Brewers Power Their Way Back Into Wild-Card Picture - New York Times

MILWAUKEE â€" The flat-screen televisions in the middle of the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse were strangely dark on Friday afternoon.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, one of the teams the Brewers are chasing in the National League wild-card race, were playing the Cubs in Chicago, and the game was playing on multiple screens in the Mets clubhouse down the hall. A few Brewers checked out the broadcast on the lunchroom television in midafternoon, but about half the players sat at their lockers, talking or fiddling with personal electronic devices.

The score? Irrelevant.

“Not everybody is always TV watching,” Brewers closer John Axford said. “At the same time, we don’t want to count on other teams. We want to make sure, if we make this run, we’re going to do it in our own way. Worrying about other teams in the wild-card race is only going to deter what we’re trying to accomplish.”

That the Brewers are in the hunt at all, after tumbling to a season-worst 12 games under .500 on Aug. 19, meant that Manager Ron Roenicke’s trips out in public are more pleasurable.

Roenicke, his wife, Karen, and son Lance made the two-and-a-half hour drive to Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Thursday to watch the Packers beat the Chicago Bears, 23-10. The family sat in the stands instead of a suite, and Roenicke said spectators repeatedly offered congratulations for the 18-5 run that has put the Brewers 3 ½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals, their N.L. Central nemesis, for the second wild-card spot.

“Everywhere I went, walked around in the stands, they were really nice,” Roenicke said. “It just shows you how everybody’s excited about what we’re doing again. We’re getting to that point where we’re being talked about. Three weeks ago, I don’t know if we were talked about too much â€" not in a good way.”

True. Last year as a rookie manager, Roenicke directed the Brewers to a franchise-record 96 victories and their first division title since 1982. A turbulent off-season included the loss of clubhouse leader Prince Fielder to Detroit through free agency, and the eventually successful appeal by Ryan Braun, the N.L.’s 2011 most valuable player, against a possible 50-game suspension for a positive drug test. The Brewers struggled into August with injuries, a shaky bullpen and inconsistent hitting.

Then, on July 27, after a seven-game losing streak dropped the team to 44-54, General Manager Doug Melvin traded the former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels for three prospects rather than lose him as a free agent. Greinke, 9-3 at the time, will be a free agent this winter.

Melvin said Milwaukee’s record at the time partly influenced his decision.

But he held off dealing anyone else, even though the Dodgers reportedly had interest in Aramis Ramirez and Corey Hart.

“We didn’t make a lot of moves just because we weren’t playing well,” Melvin said.

“I don’t think the club panicked. I think they were disappointed in where we were. I don’t think we ever thought we were out of it.”

Braun, Ramirez and Hart have hit well enough all year to stand second, third and fourth in the National League in extra base hits going into Friday night, behind Jay Bruce of Cincinnati. Teammates have not swept the top three positions since Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Moose Skowron did it in the American League with the 1960 Yankees.

All three Brewers sluggers, and second baseman Rickie Weeks, have been especially productive in this 23-game stretch, though Hart has been out since Sunday with a plantar fascia tear in his left foot.

Braun, bidding for a second M.V.P. award, has hit .333 with 5 homers and 17 runs batted in in that span, while Ramirez has been even better: .333, 6 homers and 19 R.B.I.

Ramirez, mainly batting fourth behind Braun, has quietly put together an M.V.P.-caliber second half, batting .332 with 13 homers and 39 R.B.I.

“The run he’s gone on of late has been absolutely phenomenal,” Axford said. “Because of maybe where we are, the production he’s put together this year has been overlooked. Surround that guy with all these other pieces, and things start to click.”

And Weeks? After batting .199 at the All-Star break, Weeks has hit .355 with 6 homers and 11 R.B.I. since Aug. 30. With all that hitting the Brewers have won all nine of Yovani Gallardo’s starts since July 31, a stretch in which he is 6-0 with eight quality starts.

“I know we still have a long ways,” Roenicke said. “We have a lot of teams in front of us. But if we continue to play like we’re playing, it’s going to be interesting at the end.”

INSIDE PITCH

Both Mets Manager TERRY COLLINS and Milwaukee Manager RON ROENICKE said they considered a May 15 incident in which D. J. Carrasco, then with the Mets, hit Ryan Braun after a Rickie Weeks home run a nonissue. Collins removed David Wright from that game, fearing the Brewers might retaliate. “That’s so long ago that it really doesn’t even come into my mind at all,” Roenicke said. “We’re at a point right now, we’ve got to worry about beating these guys and winning as many games as we can.”