Dave Bush goin' against Rich Hill in game one. That'll be fun, but REAL fun is Saturday when Ben Sheets matches up against Carlos Zambrano!
Zambrano has always struggled against the crew, and he's a notorious hot head that get's flustered good an easy. As God is my witness I can not imagine why the Cubs hook their wagon to this guy as their Ace. But Saturday we'll be happy to expose him for the Fraud he is!
Sunday it's the 20'th anniversary of the Easter Miracle! I still recall it being a warm sunny day, and we were in my grandmothers living room letting the Easter Sunday meal digest. The game was on the radio and I SWEAR I call both of the ninth inning home runs. I have to admit, it was just wishful thinking, but they happened none the less! And the Brew Crew had their 12'th win in a row to start the season!
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Brewers keep winning streak alive with rally
By Frank Clines of the Journal Sentinel staff
April 23, 1999
Ernest L. Thayer couldn't get to County Stadium on April 19, 1987, but he wrote a stirring account of the game that day between the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers.
Who can forget how it started . . .
The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Brewtown ten that day:
The score stood four to one with but one inning more to play . . .
Well, that's not precisely what Thayer said back in 1888, when he penned "Casey at the Bat." He was covering the Mudville team, which didn't use the designated hitter, and the deficit they faced was 4-2.
But what the Brewers did in the ninth inning that day was truly the stuff of epic poems.
Thayer being unavailable, Milwaukee fans -- especially the 29,357 who were in the stands -- remember it all in two words:
Easter Sunday.
The Brewers came in for the bottom of the ninth trailing, 4-1. They came pouring out of the dugout a few minutes later with a 6-4 victory, thanks to a three-run homer by Rob Deer and a two-run shot by Dale Sveum.
But that's only part of the story. The victory was No. 12 in the magical streak of 13 straight that began the 1987 season, tying a major-league record. When Sveum leaped into the mob of teammates who greeted him at home plate, the outlook was brilliant.
As Easter Sunday dawned, the Brewers shared the American League record with an 11-0 record to start the season. Milwaukee had won three straight from Boston at home, four at Texas, three at Baltimore and two more at home against the Rangers.
Victory No. 9 was the most thrilling. On the night of April 15 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, left-hander Juan Nieves pitched what is still the only no-hitter by a Brewers pitcher -- completed by Robin Yount's diving catch in right-center.
The Brewers knew the streak would have to end sometime, and for 8 1/2 innings on that sunny but brisk Easter, the time seemed to have arrived.
Mike Birkbeck was the Brewers' starter, opposed by Jose Guzman. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on singles by Pete Incaviglia, Ruben Sierra and Steve Buechele.
In the fifth, the Brewers got the first two outs but Scott Fletcher singled and Pete O'Brien got a run-scoring double when Deer couldn't hold the ball while trying to make a sliding catch. When Incaviglia followed with a homer, the Rangers had a four-run lead.
Deer homered in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-1, but otherwise the Brewers were handled by Guzman and reliever Mitch Williams.
Until the ninth.
With the winning streak three outs from ending, the crowd rose and roared in gratitude for those first 11 victories. And something happened in the Brewers' dugout.
"There were 30,000 people standing up before we even started the inning," Sveum said later. "You really get some kind of adrenaline flowing."
Glenn Braggs, facing Williams, led off with a walk. Greg Brock singled and Cecil Cooper flied to center.
With the powerful Deer, a right-handed batter, up next, Texas manager Bobby Valentine brought in right-hander Greg Harris to replace the lefty Williams.
Harris' first pitch was a breaking ball and Deer took his usual big swing -- and missed.
The next pitch was another breaking ball. "I just saw it, so-o-o big," Deer said.
This time the big swing produced a blast that seemed to soar forever, landing near the top of the left-field bleachers.
4-4!
"I don't remember running the bases," Deer said. "I got back to the on-deck circle and everybody was jumping all over me."
The jumping wasn't over.
Harris struck out rookie B.J. Surhoff but walked Jim Gantner on a 3-2 pitch. That brought up Sveum, a switch-hitter batting left.
The count again went to 3-2 and Harris threw a fastball. This time the blast was a line drive that rocketed into the right-field bleachers.
Make that 6-4 -- and 12 straight.
The roar that followed lasted for several minutes as Sveum was called out of the clubhouse for two curtain calls and then a third along with Deer.
"This is the greatest day of my life," Deer said. "This is the funnest game I've ever played in.
"I know how those guys feel winning a World Series. That's 10 times more than this, but I don't know how anybody can feel any better than I did walking into this locker room."
Or any better than Brewers fans did walking out of County Stadium that Easter Sunday.
