I'm a bit surprised the Brewers are pitching Sabathia today instead of holding him back a game for the Phillies series. If he pitches tomorrow, he still gets to face the Cubs twice, the second time on the last day of the season. CC takes his perfect Brewers record against Bronson Arroyo. The Reds righty figured out how to keep the ball in the park, and only allowed two home runs in his last 47 2/3 innings after giving up 23 through the end of July.
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Also from BCB, this Houston blogger says the Brett Favre trade was the beginning of the end for the Brewers:
On August 6th, Brett Favre was traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets. That same day, the Brewers beat Cincinnati 6-3, and saw their lead in the Wild Card grow to 3.5 over the Florida Marlins. A comfortable lead for a team that was about to go on an eight game winning streak. It would have been fitting if the karma of forcing out your state's greatest sports icon ever (apologies to Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Lew Alcindor and Hank Aaron) would've wafted down Lake Michigan to Milwaukee and doomed the team right off the bat. From the day Favre was traded to the first of September the Brewers went 16-5, and reached their high water mark of 80-56. Who lost that game on September first? Eric Gagne. A North American with French heritage. Five Letters in his last name. Anything adding up yet?? September 3rd saw the Jets vote Favre in as a team captain, and also saw the Brewers lose 9-2 in their series finale vs. the Mets, concluding the series sweep which Gagne helped start.
Where were the Astros on August 6th, you may ask? Nine games out in the Wild Card chase, that's where. Steep odds, even for a team with the Astros' history. Since then, we've managed to slice five games off that deficit, despite the loss of Carlos Lee, and subsequent losses of Wandy Rodriguez, Ty Wigginton and Brandon Backe. Obviously, the Astros success has much to do with Brett Favre:
There ya have it. Throw out all the stats you want. Talk about coming together at just the right time if it floats your boat. Whatev. Deep down, you all knew it was due to Favre, difference is, now you know it's all because of #4.
Post Script: At this point, I find it necessary to divulge that I am a native Wisconsinite...but the fact that I am a die hard Cheesehead had absolutely no bearing on the content of this article.
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