Sept. 30 -- BREWERS WERE 'TIGHT'

BY SCOTT LAUBER

No room in The Paper for this note, but lucky for us, Martin Frank contributes it to The Blog:

CC Sabathia didn't pitch when the Phillies swept a four-game series from the Brewers from Sept. 11-14. Before the series started, the Brewers had a four-game lead over the Phillies in the wildcard race. A day after it ended, managerNed Yost was fired and it seemed like the Brewers' playoff hopes were about to fade for good.

Even Sabathia was starting to wonder.

"The last time we were here, it was a little weird in the clubhouse," he said. "That was the first time I had ever seen [tightness] out of this team because it's a pretty loose team. Everybody is usually playing around, joking around and having fun. That was one of those moments where it got weird a little bit."

Third-base coach Dale Sveum replaced Yost, and Sabathia noticed a difference right away, even though it didn't show in the standings until the final week, when the Brewers won six of seven games to clinch the wildcard berth on the final day of the season.

"After the whole thing went down, people relaxed," Sabathia said. "It relaxed everybody and let us focus on being players. [Sveum] defined guys' roles. Guys know exactly when they're playing and when they're not playing."