Holy Crap, the Brewers might be for real

Let's recap:

Best record in baseball

5.5 games ahead of the Cubs to lead the Central Division (and 9 games ahead the last place Cardinals)

Prince Fielder was NL Player of the Week and JJ Hardy was Runner-Up. Two other Brewers, Jeff Suppan and Carlos Villanueva, were nominated.

In tonight's game, Prince hit a 3-run homer to tie him for the lead for most HRs in the majors. JJ hit a solo shot, to stay one behind him.


Ok, so pretty much every major news outlet (and lots of not so major ones, too) out there has published an article in the past few weeks noting that the Brewers appear to be sucking less than they normally do, but assuring everyone else in the world that it will pass and things will be back to normal soon.

Case in Point:

ESPN (sorry it's insider)
SI
Chicago Tribune
Some Phoenix newspaper
Miami Herald
RotoTimes.com
St.Louis Post Dispatch
SouthCoastToday.com
Des Moines Register
Charleston Post Courier
LA Times - a taste: "Yes, those Milwaukee Brewers, formerly doormats, a.k.a major league road kill."
Chicago Sun-Times


So are we for real, or just playing grown-up?

These stats are from before tonight's game.

J.J. Hardy is hitting .563 on this current home stand and has an 18 game hitting streak. His BA is .336 for the season, with 8 HR and 27 RBIs.
9 HR and 29 RBIs. A lefty himself, he's hitting better against lefties: vs. Left: .319 vs. Right: .269. He hit two consecutive homers Sunday and his third at-bat was 2 feet from making it 3 consecutive.

Chris Capuano became only the 3rd Brewer pitcher ever to start the season 5-0. He's got an ERA of 2.31 with 31 SO and 13 BB. In last night's outing he threw a 7 hit shoutout in under 100 pitches. He last through 8 innings.

Jeff Suppan, our $40 million man, is living up to every dime. He's 5-2, with 27 SO and 9 BB.

Francisco Cordero is a perfect 13 for 13 on save attempts with a 0.00 ERA in 14.2 innings. He's got 21 SO, 7 BB and has only allowed 2 hits. (He had a wild pitch tonight that let in one run, so his ERA is now not 0)

Though he struggled on Sunday, lefty Brian Shouse had a great start. He inherited 20 batters and didn't let any score over the first 30 games.

Suppan's 4-2 with a 2.55 ERA thus far, leading a rotation that has issued the fewest walks (40) in the NL and ranks fourth in the league in WHIP (1.25).

The Brewers are 16-0 when leading after 7 innings, 12-0 when Cordero makes an appearance, and 12-1 when Turnbow has pitched.

And I'm not sure where I found this, and I modified it a bit, but it's good info:

Jenkins' role has evolved into that of a platoon left-fielder hitting almost exclusively against righties; Jenkins, and the right-handed-hitting Hart and Kevin Mench split left and right field What seemed like a potentially awkward situation in spring training has, early on, been a masterstroke by manager Ned Yost, with Jenkins posting team-highs in batting average (.346) and OPS (.983), while Mench has batted .393 against lefties and Hart .333. "They just crush lefties, so I can't argue with it," Jenkins said. "As long as we're winning games, that's the main thing."