BY ANDREI GRESKAFOXSportsWisconsin.com
The Adidas tagline 'fast don't lie' may be last year's marketing slogan, but it applies to this year's Brewers seamlessly.
Milwaukee's quick duo of Jean Segura and Carlos Gomez have been a terror for opponents on the base paths, something the Phillies can attest to after Friday night's 5-4 loss to the Brewers in Miller Park. Both tallied a triple and a stolen base on the night.
Segura tied up the ball-game in the seventh inning with a triple to the right field corner that turned into a run when the relay home skipped past the catcher. It wasn't as if the ball rolled to the backstop, but Segura's speed and aggressiveness forced the Phillies to make a play, which they were unable to do. The triple was his major league-leading eighth of the season.
Segura slid in to home and appeared to injure his shoulder, but stayed in the game and ended up scoring the winning run in the ninth.
"If you go head-first into home you just have to be sliding way right and trying to tag the plate," manager Ron Roenicke said of Segura after the game. "He went into a big catcher and is fortunate he didn't get hurt a little more.
"He goes hard. He's always going around diving somewhere. He's an exciting player."
Segura reached base on an infield single in the ninth, made it to third on another single by Ryan Braun before being driven home by Aramis Ramirez.
"It's always exciting when he puts the ball in play," Roenicke added. "He's very aggressive on the bases, even going first to third in the last inning. We have to keep him from going head-first into home."
As for Gomez, he complemented his speedy teammate with a triple as well as a stolen base, his 12th of the season.
"Gomez is exciting," Roenicke noted. "It's going to be tough to stop him from stealing a base."
Ramirez confident: Going into Spring Training, Ramirez made it a point to forego his early season struggles and get hot right off the gate. An injury four games into the season stopped that from happening and forced him to miss 23 games.
After knocking in another game-winning RBI, his second of the week, Ramirez is again hitting his stride at the plate, giving an already potent top of the Brewers lineup another dimension.
"I never lost confidence," Ramirez said after the game. "I'm always confident in my ability to hit whether I go 0-4 or get a game-winning hit. The key is to stay confident and not get too focused on one night or one at-bat."
His batting average is now up to .302 and he has knocked in 17 runs in 31 games.
Henderson back Sunday: Roenicke reiterated before the game that closer Jim Henderson should be back with the team on Sunday after a short rehab stint with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Henderson pitched a scoreless 9th for Wisconsin, allowing a 2-out bloop double, but striking out the side. Whether he will go straight to the closer slot is still up in the air, though.
"I'll talk to him about it and see what he wants to do," Roenicke added. "If he wants an inning somewhere first, that's fine."
