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Phoenix -- Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost says the team'shome fans have not seen the real Mike Cameron yet.
Not at the plate, anyway.
Cameron has lived up to his reputation as a fabulous defensivecenterfielder, exciting base-runner and strong clubhouse presence,but he has struggled all season to find his stroke.
The 35-year-old veteran showed signs of breaking out in the finaltwo games against Arizona. He delivered two late-inning, run-scoring hits in a 4-3 victory Wednesday night and pounded a two-runhomer Thursday that gave the Brewers a 5-0 lead that eventuallyvanished during the Diamondbacks' stunning six-run rally in theninth.
"Our fans haven't seen it yet," Yost said. "In spring training,he was phenomenal.
"That's what happens when he gets hot. He starts putting the ballin play, he starts driving the ball. He gets on base all the time,starts seeing the ball and getting his walks."
The Brewers knew Cameron was strikeout-prone when they signed himas a free agent. But he also had a career on-base percentage of .341and above-average power.
Cameron has shown that power with 13 home runs in 188 at-bats.But he is batting only .223 and has drawn only 21 walks, resultingin a low .302 on-base percentage, to go with his 63 strikeouts.
Missing in action: The crushing loss left the Brewers with a 5-5record on their three-city trip instead of going 6-4. But,considering they received virtually no offensive contributions fromtheir two big boppers, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, the 10-gamejourney could have gone much worse.
Braun sat out the final two games of the Arizona series, nursinga sore right hand as well as an ailing bat. In the eight games heplayed on the trip, he batted .222 (8 for 36) with no homers andthree runs batted in.
Fielder, who played in nine games on the trip, was much worse,collecting only two hits in 36 at-bats (.056) with no homers and oneRBI. Fielder went 0 for 5 (0 for 4 with runners in scoring position)in the series finale against Arizona, getting one ball out of theinfield.
During the trip, Fielder's batting average plummeted from .292 to.264.
Asked about Braun and Fielder being unable to contribute on thetrip, Yost said, "We didn't need them to."
