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Bush no flash in the pan

MILWAUKEE — Dave Bush doesn’t light up radar guns or strike fear into the hearts of opposing batters.

The Milwaukee Brewers right-hander just knows how to pitch—something that’s been especially apparent in the month of May.

Bush turned in his third straight seven-inning outing, Prince Fielder hit the go-ahead home run and the Brewers completed a three-game sweep of the Florida Marlins with a 5-3 victory Thursday.

“It’s not a lot of bling for him,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said of Bush. “He just goes out there, and it’s workmanlike.”

Bush (2-0) struck out seven while giving up six hits and three runs, only two of which were earned. He was followed by Mark DiFelice and Trevor Hoffman, neither of whom allowed a baserunner for a rapidly improving Brewers bullpen.

Hoffman earned his eighth save with his fourth straight 1-2-3 appearance and has yet to give up a run in nine innings this season.

“It’s always fun to hear the bell,” Fielder said—a reference to Hoffman’s theme song, AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.”

The Brewers have won nine of 11 and begin a nine-game road trip at St. Louis tonight. Meanwhile, the Marlins have lost four straight and their 11-1 start to the season suddenly seems like a long time ago.

“We’ve been doing a whole lot of things well,” Macha said. “You always want to see that continue.

“We’re getting contributions from a lot of people.”

Just like Thursday, when in the second inning Mike Cameron singled in front of Bill Hall, who then blasted his 100th career home run for a 2-0 lead against Florida right-hander Josh Johnson.

Patience has been another key to the run, and the Brewers showed some in the third, drawing three walks and cashing one in when J.J. Hardy scored on a throwing error by Marlins third baseman Emilio Bonifacio.

“They’re really good,” Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “They’re a well-balanced club. They got some veterans up and down that lineup, and that bullpen, at least against us, was pretty good with (Trevor) Hoffman at the end of the game.”

Florida’s Ross Gload tied it at 3 with a solo homer to lead off the fifth.

In the bottom half of the inning, Fielder clubbed a 2-2 pitch from reliever Burke Badenhop (2-2) just over the wall in left-center field.

“I don’t care where they go, as long as they go over,” Fielder said.

It was Fielder’s eighth homer of the season and his third in the last three games after hitting a pair Tuesday night against Florida.

J.J. Hardy added an RBI single with two outs in the sixth for a 5-3 lead. Hardy also made a heads-up play in the field, cutting down a runner at home plate in the fifth.

“That was a big play—very big play,” Bush said.

The Brewers started the season 4-9, the pitching was horrendous at times and the hitting seemed to have the same problems it did a season ago, mainly hitting with runners in scoring position. They dropped their first four series of the season and, of course, the sky was falling all around them.

But nobody panicked, except their loyalists watching with sweaty palms. The homegrown players had already dealt with a full season of expectations and still succeeded through adversity with the help of the veterans.

“We just had to step it up and get things turned around,” Fielder said. “There was no sense of urgency. I think it was more of we knew how good we were. We just wanted to make sure it came out.

“Last year we struggled a little bit here and there, but in the end we all came out all right. That goes for team and individually.”

The Brewers, starting with the second game in Philadelphia, a place where their demons seemed to reside as of late last season, righted themselves.

Since that day, April 22, the Brewers have torn up the National League. They have gone 17-5, the best record in baseball from that point, and have yet to lose a series, with a 6-0-2 series record starting in Philly.

As part of the run, the Brewers have become tied for the major-league lead in come-from-behind victories with 12.

“Even though we’re down in early innings,” Fielder said, “nobody panics. It’s good to feel that.”

Not surprisingly, based on their recent record, the starting pitching has been better and leads the majors with 21 quality starts, the latest coming from Bush.

“What an addition (Hoffman) has been,” Macha said.

The lineup, which was expected to produce gobs of runs and hit for enough power to light Milwaukee, has come around during that time. The Brewers have scored 124 runs in the last 22 games, averaging 5.6 a game.

The offense is also in the top-five in the NL in runs, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, is second in walks and leads the league with 47 homers. That leaves little doubt that this is one of the most potent lineups in the game, no matter the league.

“In the beginning it was a matter of putting it together,” Hardy said. “There were times when the offense was good; there were times when the pitching was good. Whenever one of them was going good, the other one wasn’t.

“Right now the pitchers have been awesome and we’re scoring enough runs and playing good team baseball.”