MILWAUKEE (AP) -For a season 26 years in the making, the wild ride for the wild-card Milwaukee Brewers ended with a whimper.
The Brewers got away from their previously patient approach at the plate and an offense that sputtered throughout September ground to a halt Sunday in a 6-2 loss to Philadelphia, ending their playoff series in four games.
Milwaukee picked apart Jamie Moyer on Saturday night for the franchise’s first postseason win since 1982. But the Brewers only managed to stay calm through the first inning against Phillies starter Joe Blanton.
By the second, these Brewers were swinging away wildly, as they did when they hit .227 in September despite winning six of their last seven to reach the postseason.
Milwaukee’s hitting slump was even worse against Philadelphia in this series. The Brewers batted .206 overall.
Prince Fielder was hitless in his first 12 postseason at-bats until his homer led off the seventh. Ryan Braun added an RBI single in the eighth, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
to get to the postseason. After leading the NL wild-card chase by 5 1/2 games to start September, the Brewers lost 11 of the first 14.
Manager Ned Yost was fired on an off-day in Chicago after the team was swept in Philadelphia in the midst of a 2-8 road trip. Dale Sveum took over with 12 games to go.
The Mets helped out Milwaukee, losing six of the final nine, allowing the Brewers to win the wild card on the final day.
That whole week, the Brewers were helped by key home runs – two by Braun and one by Fielder – that allowed Milwaukee mask its shortcomings. CC Sabathia led them down the stretch, pitching three times on three days’ rest.
But the hitting problems haunted the Brewers against a tough Phillies’ rotation and Blanton thrived on the Brewers’ free-swinging ways, striking out seven before tiring in the seventh.
It was the first time in 14 starts Blanton didn’t issue a walk.
In the second inning, Milwaukee went down on five pitches. J.J. Hardy and Corey Hart both swung at the first pitch and Craig Counsell popped out on a 2-0 count.
Not even Sabathia could help. He struck out on three pitches as a pinch-hitter in the third inning in what was likely the free-agent-to-be’s last appearance in Milwaukee after a July 7 trade brought him from Cleveland.
dall grounded out to end the inning.
Fielder’s homer in the seventh and Braun’s RBI single in the eighth gave the Brewers a spark, but Phillies closer Brad Lidge ended Milwaukee’s brief postseason run.
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