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Brewers begin life after Yost

Sep 16, 2008 - 1:41 PM Milwaukee (83-67) at Chi Cubs (90-58) 8:05 p.m. EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers made a huge change in an effort to stop their slide.

One day after firing manager Ned Yost, the Brewers open a series against the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

Milwaukee entered September with a 5 1/2-game lead in the NL wild card race but have gone 3-11 this month to fall into a tie with the Philadelphia Phillies (83-67), who completed a four-game sweep of the Brewers on Sunday.

The slump cost Yost his job Monday, ending a six-year run during which he managed Milwaukee from bottom-feeder to contender in the National League. Yost, 53, was replaced on an interim basis by third base coach Dale Sveum, who will manage the team for the remainder of the season.

"The club is just not performing close to the way they performed earlier," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said. "We have 12 days left and we don't know what could jump-start the club. This was, I guess, the only thing we thought had a chance of jump-starting the club.

"It's tough when you have someone who has done what Ned has done for the organization, built the organization back where it hasn't been in 15 years. I feel sometimes I quit on Ned a little bit by not allowing him to do it for the last two weeks. But in the end, the decision was made."

Luckily for the Brewers, they still have CC Sabathia (9-0, 1.59 ERA), who tries to remain unbeaten with Milwaukee on Tuesday. The Brewers are 12-1 in games started by Sabathia and have won each of the last eight starts by the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.

Ryan Dempster (15-6, 3.02) goes for his career-high 16th win for the Cubs.