Asked Saturday to reflect on his eight seasons in Milwaukee afterwhat was certainly his final appearance with the Brewers, Ben Sheetssaid, "Ask me tomorrow. I'll make up something good."
Now there's a novel concept. Not the part about making stuff up,because Sheets could do that with the best of them, and definitelynot his inability to provide in times of necessity, for Sheets hadnothing against the Chicago Cubs when the Brewers needed him most.
It was the part about tomorrow. For 26 years, tomorrow at besthas been a vague concept for the Brewers. There was almost neveranything to look forward to, nothing of value to which to attachhope, much less something as inaccessible as big-league playoffs.But it is finally here, that fleeting tomorrow that has morphed intothe biggest today for the franchise since only, oh, the seventh gameof the 1982 World Series.
Under any other circumstances this would be something more thanan urgent concern, given the Brewers' inclination to rip out yourheart and crush it over the right-field wall like Daryle Ward on apitch that Sheets described as, well, "I don't know what you'd callit. I guess it was a fastball."
At any other time, today would qualify as a period of immensecivic angst, somewhere between another Cryptosporidium outbreak anda worldwide yeast-barley-hops famine, especially the way the Brewersrolled over to the Iowa/ Tennessee/ Daytona/ Peoria Cubs, 7-3, in agame that will now make No. 162 of a roller-coaster season seem likeVertical Velocity at the amusement park halfway between here and theEvil Empire.
Instead, this should be a time of relative serenity. The reasonfor such an unnatural reaction in the face of everything thatscreams otherwise was casually seated at his locker when the mediahorde asked him at what point he realized how important thistomorrow-turned-today has become.
"When y'all just walked over here," CC Sabathia said.
OK, so the New York Mets took their best shot Saturday with Johan Santana, and what a big-game performance it was by one of the elitepitchers in the game who doesn't go by initials. So there it is, thecause for qualified expectations, the fact the Brewers have one ofthe very few arms in all of baseball that would inspire suchconfidence, even if Sabathia is taking the ball for the third timein eight days.
"We've got the big fella going," centerfielder Mike Cameron said."Couldn't pick a better guy to go out for you and get a victory."
Unless Sandy Koufax happened to be coming back arthritis-free and46 years younger, no you could not. This is why general manager Doug Melvin declared all-in on the trade, why the Brewers should feelright about this thing going to the last day even as batteredreliever Salomon Torres admitted, "We are running on reserve."
"Rest assured, we're doing everything we can," he continued."Some of us could be at home with aches and pains. Emotionally andphysically we have to get past that. We're putting our careers onthe line because we want to do something special."
So now the Brewers have that chance with Sabathia, never mind thestate of the rotation should it come down to Monday at Shea Stadium.This is about the here and the now, the only justification for thetrade. The here and the now have finally arrived.
Speaking only for himself, Sheets said, "This is it. It was all Ihad for the year."
But where there is Sabathia, there is hope, even with theBrewers.
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