The Milwaukee Brewers had some people with high hopes (myself not included) heading into this season, while the Milwaukee Bucks had very few people talking about them as much more than a lottery team before their season began. But in the past couple weeks, I think we've seen the high-water mark for both clubs, although each one carrying a different meaning.
First the Milwaukee Brewers. Despite a lot of holes from last season, many fans were foolishly thinking playoffs this year after the Brewers brought in Randy Wolf and Doug Davis to shore up the pitching staff. Unfortunately fans conveniently ignored the numerous holes elsewhere on the team and the fact that while the pitching staff may have improved on paper, the offense wasn't going to be as good as in the past and there an over-reliance on old pitchers in the pen.
The high water mark for the Brewers so far this year (and likely the rest of the season) came on April 22 in Pittsburgh. The Brewers finished off a dominating sweep of the lowly Pirates by powering to a 20-0 win, the worst defeat in the 124-year history of the franchise. Everything was right in the Brewers' world. Randy Wolf looked great (and added two hits and two runs), Prince Fielder hit his first home run, Carlos Gomez took two walks, and the bullpen trio of Vargas, Parra, and Hoffman (more on him in a bit) didn't allow a run.
But there's an old saying in baseball that momentum is only as good as the next day's starting pitcher. Well, the next day's starting pitcher to open a three-game series against the hated Chicago Cubs was Jeff Suppan. Momentum, meet thy death.
Suppan last just 4 1/3, giving up 6 runs (5 earned) on 10 hits and 2 walks. Ryan Dempster dominated the Brewers once again, getting his fourth straight win against the Crew and the Scrubbies walked away with an 8-1 win.
Since that 20-0 win over Pittsburg, the Brewers are 1-7. A flukey 17-3 win over the Pirates at home being the lone bright spot. Hoffman blew saves in the next two games against the Pirates and the Brewers were then shut out in the first two games at San Diego (the beginning of a 10-game road trip that will surely squash any doubt as to if this team is really a contender) by pitchers named LeBlanc, Stauffer, Richard, Gregerson, Adams, and Bell. Not exactly a Hall of Fame staff there boys.
It will be a long season in Milwaukee, as this team has some talent, but too many holes in pretty much every area of the team. Add to it an increasingly incompetent manager and general manager and it looks like 75 wins is a high probability.
For the Milwaukee Bucks, the final two minutes of their 91-87 win in Atlanta (and perhaps the fourth quarter in general in which they out-scored the Hawks 30-18) will certainly go down as the high water mark of their season. Brandon Jennings hit big shots (especially free throws), Kurt Thomas took a huge charge on Joe Johnson to foul him out of the game, and Ersan Ilyasova did a little bit of everything to ensure his team would not be beaten.
No matter what, it was a great run that very few predicted coming into the season. The Bucks put together a 46-36 regular season record and scored the 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs when most figured them for a certain lottery team. To do it without Andrew Bogut, who had started to really come into his own, is a testament to this group. Of course the addition by subtraction of Michael Redd being out all year doesn't hurt either.
After that Game 5 win, the Bucks were up 3-2 in the series with a chance to close it out at home in Game 6 Friday night. A 32% shooting night coupled with a 29-11 third quarter advantage for the Hawks did the Bucks in though, and they will now travel to Atlanta for Game 7. The Hawks were 34-7 at home in the regular season, and had won 14 straight games at Philips Arena before the Bucks pulled off the upset in Game 5. With a young team that simply isn't as talented as the Hawks, Atlanta should win easily at home in the deciding game.
So in the last couple weeks we've seen the high water mark for both of Milwaukee's legitimate pro sports teams, although for one it was an outstanding achievement and the other a big-time disappointment.
Speaking of high water marks, perhaps the most famous high water mark in history occurred at the Battle of Gettysburg on June 3, 1863 during the Civil War when General George Pickett led his soldiers on the famous "Pickett's Charge" up Cemetery Ridge, where some southern soldiers broke through Union lines momentarily, only to be repelled, the attack squashed, and Robert E. Lee's army left in disarray. The spot (which is a bit of a source of contention as to where it really is) became known as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy, as it was likely the closest the South ever got to winning the war.
The Brewers' 20-0 win and the Bucks' final two minutes of Game 5 were the closest either team will get to winning their "war".
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