Young, restless Brewers' ascent made-for-TV story
LOS ANGELES -- Get this: Four Milwaukee Brewers are going Hollywood on Tuesday, filming cameos for an episode of The Young and the Restless.
Yep, National League co-home run and RBI leader J.J. Hardy, center fielder Billy Hall and pitchers Jeff Suppan and Chris Capuano have scripts in hand and have been reviewing their lines.
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| Veteran leader Jeff Suppan has been invaluable after coming from St. Louis. (Getty Images) |
"It's the Young and the Restless," says Jenkins, 32, grinning. "Not the Old and the Restless."
Previously, you might have expected a Brewer to turn up on Survivor. Or The Gong Show. But, well, what can they say?
The first-place Brewers are young.
Hardy, whose 14 homers makes him the first shortstop since the Mets' Hubie Brooks in 1986 to lead the NL this deep into the season (he also leads the league with 41 RBI), is only 24. Prince Fielder, tied for first in the NL in homers (14) and tied for third in RBI (35), is 22. Leadoff man Rickie Weeks, who has future star written all over him, is 24. The list goes on.
The Brewers surely are restless.
The franchise hasn't finished above .500 since 1992. It hasn't played a postseason game in 25 years, since Harvey's Wallbangers -- managed by Harvey Kuenn, of course -- brought the World Series to town.
And the Brewers are hot.
Despite losing seven of 10 as their schedule toughened leading to this week's West Coast swing, the Brewers still maintained a 5 1/2-game lead in the NL Central, the second-largest divisional lead in the game (behind Boston's 10½-game cushion over Baltimore and the Yankees).
Their 24-10 start through May 9 was the best in the game, and they've been in first place for 39 of this season's 51 days. Home attendance in Miller Park is up an electric 31 percent so far this season compared with the same time last year, and last year was up over the previous year.
"People are excited," says infielder Craig Counsell, a Milwaukee native who practically grew up in the Brewers' clubhouse while his father, John, was employed by the organization as the director of the speaker's bureau (1979-1985) and director of community relations (1986-1987).
