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Counsell finishes second in Manager of the Year balloting again

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Craig Counsell

Despite getting more first-place votes, Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell finished second in the National League Manager of the Year balloting.

Counsell received 13 first-place votes to 10 for St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, but the Brewers skipper lost to Shildt by seven points in the balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Shildt received 14 second place votes, while Counsell received just six.  It’s the second straight year that Counsell finished second in the balloting, last year losing to Atlanta’s Brian Snitker.  Snitker finished third this year.

Minnesota’s first-year manager Rocco Baldelli won the American League Manager of the Year in a close outcome over New York Yankees skipper Aaron Boone.

Counsell led the Brewers to a strong final month, overtaking the Chicago Cubs for second place in the division and the second wild card spot.  The Brewers lost that wild card game to eventual World Series Champion Washington.

Baseball award winners to be unveiled next week

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Craig Counsell

The Baseball Writer’s Association of America’s MLB awards finalists are out and the Milwaukee Brewers have two finalists.

Christian Yelich, despite missing the final two weeks of the season with a broken kneecap, was named a finalist for the National League Most Valuable Player award.  He’s joined by Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals as finalists.

Yelich claimed his second straight batting title after finishing with a .329 average.  He also topped the National League with a .671 slugging percentage, a .429 on-base percentage and a 1.100 OPS.  Yelich clubbed a career high 44  home runs, drove in 97 runs, scored 100 runs and stole 30 bases.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell is a finalist for National League Manager of the Year.  He’s joined by Atlanta’s Brian Snitker and the Cardinals Mike Shildt.

Counsell finished second in the NL Manager of the Year award in 2018.  He guided the Brewers down the stretch, going 18-2 over a three week period to come from five games behind the Cubs to nail down the second wild-card spot.  It gave the Brewers back-to-back playoff appearances for just the second time in franchise history.

The award winners will be announced Monday through Thursday of next week.

 

Brewers drop heart breaker to Nationals in wildcard game

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Josh Hader – File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Milwaukee Brewers jumped out to a 3-0 lead and dominated the National League wildcard game until the eighth inning.  Manager Craig Counsell had his pitchers lined up just the way he wanted with Josh Hader coming on for a six-out save.

But a little wildness, a controversial hit batsman, a broken bat single and a outfield fielding error turned around a 3-1 deficit and gave the Washington Nationals a 4-3 win and the right to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in a National League Division Series.

After a leadoff walk in the first to Trent Grisham, Yasmani Grandal lined a home run to right to put the Brewers up 2-0.  Eric Thames increased the lead to 3-0 in the second inning with a long solo home run. [Read more…]

Brewers fall short in Denver, settle for NL Wildcard game (AUDIO)

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Craig Counsell

The Milwaukee Brewers missed a golden opportunity to tie or win the National League’s Central Division and capped the regular season by being swept by the Colorado Rockies in Denver.

The Chicago Cubs beat St. Louis twice on Friday and Saturday, but the Brewers failed to take advantage.  Then Sunday, with the Cubs being blown out by the Cardinals (9-0), Brewers manager Craig Counsell called off the dogs, resting his regulars by removing them from the game and putting all focus on the wildcard playoff game in Washington on Tuesday night.  The Brewers fell to the Rockies 4-3 in 13-innings when Jake Faria allowed the winning run to score on a wild pitch.

The Brewers led 3-0 in the seventh on home runs by Yasmani Grandal and Hernan Perez, but manager Craig Counsell had already started the process of pulling players.  Adrian Houser started and tossed four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with one walk and five strikeouts. [Read more…]

Brewers in the playoffs but want more (AUDIO)

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Josh Hader – File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Milwaukee Brewers clinched a wildcard playoff spot on Wednesday night.  After celebrating the victory, they got up Thursday morning and beat the Reds again, this time 5-3.  The Brewers kept pace with Washington for the top wildcard spot and moved to within a game of the idle Cardinals in the Central Division.

With three games to play, the Brewers are hoping to keep winning and get the Cardinals to slip up in the division.  St. Louis closes with three home games against the struggling Cubs.  The Brewers finish with three games in Colorado against the Rockies. [Read more…]

Brewers clinch second straight post season playoff berth (AUDIO)

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It’ll go down as a September to remember.  The Milwaukee Brewers clinched at least a wildcard playoff spot for the second straight year, capping things off with a 9-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark on Wednesday night.

It’s the 6th straight win, the 17th in the last 19 games and a 19-4 month of September for the Brewers, who came from five-games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League wildcard race.  They also did it after losing Christian Yelich to a season ending knee injury, improving to 12-2 since losing their MVP.

The division leading Cardinals lost again on Wednesday as the Brewers climbed to within a game and a half of St. Louis.  If the Brewers can win today, they’ll move to within a game of the Cardinals, who have the day off.  The Brewers also trail the Nationals by one-game in the chase for the top wildcard spot. [Read more…]

Brewers in position heading to the final week

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Eric Thames File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Milwaukee Brewers capped off a stretch of 18-straight games by going 15-3, including Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park.

The Brewers lost the first of those 18 games, 10-5 to the Cubs and found themselves five games behind Chicago for the second wildcard spot in the National League.

After the Brewers swept the Pirates on Sunday and the Cubs were swept by the Cardinals in Chicago, Milwaukee’s lead in the Wild Card standings is now four games with six games left to play.  The Brewers also drew even with Washington for the top wild card spot after the Nationals fell to Miami 5-3.

If the Brewers and Nationals should finish tied at the end of the week, the Brewers would host the wild [Read more…]

Brewers will have to deal without Yelich the rest of the way

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Christian Yelich File Photo

Milwaukee Brewers standout Christian Yelich will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his right kneecap in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Marlins in Miami.

Yelich is scheduled to return to Milwaukee on Wednesday for additional tests.  At this point, it’s not yet known if he’ll need surgery.  Yelich suffered the injury when he fouled a pitch off of his knee in the first inning.

“First and foremost, we feel awful for Christian,” said Brewers general manager David Stearns.  “This is a guy who’s carried us in a number of ways over the last two years.  He could’ve been two and a half weeks away from a repeat Most Valuable Player award.  So that’s where our thoughts are first.

“From a team perspective, we’ve got a lot of guys in that clubhouse who will hurt tonight.  This is a gut punch for a night.  And then we need to recover and play really strong baseball.  We’ve been through this before as an organization.  Two years ago, almost to the day, we lost Jimmy Nelson to a similarly freak injury, and we competed at a very high level for the remainder of the season.  And I expect our team to compete at a similarly high level going forward.” [Read more…]

Brewers getting help from the unexpected, take 3 of 4 from Cubs

By

Craig Counsell

Tyler Austin’s pinch-hit three-run homer snapped a 3-all tie in a five-run fourth inning, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a 8-5 win over the Chicago Cubs in the series finale at Miller Park on Sunday.

Eric Thames also homered as Milwaukee took 3-of-4 in the series, doing what they had to do to get back into Wild Card playoff contention.  The Brewers dropped the series opener on Thursday night, then won three straight to climb to within two games of the Cubs for the final Wild Card spot.

Last week, manager Craig Counsell said if his team was going to have a chance, they were going to need to get contributions from backup players and that’s what he got this past weekend.

Austin’s home run off of Cubs starter Jon Lester was the biggest blow, but Tyrone Taylor got his first major league hit, an RBI single in the sixth and pitcher Brent Suter worked two innings of relief for his first win since June 21, 2018.

Eric Thames also homered against Lester, who gave up all eight runs.

The Brewers also pulled to within a half-game of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lost in a walk-off to the Cincinnati Reds.  The Philadelphia Phillies won, so they stay tied with the Brewers.

The Brewers open a seven-game road trip with the first of a four game series tonight in Miami against the Marlins.  Jordan Lyles (10-8, 4.46) faces Miami’s Robert Dugger (0-1, 4.00) in the pitching matchup.

Brewers late heroics fall short against Astros (AUDIO)

By

Craig Counsell

Christian Yelich clubbed a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, but Milwaukee reliever Junior Guerra gave up a solo homer to George Springer in the top of the 10th as the Houston Astros pulled out a 3-2, 10-inning win in the series opener at Miller Park.

Yasmani Grandal also homered for the Brewers other run.

Yelich was called out on strikes in the bottom of the tenth for the second time in the game.  The other came in the sixth inning.  Both calls by home plate umpire Ben May were high and out of the strike zone and it had the Brewers plenty mad.

“It’s two awful calls,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.  “I have to say it.  It’s the magnitude of the spot, it’s the hitter.  It’s bad calls.  It’s bad umpiring.”

With reporters surrounding Yelich’s locker after the game, the Brewers right-fielder avoided going off on the umpire to avoid a fine by the league. [Read more…]