MILWAUKEE — Out of bad sometimes comes good.
That message came directly from Brewers general manager Doug Melvin soon after Milwaukee had traded Zack Greinke to the Angels at the trade deadline. And with his Brewers a significant distance out of the playoff race, the message was almost a plea to those disappointed by the Brewers' season thus far. Even if Milwaukee couldn't make the playoffs, there were still some things to be encouraged by, in an otherwise frustrating season. Right?
Call him a spin-doctor. Call him what you will. But in describing the reality of the Brewers' 2012 season, Melvin was exactly right. Out of the darkness this season — a disappointment following the team's NLCS bid last season — have come two of the brightest players of the second half of the baseball season.
And this weekend, against the Cincinnati Reds — a team that brought baseball's best record into Miller Park — that couldn't have been any truer, as the Brewers swept the NL Central-leading Reds.
The main topic of Melvin's original message was young pitcher Mike Fiers — a 22nd-round pick that had already been captivating the sport with baseball’s best ERA since his late May call-up. He has been as dominant on the mound as the Brewers have seen not only this season but also the year before and the year before that.
On Tuesday, just minutes after Fiers' win over the Reds had concluded — a performance that included six perfect innings — Brewers manager Ron Roenicke wasn't hesitant to acknowledge that Fiers' story deserved some recognition. National League Rookie of the Year recognition, to be exact.
"No doubt he has to be put in that (discussion)," Roenicke said. "This is really fun to watch — a young pitcher in the major leagues coming in and baffling, not just your average hitters, he's doing it against these great lineups. It’s fun to watch."
And Fiers isn't even the only blindingly bright spot in the season's second half.
With a bullpen mired in one of the worst relief slumps in franchise history, combining to be one of the worst late-innings staffs in the sport, the Brewers made a seemingly desperate turn to a Triple-A reliever that had failed in 10 consecutive years to be considered for a major league roster. To say Jim Henderson was a lost cause, well, that seemed to be an understatement. That is, until those 10 years of toiling in the minors finally amounted to a long-awaited call-up.
Two weeks ago, Henderson would've never expected he'd be in the spot he was on Tuesday and Wednesday nights — both games yielding his first and second major league saves — surrounded by media after anchoring the same Brewers' bullpen that had started the year with two of the game's great closers. He even said as much to reporters on Wednesday, after he tallied the first back-to-back clean ninth innings in what seems like forever in Milwaukee.
Now, in eight games, Henderson has given up just one earned run. He's prompted questions of whether he’ll become the team's closer soon enough. By all means, he is a savior in an otherwise cursed season for Milwaukee relievers.
The pair of Henderson and Fiers has been together for a while in Nashville — both underappreciated and underrated players at their position. Now, when the Brewers have needed them most, the two of them have kept hope running through the Milwaukee clubhouse.
"Fiers has been unbelievable," Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun said. "Henderson stepped into pressure situations and has been awesome. … All of those things, they help the morale sometimes. It adds some enthusiasm, some excitement for all of us."
Out of bad sometimes comes good — it's a statement that rings even more true now than when Melvin said it. And if the Brewers can milk their struggles for all of the good karma that they’re worth, well, who's to say that Milwaukee can't find a whole lot of good for 2013 in the struggles of 2012.
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