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Weeks helps Brewers grab wild card lead

Sep 27, 2008 - 5:19 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers can taste the postseason.

Rickie Weeks belted a three-run homer in the seventh inning as the Brewers took over the National League wild card lead with a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Corey Hart and Jason Kendall each drove in a run for the Brewers, who seem poised to end their 26-year playoff drought. Milwaukee (89-71), which has won five straight, leads New York (88-72) by one game in the wild card race after the Mets lost to Florida on Friday.

Weeks had no doubt about his home run.

"I knew it was gone," said Weeks, who has had his playing time limited due to the addition of veteran second baseman Ray Durham. "It felt real good, especially the way we have recently turned things around. It's just the way baseball is."

Milwaukee, which has not reached the postseason since 1982, controls its own destiny with two games remaining in the regular season. If it comes down to a playoff, the Mets would host the Brewers, as New York won a coin toss earlier this month.

However, the Brewers can make that irrelevant by winning out.

"It's a good feeling when you have destiny in your hands," Brewers interim manager Dale Sveum said. "We don't have to chase anybody, we're not tied, we're not anything. It's in our hands now."

Milwaukee took the first step toward October baseball on Friday.

Hart's RBI single in the sixth was the difference until Weeks, who replaced Durham in the sixth, ripped a 1-0 offering from Chad Gaudin over the left field wall for a 5-1 lead.

"It was an emotional hit. It was probably my biggest hit besides my first one," he said. "Every hit means more when you are playing in a playoff atmosphere."

Seth McClung (6-6) allowed just one hit in four innings of relief to pick up the win.

"I always wanted to be pitching in a big game and big situations," McClung said. "I had a lot of fun out there and really enjoyed it. I am proud of how this team keeps fighting. Tonight, I played my emotions and enjoyed it."

McClung relieved Jeff Suppan, who allowed one run and eight hits in five innings. Suppan's lone mistake came against Jim Edmonds, who put the Cubs ahead with a solo homer in the second.

Kendall tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI double in the bottom half, and Hart snapped the deadlock with a run-scoring single off Sean Marshall (3-5) in the sixth.

Ryan Dempster allowed one run and four hits in five innings in his last start before the playoffs. Chicago clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason earlier this week.

"Dempster pitched well. I got all I wanted out of him for his five innings," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Now we just have to get our bullpen put together again. Tonight, it was a little bit of a struggle, but what are you going to do?"