They were not unusual answers. So long as you were taking an astrophysics exam.
“I don’t know,” Corey Hart said. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
But Hart wasn’t being asked about astrophysics or quantum mechanics or superstring theory. He was reflecting on a simple baseball question.
Which, it turns out, has no simple answer.
What’s with the Brewers being so impossibly indestructible at Miller Park? They have baseball’s best home record, and it’s hardly even close. Their home winning percentage is .741, and no other team is in the .700 club.
How is this possible? Jonathan Lucroy? Put that Louisiana-Lafayette education to good use.
“No idea,” said the Brewers catcher. “I can’t even begin to tell you.”
OK, fine. Maybe we need to go higher up the ladder. Maybe we need some supervisory expertise here. Like a guy who walked the halls at UCLA and has 30-plus years of baseball experience.
Paging manager Ron Roenicke.
“I still can’t tell you what the reasons are.”
Strike three.
They’re not alone in being mystified. You could poll astrophysicists or metaphysicists or sabermatricians or plain old magicians, and not a one could explain why the Brewers are so darn dominant at Miller Park.
So in their search for answers, the Brewers are left with throwing out theories and hoping one sticks. Lucroy spoke of atmosphere and positive energy. “Just so much motivation,” he said. But other stadiums have atmosphere. Other fan bases bring energy and other teams are motivated.
And yet, there must be something different about Miller Park. Roenicke mentioned his team’s confidence here, how they believed things would go right. “It’s a feeling that the guys have at home,” Roenicke said. “They know they’re going to play well and that goes a long ways.” And Hart talked about how “we feel like we’re never out of anything.”
Well now we’re getting somewhere. Now we can narrow this thing down…
Maybe, just maybe, the Brewers are winning home games on pure faith.
Hey, it’s as good an explanation as any. Because we don’t know. We won’t know. And frankly, nobody has to know the secret recipe for all this good home cookin’.
Fans just have to enjoy the ride.
On Monday night, the Brewers beat the Cardinals at Miller Park when it appeared they’d have no business doing so. Zack Greinke surrendered a two-run homer in the first inning, which looked like it’d be plenty for St. Louis. That’s because Chris Carpenter was a lawnmower through four innings, limiting Milwaukee to a Ryan Braun infield hit and a whole bunch of jitterbug swings.
Then came the fateful –or perhaps faithful – fifth frame. Five lightning-quick Brewers runs, capped by a three-run double from everyone’s favorite split personality, Nyjer “Tony Plush” Morgan. And in the top of the sixth, when Greinke escaped a bases-loaded jam with a double play, well, it was pretty much over.
It was Milwaukee’s seventh straight win, all at home. It gave the Brewers a 40-14 home record. At this pace, if they could play all 162 games in Miller Park, they’d go 118-44.
Of course, that’ll be a tough schedule to sell to the rest of baseball. So yes, they’ll soon hit the road again, where a different kind of mystery plays out, the only clue being a 21-35 record. “We’re too good of a team to not win on the road,” Lucroy said.
Sounds like another faithful statement. And perhaps it, too, will be rewarded.
Because I’ve heard that type of thing is portable.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag. And listen to me chat sports with Mitch Teich once a month on WUWM’s “Lake Effect.”
