By Tom Haudricourt
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

August 5, 2007

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers weren't kidding themselves. Down by four runs and facing one of the toughest pitchers in the National League, they knew they were in trouble.

But they weren't ready to give up.

“It's hard to have a good feeling when Cole Hamels is on the mound, but we still had a bit of a good feeling,” manager Ned Yost insisted.

That good feeling evolved into a great feeling when the Brewers pulled off perhaps their best comeback of the season. Prince Fielder applied the master stroke with a dramatic two-run homer in the eighth yesterday, and right fielder Corey Hart stole a homer in the ninth to save a 6-5 victory over Philadelphia that had the sellout crowd of 42,126 at Miller Park whooping it up.

“That was unbelievable,” said closer Francisco Cordero, who recorded his major league-best 34th save with the assist from Hart. “That probably is the most exciting game we had this year.”

It certainly didn't look promising when the Phillies jumped on Brewers starter Dave Bush for three early homers to take a 5-1 lead in the sixth. Hamels was cruising along with a two-hitter at that point.

The game started to turn when the Brewers used a couple of breaks to score three times in the sixth. Tony Graffanino beat out an infield nubber to the right side with a dive into first base that eluded Ryan Howard's tag, and both runners were safe when third baseman Greg Dobbs couldn't make a play after lunging to catch pinch-hitter Joe Dillon's grounder.

Hamels struck out Hart for the third time, but J.J. Hardy boomed a two-run double to center and Fielder added an RBI single.

The game took another turn in the Brewers' favor in the eighth after Hardy and Graffanino collided and allowed Dobbs' popup to fall for a two-base error. When reliever Derrick Turnbow walked Carlos Ruiz on four pitches, Yost strode to the mound.

Unlike Thursday, when critical comments from Yost directed at Hardy led to a dugout ruckus, Yost delivered a fiery but positive message.

“I told them that D-Bow was going to get a ground ball and they were going to turn a double play,” Yost said.

Just as Nostradamus Yost predicted, Abraham Nuñez grounded into a double play.

Philadelphia		AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Roberson rf		5	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Iguchi 2b		5	0	1	0	0	2	.333
Rollins ss		5	0	0	0	0	0	.294
Howard 1b		4	1	2	1	0	1	.271
Rowand cf		2	1	0	0	2	0	.315
Burrell lf		4	1	1	2	0	2	.269
Werth lf		0	0	0	0	0	0	.245
Dobbs 3b		4	2	2	1	0	0	.288
Ruiz c		2	0	2	1	2	0	.260
Hamels p		2	0	0	0	0	2	.148
c-Nunez ph-3b		1	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Totals		34	5	8	5	4	7
Milwaukee		AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
CHart rf		4	0	0	0	0	3	.277
Hardy ss		4	2	2	2	0	0	.273
Braun 3b		4	1	2	1	0	0	.348
Fielder 1b		4	1	2	3	0	0	.289
BHall cf		4	0	1	0	0	1	.262
Mench lf		3	0	0	0	0	0	.272
JEstrada c		3	0	0	0	0	1	.289
Graffanino 2b		3	1	1	0	0	0	.238
Bush p		1	0	0	0	0	0	.143
a-Dillon ph		1	1	1	0	0	0	1.000
b-Counsell ph		1	0	0	0	0	0	.239
Totals		32	6	9	6	0	5
Philadelphia			030 101 000–5		8		0
Milwaukee			100 003 02x–6		9		1
a-singled for Shouse in 6th. b-flied out for Linebrink in 7th. c-grounded into double play for Hamels in 8th. E–Hardy (12). LOB–Phi 7, Mil 2. 2B– Dobbs (15), Ruiz 2 (24), Hardy (18). HR– Fielder (32), off Gordon; Dobbs (8), off Bush; Burrell (17), off Bush; Howard (30), off Bush; Braun (19), off Hamels. RBIs–Howard (89), Burrell 2 (58), Dobbs (39), Ruiz (37), Hardy 2 (63), Braun (52), Fielder 3 (83). SB–Ruiz (3). S–Hamels. GIDP–Nunez, Fielder. Runners left in scoring position–Phi 5; Mil 1. DP–Phi 1; Mil 1.
Philadelphia	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Hamels	7	7	4	4	0	5	89	3.57
Gordon L,1-2	1	2	2	2	0	0	21	4.70
Milwaukee	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Bush	5	8	5	5	3	4	90	5.03
BShouse	1	0	0	0	0	1	12	1.89
Linebrink	1	0	0	0	0	1	11	3.56
Turnbow W,3-4	1	0	0	0	1	1	18	4.04
FCordero S,34	1	0	0	0	0	0	15	3.15

Bush pitched to 2 batters in 6th.

Inherited runners-scored–BShouse 1-0. BS–Gordon (4). Umpires–Home, Andy Fletcher; First, Mike Reilly; Second, Jeff Kellogg; Third, Eric Cooper. T–2:25. A– 42,126 (41,900).

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