Off-Topic » The Milwaukee Brewers were concerned when they

The strength of a contending club often isn’t determined by who plays every day David Montgomery Jersey , but who plays only every few days. Or every few weeks. Or even every few months.

Friday night game in Cincinnati with two injured starting outfielders, Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, then lost the other starter, Ryan Braun, to lower back tightness in the seventh inning.

But manager Craig Counsell plugged in exactly the right pieces, and a spare outfield group that probably should be called “The Replacements” keyed an 8-2 victory over the Reds.

How’s this for a couple of fills-in, who did nothing except fill up the box score: Keon Broxton was 3-for-4 with two homers, four RBIs, a run stolen by some alert baserunning and an exceptional sliding catch.

And Hernan Perez, who came in after Braun was hurt, contributed a two-run double to start a five-run ninth inning.

“They (the Brewers outfield) have been the workhorse of this team, so I’ve got to come in and fill their spot while they’re down. It was a good night http://www.bearsfootballauthentics.com/riley-ridley-jersey-authentic ,” said Broxton, who played in only his third game this season.

Because their bench came through yet again — on Thursday night, part-time starter Eric Thames hit his third consecutive game-winning homer against the Reds — the Brewers can assure them of winning the four-game series by taking Saturday’s game at Great American Ball Park.

“It speaks to our depth again … we’ve had a couple of games like that where (bench players) make meaningful contributions,” Counsell said. “With Yelich down, we’re counting on Keon, so it’s got to be a good feeling for him.”

The last-place Reds had won nine of 10 coming in to the series, but still can’t seem to solve the Brewers, who have won seven of eight games against Cincinnati. Milwaukee owns the National League’s best record at 48-33.

“These guys have been battling all year and they’re in a good spot right now, so I’m trying to do my best to keep them right there,” Broxton said.

Milwaukee will send out right-hander Jhoulys Chacin (6-3), who has lost his last two decisions, on Saturday to face Reds right-hander Tyler Mahle (6-6) Shareef Miller Jersey , who has won his last three decisions during a span of six starts.

“We’ve got to play better. … Their pitching kind of stifled us the last two nights,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “We’ve got to turn it back on … crank it up again with our bats.”

Yelich sat out with a lower back issue. He’s listed as day to day — and so Broxton made his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Tuesday.

Broxton had an RBI single in the second against Sal Romano (4-8), then hit the first of his two homers to make the score 2-0 in the fourth. Then, with Milwaukee up 2-1 in the eighth after reliever Michael Lorenzen’s homer for the Reds, Broxton appeared to be caught off third by Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart.

But he eluded a tag by falling down, then scored as Orlando Arcia distracted the Reds by allowing himself to be tagged off second.

Broxton finished quite an evening’s work with a two-run homer in the ninth and a stretched-out catch of Scooter Gennett’s drive into the right-center field gap with two runners on base.

“He’s been up and down (from the minors) a little bit, but he’s very talented,” Riggleman said of Broxton, who hit only .220 while spending most of last season with Milwaukee. “He can do a lot of things — he can hit with power, he can run and he plays great defense.”

The Reds didn’t do much against Brewers starter Chase Anderson, who limited them to one other hit besides Lorenzen’s homer in six innings, and relievers Josh Hader http://www.eaglesfootballauthentics.com/zach-brown-jersey-authentic , Jeremy Jeffress and Dan Jennings.

Now, the Brewers would like to get Chacin straightened out. His ERA jumped from 3.18 to 3.82 as he gave up eight runs, nine hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings during an 8-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. Chacin is 2-3 in nine career games against the Reds. He didn’t get the decision during a 6-5 Brewers win on April 30.

In Mahle’s only previous start against the Brewers, Thames beat him with a two-run homer in a 2-0 Milwaukee win on April 18.

Halftimes in the NFL are typically a 12-minute sprint. Players rush back to the locker room, maybe take a bathroom break, get a few words of advice from their coaches and head back out for the second half.

That pacing completely changes at the Super Bowl when the elaborate halftime shows lead to a 30-minute break that leads to more time for adjustments, distractions and the need to stay loose.

”You have to waste time,” said Philadelphia receiver Torrey Smith, who played in the 2013 game with Baltimore.

”There’s only so much you can really do. We have a plan to stay warm and things to stay active.”

Eagles coach Doug Pederson is aware of the change that he even staged a 30-minute break during practice on Wednesday to get his players acclimated to the rare downtime.

The second part of practice was not nearly as crisp, which Pederson hopes will be a lesson for his players on how to handle it on Sunday against the more experienced Patriots.

”That’s why I did the break, was to put us in that situation, now we understand it http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-isaiah-johnson-jersey ,” he said. ”It was a very teachable moment for our guys, our coaches and how to prepare for the second half of a football game.”

Smith said after the adjustments that are made, players might spend the time listening to music, watching film on their iPads or even playing games on their phones.

Players might even be able to hear Justin Timberlake’s halftime show in the background as the fans enjoy a concert while the players get ready for the final 30 minutes of the biggest game of their lives.

”You’re so focused that you don’t worry about all that,” said Eagles linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, who also played on the Ravens in the Super Bowl. ”But we did want to see Beyonce.”

Former Colts receiver Reggie Wayne remembers listening to Prince perform in 2007 in Miami, thinking he’d love to be able to watch if he didn’t have a football game to focus on.

Three years later when Indianapolis played New Orleans, Wayne believes the long halftime played a role in the Saints victory. New Orleans started the second half with a surprise onside kick and took its first lead of the game on a TD pass from Drew Brees to Pierre Thomas.

”It can take the air out of the balloon of the winning team,” Wayne said. ”If it was a shorter halftime they might not have had enough time to ramp that up. We may not have been lackadaisical. It can get catch you off-guard. You come back out there and you might have had momentum but you no longer have it.”

The longer halftime also provides the chance for more adjustments, which can be hard to do in the regular season with so little time. Teams are able to see what worked well in the first half, what didn’t and even hold back some plays that can be utilized in the second half just to keep the opponent off-guard.

”It’s definitely something we don’t do except for once a year if we’re lucky enough to be in this game,” said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady Devin Bush Jersey , who will make his eighth Super Bowl start.

”Just try to deal with what we got. Obviously there’s time to make corrections, time to just regroup depending on how the first half went. It’s a good opportunity for you to really understand where you’re at what you need to do and how you need to approach the second half.”

That proved crucial last year in New England’s comeback win over Atlanta when the Patriots trailed 21-3 at the half before rallying for a 34-28 overtime victory.

Brady exploited one-on-one matchups on the outside in the second half after realizing Atlanta was taking away the middle of the field and the Patriots defense played more aggressively.

The Eagles are prepared for more of that this year against coach Bill Belichick’s team.

”Did you see the Patriots last year? Do you think they made a lot of adjustments at halftime. You definitely can make a lot of adjustments,” said Eagles defensive back Corey Graham.

”When you play like a guy like Belichick, who’s so smart in making adjustments and things like that, if you give him an extra 20 minutes, can you imagine the adjustments he’ll make.”

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