3, is a magic number…yes it is

It’s a magic number.  Somewhere in the ancient mystic trinity, you get three, as a magic number.  Does that School House Rock reference work for anyone?  No?  Ok, moving on.  Last night the Brewers took care of their business.  The Crew has 7 games left this season and by winning 3 of those remaining 7, we will be NL Central champs.  What has me more excited than anything, the division WILL be clinched in Miller Park.  Man, if only I did not live two time zones away.

Last night I noticed something unique about this team.  Something I had not noticed before.  This team feeds off of each other like no team I have ever seen before.  What is sad is that I am pretty sure this has been going on for the entire season, but I was too blind to notice.  Shaun Marcum’s double last night, lead to 4 runs on 4 consecutive base hits.  Normally this is  not something I would spend too much time talking about, but it was like watching a video game.  That was when I realized that this is a team of “one-uppers”.  Nobody wanted to be out hit by Marcum, so Corey Hart joined in and everyone else followed suit.  Nyjer Morgan calls it the “S.W.A.T Team”, when the team starts hitting like that.  It’s a great nickname because that is what they did last night, a whole lot of swatting.

Since we are gearing up for the playoffs, over the next few days I will be really watching our starting pitchers.  Marcum will probably get one more start before the playoffs begin, which is probably good.  In his previous two starts, Marcum had given up 10 earned runs.  Ouch.  Last night, he looked out of this world.  Shaun’s breaking ball had such late rotation that the Cubs batters could only flail at the ball in hopes of making contact.  Marcum gets in trouble when his balls get up in the zone.  Against the Cubs, he had all of his pitches working down in the zone and the Cubbies had no answer for it.  Marcum’s playoff ready grade from last night: B+  

          -Marcum showed tremendous poise and was able to keep his pitch count down, which is something he has struggled with as of late.  In last night’s game at Wrigley, he pitched 8 complete innings.  If the Brewers are going to make a run at the World Series, they will need the pitching staff to go deep into games.

Injury News:  Rickie Weeks said that he has come to terms with the fact that he will be playing the remainder of the 2011 season in pain.  Not Good.  Takashi Saito is having some calf problems, but it does not appear to be too serious, yet…

Chat Corner:  This something that I wanted to throw out there for a little debate.  If the Cardinals beat out the Braves and make the playoffs, who would you rather play in the NLDS?  The D’Backs or the Phillies?  As far as I understand the rule, you can not play a team from your division in the NLDS.  Me personally, I would take the D’Backs.  Mostly because I think that the Cards and Phils would be a terrific NLDS match-up.  Then if we made it by the D’Backs, we would really have to earn that trip to the World Series.  Would make for some exciting baseball.

Randy Wolf will take the hill tonight, in hopes of peeling back another magic number.  Since about the 2nd month of the season, I have felt very comfotable with the Wolf on the mound.  Let’ shope it continues, we will see how I grade his pre-playoff performance tomorrow.

Go Brewers!!!