MILWAUKEE -- Minnesota Twins fans have had the luxury of watching their club contend for a postseason berth for the better part of a decade.
After dwelling in baseball's basement through the mid- to late 1990s, the Twins have enjoyed winning seasons in nine of the past 10 years, including five division titles. Currently, the Twins sit atop the American League Central Division with three weeks left in the regular season.
The same can't be said about the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead of having stars Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo prepare for October baseball, the Brewers sit in third place in the National League Central, forced to play out a string of games as the season fades.
Saturday night's loss to the Chicago Cubs summed up Milwaukee's season. Brewers veteran Randy Wolf (11-11) allowed one run in eight innings of work, losing 1-0. When the pitchers play well, the offense, which ranks among the leaders in the NL, disappears.
"The last couple outings, he looked pretty good," Brewers manager Ken Macha said. "In (a recent win against) Philadelphia he looked pretty good. He's been competing pretty well."
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Milwaukee has had seven winning seasons and made the playoffs once since losing in the World Series in 1982. The Brewers didn't get back to the postseason until 2008, when they got a boost from rent-a-pitcher CC Sabathia and clinched the National League wild card. But they, like the Twins in recent playoff appearances, bowed out early, losing three of four games to the Philadelphia Phillies, who went on to win the World Series.
After the quick playoff exit, Sabathia capitalized on his Herculian performances in Milwaukee and signed with the New York Yankees. While he led the Bronx Bombers to a World Series title in 2009, it was business as usual for the Brewers, who finished 80-82.
The Twins organization often is the envy of Major League Baseball, winning with a combination of homegrown talent from the minor leagues, solid fundamentals and an equally stable front office.
The Brewers, meanwhile, could lose one of their cornerstones; Fielder is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2011 season. The power-hitting first baseman was drafted by Milwaukee in 2002 and has been one of its best players since coming to the majors in 2005.
Fielder, Braun, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Casey McGehee have meshed with younger players Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar to create a strong lineup that ranks among the best statistically in the NL. But the offense hasn't received much help from the pitching staff, which hasn't had a star other than Gallardo since the departures of Sabathia and longtime ace Ben Sheets.
Starters Dave Bush, Chris Capuano, Manny Parra and Wolf have struggled most of the season. Jeff Suppan had so much trouble that he was moved to the bullpen before ultimately being released.
Ironically, the Brewers' starting rotation, which includes left-hander Chris Narveson (11-7) in place of Parra, has baseball's best ERA since Sept. 1, but their bats have let them down. Milwaukee was shut out Friday and Saturday in a pair of losses to the Cubs and has been blanked three times since the month began.
The Brewers were held scoreless all weekend until scoring a run on a double by Braun in the fifth inning Sunday, a stretch of 22 innings. As it turned out, that was all they needed in a 2-0 win.
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But more often than not this season, the Brewers have seen things go the way they did in Saturday's loss.
"The only opportunity, really, we had was in the eighth inning (with two runners on base)," Macha said after that game. "That's pretty much it."
