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| Richie Sexson |
Richie Sexson has good stats, but he'd prefer to
better them on a winning team.
Sexson homered twice and drove in five runs Monday to
lead the Milwaukee Brewers over the Pittsburgh Pirates, 12-5, at Miller Park.
He leads the team with 32 home runs and 91 RBIs.
Jeromy Burnitz is second in both categories, with 28 home runs and 83 RBIs.
"Thirty-two homers, I'm happy about it, but it
hasn't been the year I was looking for," Sexson said. "It's been kind
of a down year for me. It's a whole lot better winning games."
But despite Monday's win, the Brewers still are just
58-72. And although he has solid offensive numbers, Sexson also is second in
the NL with 148 strikeouts, trailing teammate Jose Hernandez by two.
Rocky Coppinger (1-0), who missed all of last season
recovering from elbow surgery, allowed three runs and five hits in five innings
for his first victory since Oct. 1, 1999, against Cincinnati.
"I'm excited right now," he said. "I'm
going to live in the moment right now, wake up tomorrow and see what happens."
Five years ago, Coppinger finished fourth in the AL
Rookie of the Year balloting and started a playoff game for the Baltimore
Orioles.
Since then, he has had two surgeries and been traded
to Milwaukee. He started this season at Class AA as a reliever, moved up to
Class AAA by late June and was starting there by late July.
Coppinger -- the 12th pitcher to start for Milwaukee
this year -- threw 87 pitches. He struck out four and reported no problems with
his surgically repaired arm.
Sexson hit a two-run homer in the fourth, a 380-foot
opposite-field drive off Joe Beimel. In the sixth, the 6-foot-7 Sexson hit a
415-foot shot off Damaso Marte with two men on to push Milwaukee's lead to 9-4.
Hernandez hit his 20th homer in the seventh, and
Burnitz homered in the eighth. Both were solo shots.
Aramis Ramirez and Craig Wilson homered for the
Pirates, who fell to a National League-worst 48-82.
Impressive Krynzel: Dave Krynzel, the Brewers' No. 1
pick in the 2000 draft, has impressed team officials with his speed in the
minor leagues.
Krynzel entered this week's play with 43 stolen bases
at the Class A level, first at Beloit of the Midwest League and now at High
Desert in the California League.
Davey Nelson, a former Brewer who is in his first year
as the team's minor league outfielding and base-stealing coordinator, has
Krynzel as his primary project.
"He's working on his base-stealing technique and
has really done a good job," Milwaukee general manager Dean Taylor said.
DL report: Brewers catcher Raul Casanova will undergo
arthroscopic surgery today to repair torn cartilage in his right knee.
Meanwhile, outfielder Geoff Jenkins began a
rehabilitation assignment Monday in Beloit. He went 1-for-3 with a double and a
walk.
Pitchers Jeff D'Amico and Mark Leiter are scheduled to
pitch Wednesday in Beloit. It's the start of a rehab assignment for Leiter and
the continuation of one that was halted in June for D'Amico, the ace of last
year's Milwaukee pitching staff.
Record in sight: The Brewers started the week needing
less than 66,000 fans to break the franchise's all-time attendance record of
2,397,131 set in 1983, the year after the team played in the World Series.
Barring a big walk-up crowd at the box office at
Miller Park tonight, the record is expected to topple Wednesday.
Milwaukee's Richie Sexson watches his fourth-inning
home run Monday night. Sexson homered twice and drove in five runs in a 12-5
victory over Pittsburgh.
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