The Beast Mode Milwaukee Brewers Is Our Pick in 2011

I asked my nine year old son if he could name anyone on the Milwaukee Brewers.  C, who can rattle off the Red Sox starting nine in his sleep, could only name Prince Fielder.  When I posed the same question to my seven year old, he could barely name Prince Fielder - and probably only because he overheard me talk to his older brother.  When I asked my five year old daughter, she was able name Ryan Braun (although I whispered that name in her ear).  And here is my list of Milwaukee Brewers:

Prince Fielder
Ryan Braun
Zack Greinke
Yovani Gallardo (only because this "ace" go lit up by the Red Sox a couple of months ago)
Nyjer Morgan
Corey Hart
Richie Weeks?

Nyjer Morgan is in "Beast Mode"

I even watched the end of Game 5 of the NLDS and I still could not name the Brewers' closer who blew the save in the ninth inning.  Never heard of him in fact.  This team, short of a couple of famous players is a team mostly consisting of unknown or under-the-radar role players.  And I think they like it that way.

But here we are all rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and their "Beast Mode" to beat the Cardinals in the 2011 NLCS, with the festivities starting tonight.  I admit that G's favorite player is Albert Pujols, but when faced with the possibility that he wouldn't be able to play with his friends if he didn't root for the Brewers in this series, his mind was changed.  "Let's go Brewers!!" he yells, looking at me hopefully (Yes, you can ride your bike around neighborhood, now). 


The Brewers represent what we enjoy about sports - enthusiasm, hustle and having fun.  Traits that I try to instill in my own kids.  It looks like they are more than highly paid robots (We can watch Real Steel if we want expensive robots for entertainment.), it looks like they care.  Do the Brewers go a little overboard at times?  Yes, but better that than listening to the ancient Tony LaRussa tell us what's wrong with our own lives.  I do have to wonder though if anyone on this Brewers team knows who Ben Ogilvie, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount are.  Oh and one more thing - Cris Carpenter is one tough dude to like, honestly.

The Series is going to showcase some of the best hitters (Fielder, Pujols and Braun) facing up against some of the best pitchers (Carpenter, Greinke, Gallardo) in the National League.  It's going to showcase perhaps the craziest person in professional sports (Nyjer Morgan) against the same player he derisively called a woman on Twitter a couple of months ago (Albert Pujols).  There is no love lost between these two teams.  The possibility of a bench clearing brawl is high.

But quickly breaking it down, the Brewers and the Cardinals are nearly evenly matched.  Each team can easily go four deep in their rotations with comfort.  Each team has clutch power hitters at their disposal.  And each team has surprising spark plug hitters who hit .300 this season (Yadier Molina and Morgan).  The Brewers have homefield advantage and that might make the difference.  Greinke, Shawn Marcum and Gallardo going in 6 of the games won't hurt either.  Beast Mode in 6 games.

Not quite Harvey's Wallbangers, but not a bad nickname.

photograph courtesy of deadspin.com