Rockin' Robin's triple got the Crew off on the right foot against the O's.
But if you’re wondering if it’s still OK to climb on, you should be good. It appears that this team could be heading toward something special.
The Crew has played 17 games and after today’s game, they’ve won 16 of them, an amazing stretch that no one — not players, not fans, not the “experts” — expected.
“This is crazy, isn’t it?” Dan Plesac asked rhetorically of the Milwaukee Sentinel.
‘Tis crazy and somewhat unbelievable, but altogether real. The Crew is 16-1 and six of those wins, including their 5-3 win today, have come at the expense of the Baltimore Orioles. It’s too bad the Crew doesn’t get the O’s again until August.
It may take the Orioles that long to fathom which Brewers struck the biggest blows.
Sure, they could understand Robin Yount driving in two with a ringing triple, but there were two other lynchpins for this win. First, there was Juan Castillo, making his second start of the season for Jim Gantner at second base. Castillo would hit his first major league home run, single and score two runs.
Then there was Jim Paciorek, who was starting at first base for Greg Brock, scoring two runs.
Finally, the Crew got a decent start out of Mike Birkbeck. It wasn’t long, only 5 2/3 innings, but the righty scattered five hits and only surrendered two runs. The reliable rookie Chuck Crim gave up a run in two innings, but Dan Plesac shut the door for his sixth save.
“We may have sneaked up on a few teams,” Plesac said. “But not anymore.”
Nope, not any longer. Excellence can’t be denied, no matter how the Crew tries to downplay it.
