Walk This Way!!!!

For those of you who followed the Brewers closely last year, weren't you constantly wishing the Crew had a player or two who could slap singles to all fields or who walked a ton in order to set the table for some of the big boppers (Fielder, Braun, Hart, Hardy)? It seemed as though the Brewer's hitters were all or nothing... a towering SOLO shot or a strikeout. And those strikeouts...what killers. When a player strikes out, it is such a huge loss. The runners on base don't advance, and the defense is not forced to make a play on either a ground ball or a fly ball. Anything can happen when a ball is put into play. I remember listening to a game earlier this year when the Brewers had two outs and Corey Hart was at the plate. He hit a grounder to the infield and it was bobbled, so he reached first on the error. The next batter hit a two run home run. This was a glaring example of how strikeouts can be killers, and putting the ball into play is so important.

Again, putting the ball into play is critical, but so are bases on balls or walks to the lay-person. Working the count and getting walks is important in driving up the pitch count of opposing pitchers, having runners on base forces the defense to react differently, and more men on base means more runs when the one of the Brewers jacks a ding dong. Looking at this year vs last year it is almost night and day in terms of the amount of walks the Brewers are taking. Let's look at a few examples:

The Brewers are second in the majors with 175 walks as a team. The top 5 teams in order are:

LA Dodgers 186
Mil Brewers 175
Wash Nationals 167
Bos Red Sox 166
NY Mets 165

By comparison, the Brewers as a team had 550 walks all of last season. Projecting this years stats over 161 game season, the Crew would end up with 742 walks, a 35% increase over last year.

What do all of these teams above have in common? Well, the Dodgers and Brewers each lead their respective divisions, while the Red Sox and Mets are 2nd in their respective divisions. The Nationals, well....

Of course walks do not determine championship teams, but they certainly help.

Here are some of the Brewer's individual players who are showing a lot more plate discipline this year:


Player, Total Walks Last Year, Walks This Year (38 Games)

Ryan Braun 42, 23
Prince Fielder 84, 34
Mike Cameron 54, 25
Corey Hart 27, 19

Let's also take a look at the most recent series the Brewers played in St. Louis (a 3 game sweep):

The Brewers won game 1, 1-0 (4 Walks, 2 Hits)
The Brewers won game 2, 8-2 (8 Walks, 7 Hits)
The Brewers won game 3, 8-4 (11 Walks, 8 Hits)

The Crew had 23 Walks and 17 Hits in the 3 game series. Pretty impressive!

Well, the Brewers just beat the Astros 4-2 as I am finishing writing this post. That's 7 in a row for the Crew, and 21-5 in their last 26. Amazing!!!! They are on fire, and it is so fun to be a part of.


BCBB

What else can you say about Mike Cameron?

During the offseason, the Milwaukee Brewers suffered a huge loss when pitcher CC Sabathia signed an enormous free agent deal with the New York Yankees despite the efforts of Brewer's owner Mark Attanasio and GM Doug Melvin to keep him in a Milwaukee uniform. Of course nobody blamed CC for taking the deal which was one of the richest contracts in the history of Major League Baseball. However, whether it was real or disingenuous (I don't think anybody can say for sure), it seemed as though CC enjoyed his stay in Milwaukee. The fans treated him like royalty, the Brewers contended and won the NL Wildcard when he was here, and most of all, he enjoyed the players and their carefree, upbeat attitudes. So, when rumors of Mike Cameron being traded to the Yankees started popping up all over the media, it came as no surprise because Cameron was one of CC's closest friends on the Brew Crew. The thought was that CC was intimidated by all that is New York (media and fan scrutiny, fast-paced lifestyle, etc), and the addition of Cameron might make the transition a bit easier for Sabathia. Makes sense, right? However, a deal never came to fruition, and it was perhaps one of the best non-trades that the Brewers were ever part of.

Milwaukee blogs and radio stations had Cameron going to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera, the Yankees centerfielder who had fallen from graces due to underperformance. It was thought that the Brewers could shed Cameron's big salary and pick up the younger, cheaper, and left-handed Cabrera (the Brewers were and are short on left-handed hitting). With the dollar savings, the Brewers expected to have money available to bolster their pitching staff which at the time was unproven. Apparently Brewer's GM Doug Melvin and Yankee GM Brian Cashman had talked, and a deal was all but inked. Speculation was that perhaps Bill Hall would be included in the deal, and Brewers fans were somewhat livid that it was only Cabrera coming back and not additional pitching help. As it turned out, Doug Melvin stated that Cashman simply never got back to him, and the deal just "died". Melvin seemed ok with that, and who knows if the two ever spoke again regarding Cameron. My readings indicated that Melvin was a bit upset that Cashman treated him so poorly.

Today, Mike Cameron leads the NL in Extra Base Hits with 16, leads the NL in Doubles with 10, 5th in NL Total Bases with 55, 5th in NL Slugging Pct. at .655, is hitting .321, is providing formidable protection batting fifth in the Brewer's order behind Prince Fielder, and as always is playing gold glove centerfield.

The word on the street is that Mike Cameron was relieved that the trade did not go through because he enjoys it here in Milwaukee. He likes that the Brewers allow his kids to be on the field during moments in Spring Training (great family man), and from this he was instrumental in helping the Brewers acquire Trevor Hoffman who also happens to be a great family man (is Hoffman pitching great or what?). In addition, Cameron has a great relationship with the players which is evident in his various handshakes with the likes of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder.

Mike Cameron is a class act. He leads by example with a tremendous work ethic, he is a clubhouse leader, and a veteran worth having on the Brewers today and for a few more years to come (I hope).

BCBB