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Craig Counsell is about as excitable as your tax expert. When he's really upset, the Brewers director rolls his eyes. However, he barely mastered when he was asked questions about the lessons learned by his team by finishing behind the Cubs last September.
"Last year?" Asked Counsell. "We have a lot of different players this year. It's a pretty different group.
That's an understatement.
Although there was no surprise that the Cubs pulled out of the Brewers for the National League Central title a year ago, they are seriously put to the test this time around.
The Brewers have won 10 of their last 12 games, playing in a first-place Cubs game, and the Brewers believe they have the talent in their club to do great things in October.
READ MORE: Christian Yelich, MVP Brewers candidate, suggests his conversation with Twitter »
Look no further than the team that won a 3-2 win on Monday at Wrigley Field. The first six places counted five players who were stars in the last season. The other was Ryan Braun, the best player in the 2011 NHL, six times star.
The chief credit officer, David Stearns, for the import of Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, Jonathan Schoop and Mike Moustakas over the past year. They gave the Brewers a training that is probably as ingenious as they had since the days when Paul Molitor beat Robin Yount.
In their 10-2 streak, they scored four or fewer races six times, which shows their comfort when the game is close.
"We had some guys on the base and then we had big hits at the right time," said Counsell, a World Series winner as a player with the 1997 Marlins and the 2001 Diamondbacks. and as we get into this season, if we find ourselves in a playoff scenario and the pitch is really good every night, you're not going to get any shots. It will be situations like this that will win baseball games. "
While Moustakas and Schoop thunder in their bats, the key to the Brewers' recent success lies more in the ability of Cain, Yelich – an MVP candidate reaching .315 with 28 home runs, 86 RBIs and 98 points – and Acquisition on August 31st. Granderson must push the launchers to their breaking points.
Cain was 4-in-5 in the lead on Monday and made play in the central field, taking a very good line to steal Jon Lester's double points. He sets the tone, as he did for the Royals when they won the 2015 World Series.
"We (just) went through a family home where we did not score a lot of points, we did not hit a lot, but we won games because in hard times we found ourselves at the base . , Says Counsell. "That's what Lorenzo brought to this team, that style of bat."
Since joining his fourth team in two years, Granderson, 37, has played only 12 games in seven games. He entered five of them and scored one point, scoring five points.
"There were rides there, there were important accounts," Counsell said. "It's exactly the at-bats he had and it's noticed. When a guy like Curtis Granderson comes into your club, everyone's eyes go to a guy like that. It delivers these bats steadily during its first 10 or 12 bats, people notice it. "
The Brewers badge has returned from some mid-season problems to become a major advantage over the Cubs.
Josh Hader clearly expressed his point of view when he eliminated the six Cubs who came through in the seventh and eighth innings before passing the ninth to Jeremy Jeffress. The Bullpen Brewers averaged 1.59 in six games, with 36 strikeouts and five walks in 22 innings and 2/3.
Jeffress closed because Corey Knebel needed the night off. He has completed five perfect innings since returning from a demotion at Triple-A Colorado Springs on September 2nd, offering the kind of lift that Joe Maddon would like to get from one of his referees.
Jeffress eliminated Tommy La Stella with two outs and Terrance Gore, second in the ninth. The Brewers grabbed their dugout canoe while the Cubs pulled out quietly into their clubhouse.
NL Central itself has a race and it has become much tighter than the Cubs would.
Phil Rogers is a freelance journalist for the Chicago Tribune.
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