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 Milwaukee Brewers Fan Club

CC Sabathia, the AL Cy Young Award winner, came to Milwaukee from Cleveland at the end of the first half and gave the Brewers steam going into the second half.  "I didn't doubt us before," said Ben Sheets, with Sabathia gives the Brewers 2 good number 1 starters. "Now I definitely don't."  The Brewers were the hottest team in the National League when Sabathia arrived, winners of 29 of their last 44 games and in third place in the NL Central.  Sabathia certainly does not guarantee the Brewers their first postseason appearance since Game 7 of the 1982 World Series. He can only pitch every five days, so he'll pitch for Milwaukee about 17-18 times before heading into free agency.  Still, the trade that brought him to the Brewers gave them a spark both in the clubhouse and in the stands at Miller Park.

"I think he's going to come in here and really be good, but don't think that the National League called me today and said, 'You've got a bye, you're in the World Series,'" Yost said. "Forget it. I didn't get that call. We all need to step up like we've been doing the last couple of weeks."  Only Tampa Bay had a better record over the six weeks before Sabathia's arrival in Milwaukee. After a very slow start on offense, Ryan Braun and company had returned to the upper quarter of home run-hitting teams in the NL, Salomon Torres stepped in for injured closer Eric Gagne in mid-May to stabilize the bullpen and Seth McClung had a similar stabilizing effect on a starting rotation that lost young stud Yovani Gallardo in early May to a serious knee injury. The Brewers are still on the lookout for bullpen pitchers, but they filled their primary need for starting pitching with the July 7 addition of Sabathia, who was 6-8 this season in Cleveland despite a respectable 3.83 ERA. Sabathia is 3-0 so far with the Brew Crew. The Brewers considered other options, some were veterans Greg Maddux and Randy Wolf of the Padres. But Sabathia was the best pitcher available, so general manager Doug Melvin agreed early with Indians GM Mark Shapiro to include top Brewers prospect Matt LaPorta in a deal for Sabathia. "We didn't feel the 'Plan B's' would have taken us to the level we wanted to go to," Melvin said. That level is the postseason. The Brewers have not been there since 1982, when the late August addition of future Hall of Famer Don Sutton helped propel a veteran-rich team to Game 7 of the World Series. "Could we go out and win without CC?" Melvin asked. "Yeah, there's always that possibility. I am confident that we could, but it would have been a lot more difficult. There's a lot more risk involved and there's a lot less leeway if there was an injury.  "I think there's more risk involved in us trying to win without a player of his caliber in the rotation. Matt LaPorta is going to be a good big league player, and I hope he is."

The Brewers will begin the second half with six starting pitchers. Yost may elect Dave Bush and McClung in the fifth starter's spot, using Bush in home games and McClung on the road. Or, one of those pitchers could be sent to the bullpen to serve as a long man and an insurance policy against another injury. There are few options at Triple-A Nashville.  "It gives us some really quality depth," Yost said of Sabathia's arrival. "It's really nice to have a pitcher of his caliber, but we still have a lot of work to do. He's going to help us get there, but this still is a 25-man team. This is by no means all put on Sabathia. If we get to the next level, it's going to be because of all of us."

--PackersLP21

quotes are from different sites