

Added Mike Cameron: “He’s just been big, man. You know he does tremendous work every time he goes out. Short rest, three days in a row. It’s a good thing we had a horse that was able to take us this far. They don’t come very often. Today, we seized the moment.”

During most of the game, the Brewer offense was missing in action. The bats came alive in the seventh inning.

Counsell drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at one. In the eighth, with Cameron on base, Braun hit a home run in left field off Cub reliever Bob Howry. It was now 3-1, Milwaukee.

“You know, it was a first-pitch fastball,” Braun said. “I was just looking for something somewhat over the plate where I can get the barrel on. And, I guess, the rest is history.”

Said hitting coach Jim Skaalen: “You know, it’s what he (Braun) does. He knows what they try to do to him, and, you know, when he’s a little more patient and gets a pitch that he can hit, which he did, that’s what he can do.”

“We win a lot of games when we hit a home run,” Sveum said. “Obviously, that’s a big part of our offense. And that’s kind of what we obviously live by and die by, the same thing.”

Brewer general manager Doug Melvin agreed. “When we win, we hit home runs. End of being a small ball team. We’re not a small ball team.”

The boost built Sabathia’s confidence on the mound. “That was a big moment,” he said. “You know, if I wasn’t pitching, I probably would’ve went out on the field, you know, give him a (high) five. I just tried to stay focused and make sure I stay under control so I can pitch good.”

Even though the Brewers will go to Philadelphia, beginning Tuesday, under a manager with 12 games of big-league experience under his belt, Braun knew who made this all possible.

“Ned’s done so much to get us to this point,” he said. “He’s brought the organization out of a deep funk. You know, I think, obviously, without him, there’s no chance putting us in a position to win today.”

The man who’s responsible for drafting talented players like Braun, Fielder, Corey Hart, Hardy and Sheets and tracking their journey to the big leagues is team scouting director Jack Zduriencik.

“We knew these guys were good,” he said. “We knew that these guys were very talented players when we took them.

“You know, you always hope that they stay healthy and they live up to the expectation that you have for them. And (this group has) since been coming through.”

Yount knows what it takes to play beyond the regular season.  He was on the only Brewer team that made it to the World Series.

“You have to deal with it ... do it in the clutch,” Yount said. “And again, they did it. When, you know, the chips were on the line, they came through.”

Braun ended the Brewers’ longsuffering of postseason woes. “It means so much to the city. Obviously they’ve been through a lot over the past 25 years and not get an opportunity to go to the postseason.”

Now the city of Milwaukee can all party like it’s 1982.