On Friday night the Brewers cruised to a run-of-the-mill 6-1 domination of the Mets. Marcum cruised through the Mets' lineup and the Brewers' imminent victory was never really in doubt after they went ahead 4-0 in the 5th. Despite the ease of the victory, I was never full relaxed. In fact, I never relax during games because I know the outcome is never certain until the final out is recorded. Today's game validated this fact.
Today's game looked like it was going to be an easy victory. The Brewers rode homers from Braun, Fielder, and Betancourt to a 7-1 lead. Randy Wolf was carving up the Mets' hitters and a victory looked like a forgone conclusion. But then the 7th inning happened.
The Mets finally got to Wolf and scored three more off Saito to cut the lead to 7-6. At this point I had a feeling that has been rare this season: the realization that the Brewers were going to blow the lead. This feeling proved to be more prophecy than paranoia in the 8th when K-Rod allowed the three runs to score with two outs. (In defense of Rodriguez, no runs would have scored had Jerry Hairston not grossly misplayed what should have been an inning-ending a line drive to center.) By the end of the 8th inning the collapse was complete. Unfortunately for the Mets, the game was not over.
Jason Isringhausen came in to close the game and promptly poured an industrial sized can of gas on the fire. He was relieved after loading the bases, recording no outs, and walking Kotsay to bring in a run. Manny Acosta was summoned and for a moment it looked like he was going to pull a Houdini. He coaxed a short fly from Braun and had Fielder in an 0-2. But that was as close as he got to securing the save. Fielder nudged a game tying single to right, and McGehee subsequently plated two runs to give the Brewers an 11-9 lead. Axford worked a clean 9th and the Brewers left Citi Field with what during most seasons would have been an unlikely victory. Of course, by now this type of victory is commonplace for the Brew Crew.
To make things sweeter, the Cardinals lost to the Cubs, meaning the Brewers have the largest divisional lead of any team in the majors at 8.5 games. Think about that one for a second.
By now it's looking very likely that the Brewers will make the playoffs. Granted, I cannot stress enough that it's not over until it's over. That said, I would like to take a page from the Brewers' long history of futility to demonstrate how good things are looking right now.
On June 22, 2007 the Brewers had an 8.5 game lead in the NL Central. Thirty five games later the Brewers were tied with the Cubs for first place. It was an impressive collapse by the Brewers coupled by the Cubs getting hot at the right time. There are thirty five games left in the 2011 season. I will allow you to draw your own conclusions.
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