Rewind to July 2008 on the 10th anniversary of the Milwaukee Brewers’ memorable run to the playoffs
It's been 10 years since the 2008 Milwaukee Brewers snapped a 26-year streak of missing the playoffs. It was a season characterized by a thrilling final week and the midseason acquisition of pitcher CC Sabathia. Each month, we'll look back at a segment of that season, which concluded with the Brewers in possession of the National League wild-card berth.
With the fourth month of the 2018 season now in the books, here's a look back at July 2008 of that memorable season:
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2008 July record: 16-11
Year to date record: 60-49
Standings: 5 games back of first-place Cubs and tied in wild card (Cardinals)
Player of the month
Ryan Braun and J.J. Hardy. Ryan Braun’s huge sophomore season continued with a massive month when he slugged .752 and posted a 1.163 OPS, and that even came with an early-month assignment on the bench because he was mired in a slump. He swatted nine homers and drove in 23 runs, working in a nine-game hitting streak that went under the radar in the midst of Sabathia Mania. But Braun wasn’t alone in making things happen on offense. J.J. Hardy posted a 1.031 OPS in July, with nine homers and 21 RBIs, and he reached base a .379 clip. He had two separate stretches in the month in which he went five straight games with multiple hits (the first streak began June 30), and he had a pair of multi-homer games.
Game of the month
July 8 vs. Rockies. This isn’t a hard choice. With electricity running through all of Milwaukee after the acquisition of Sabathia, a sellout crowd came to Miller Park on a Tuesday to watch the big left-hander’s debut. Sabathia, who went on to become the central figure in the team’s playoff run, earned a hard-fought win in the 7-3 outcome. He worked six innings and allowed two earned runs, and Braun hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first. A good second choice would be July 13, when Sabathia pitched nine innings, hit a home run, and the Brewers defeated the Reds on a Craig Counsell walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth.
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Big story lines
Did we mention Sabathia? Yeah, we did. The club went 4-1 in Sabathia starts in July, which spotlighted just how valuable it was to acquire him so early before the July 31 trade deadline.
Thrill of victory/agony of defeat. It was perhaps one of the most exciting months in Brewers history, and it came with some emotional ups and downs. From July 21 to July 24, the Brewers swept four games in St. Louis, and all four were tense. The series featured a win in the 10th inning (helped by a Bill Hall home run), another Hall homer to break a tie with two outs in the ninth and a Braun go-ahead homer in the ninth with the Brewers two outs away from a one-run loss. The only other game in that stretch? A Sabathia shutout and 3-0 win. But lurking around the corner was a downer – a four-game sweep administered by the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park after the Brewers had erased a five-game deficit in the National League Central and pulled into a tie for first place.
The Cubs scored at least six runs in every game and outscored the Brewers, 31-11, as Milwaukee came crashing back to earth. After the Cardinals series, the Brewers had won eight straight games. They lost six of the next seven.
"We were pretty much embarrassed," Braun said after the Cubs setbacks. "They played better than us in all facets of the game. ... It’s unfortunate that we picked this series to probably play our worst overall baseball of the year."
All four games were played before sellout crowds, and three of the four games reached 45,000 fans.
Trade season continues. The roster moves didn’t end when the team acquired Sabathia. On July 20, the Brewers finished a deal to acquire second baseman Ray Durham from the San Francisco Giants, exchanging minor-leaguers Steve Hammond and Darren Ford.
"This was better for both teams," said Durham, who went on to hit .280 with an .845 OPS in 41 games – his final season in the big leagues. "The Giants are going young and the Brewers are dying for a playoff spot. I think it’s a win-win situation for both teams."
Milwaukee was also linked to left-handed pitchers George Sherrill and Jarrod Washburn – the latter of whom is a Wisconsin native who just coached Webster to a state baseball title during the 2018 spring. But general manager Doug Melvin shot down those rumors.
The all-star starter. Brewers right-hander Ben Sheets became the second pitcher from a Milwaukee team (joining Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves in 1958) to serve as a starter in the All-Star Game.
"I’ve liked him for a long time, since he came off the Olympic team,” NL manager Clint Hurdle of the Rockies said. “I’ve watched him pitch. It’s a good place for him to start. He gives us power and the breaking ball. I thought this would be an opportunity he would embrace.”
Sheets worked two scoreless innings, and Braun was the second-youngest all-star starter at 24 years old. Sheets and Braun were long gone when the game ended in 15 innings, finishing when Justin Morneau of the Twins lofted a sacrifice fly to Corey Hart, who didn’t get much on the throw to the plate.
Hart made the team as part of the “Final Vote” competition that netted Jesus Aguilar a spot on the 2018 All-Star team. Hart needed 8 million to win his year – Aguilar racked up 20 million this season.
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Subplots
Homer happy. The Brewers set a club record for consecutive games with a homer from July 1 to 24, a streak that reached 20 games and accounted for 31 blasts. That edged a 1996 run by one game and was four better than a stretch in 2007.
The home and away platoon. In a bit of an experiment, manager Ned Yost elected to alternate Seth McClung and Dave Bush in the rotation, trying to take advantage of the fact that Bush had much better numbers at home and McClung on the road.
"Look at the numbers,” Yost said. “I want to continue pitching both instead of just burying one in the pen in a long role. I’ve got to see if I can keep both of them sharp.”
Braun bombs. Braun competed in the All-Star Game Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium. He hit seven home runs in the first round to make the second round, then added another seven but didn’t make the finals, featuring Morneau and Josh Hamilton. Morneau won, 5-3, but Hamilton was the talk of the showcase with his 28-homer performance in Round 1. Next best was eight.
You may have forgotten
Since Michael Brantley was the player to be named later in the Sabathia deal, he was still playing for Milwaukee’s Class AA Huntsville Stars that season, and during the week after the trade was finalized, he was involved in a massive brawl with the Chattanooga Lookouts.
Huntsville manager Don Money accused Chattanooga manager Mike Goff of throwing punches in the fracas, and Goff felt reliever Patrick Ryan threw at Tony Gutierrez after Gutierrez hit a grand slam earlier in the game.
Chattanooga’s Sam LeCure – another future major-leaguer – threw two inside pitches to Brantley, who then charged the mound and was tackled by catcher Craig Tatum, and the benches emptied. Nine players were ejected, including Stars catcher Angel Salome.
Outside baseball in July 2008
July 2: A settlement was reached to officially pave the way for the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics to relocate to Oklahoma City.
July 6: In an epic five-setter, Rafael Nadal ends Roger Federer's five-year reign at Wimbledon, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. It was the same day the Brewers' trade for Sabathia was announced.