The Milwaukee Brewers have moved America's favorite sausages to the back burner.
After years and years of futility that saw a between-innings race between four giant sausages become the main attraction at Miller Park, the scrappy, gritty, never-say-die Brewers of 2004 have displaced those quasi-mascots as the big draw.
And they haven't had to don goofy costumes to do it; they've just won baseball games.
The Brewers were 45-41 at the All-Star Break. And while they're 8.5 games behind the Cardinals in the National League Central, they're in the thick of the wildcard race, just 2.5 games behind the Giants.
For some franchises, a slightly better than .500 record wouldn't mean much. Not so for the success-starved Brewers.
Milwaukee hasn't had a winning season since 1992. Even then, they were on the outside looking in and because the wildcard had not been instituted, they failed to make the playoffs. The postseason baseball caravan hasn't made a stop in Milwaukee since 1982.
In that time, the Brewers have been afterthoughts in pennant races, one of those teams that's practically eliminated before the season begins.
And some thought real elimination might be the best option. When commissioner Bud Selig's ill-advised contraction plan didn't include the Brewers, most speculated that his ties to the Milwaukee organization kept the Brewers off the list (he was the owner until becoming commissioner, and then his daughter took over).
Luckily, no teams were contracted, but the Brewers still struggled. Management finally fired long-time manager Phil Garner in 1997, replacing him with Davey Lopes. The Brewers moved into a new stadium in 2001, but the excitement generated by the state-of-the-art Miller Park didn't trickle down to the field. Lopes lost his job in 2002.
In the meantime, as the novelty of a new stadium wore off and the reality of a bad team set in, fans stopped showing up. After finishing seventh in the NL in attendance in 2001, the Brewers dropped to 13th last year. They averaged just 20,992 fans per game, less than half of Miller Park's capacity.
And the fans that were there didn't get to see much excitement, save the sausage races. The Brewers finished last year with a 68-94 record, and a dismal 31-50 mark at home.
But just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse, GM Doug Melvin did the unthinkable and shipped Richie Sexson -- Milwaukee's only bona-fide star -- off to Arizona in a blockbuster nine-player deal.
Sexson had hit .272 with 45 homeruns in 2003 and had been considered the cornerstone of the franchise. The six players they got in return looked more like ordinary building blocks.
Many Milwaukee fans probably saw the deal as the beginning of the end -- the end of any hopes of competing. When the trade went through on Dec. 2, 2003, they couldn't know that it was actually the beginning of a new beginning.
Sexson was the cornerstone, but without much talent around him, not even he could hold up the crumbling foundation of the franchise.
But those ordinary building blocks have been that foundation.
Lyle Overbay replaced Sexson at first base and has been nothing short of spectacular. At the break, he was fourth in the league with a .344 batting average and fourth in RBIs with 62. He was also one of the biggest all-star snubs.
Utilityman Craig Counsell is playing every day at shortstop and hitting .259 with a .357 on-base percentage. Second baseman Junior Spivey has missed time with injuries, but when he has played, he's hit .272 with 7 homeruns. Catcher Chad Moeller is hitting only .239, but did show a flash of brilliance when he hit for the cycle April 27. And Chris Capuano has been a mainstay in the Brewers' rotation, going 3-5 with a 3.69 ERA.
Sexson, meanwhile, is out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.
It's safe to say, then, that the Brewers got the better end of the deal. Melvin, who took loads of criticism when the trade went down, can smile. He got five regular contributors in exchange for one star.
But those five contributors are not the only reasons for the Brewers' success.
There's manager Ned Yost, a Bobby Cox disciple, who always seemed to get the most out of his players, even when they struggled last season. Now that the talent is there, he's still getting the most.
There's right-hander Ben Sheets, who is quietly becoming one of the best pitchers in the league. He was named to the all-star team after leading the league in ERA and posting a 9-5 record.
There's closer Danny Kolb, another all-star. He's saved 26 games and blown just one.
And then there's Geoff Jenkins, a mainstay in left field since 1999, who's hitting .251 with 12 homeruns and finally tasting success.
The fans are taking notice. Attendance is up and while the per-game average of 23,415 is still well below capacity, it's a sign of progress.
That the fans are there to watch a good team play hard and not to watch a bunch of sausages means even more.
The Brewers have won mostly with pitching -- their 3.89 team ERA is fifth in the league. The offense has not been great, but it's been good enough to win.
And a little bit of luck has also come into play. The Brewers have actually allowed three more runs than they've scored, which means they play a ton of close games. But with a great closer like Kolb and timely hitting, they've been able to win more than their fair share.
But maybe the most impressive number surrounding the Brewers is 30. That's where their payroll ranks -- last. The Brewers have the smallest payroll in all of baseball, but thanks to a solid plan of action, they're still winning.
Of course, reality may set in soon. Last season, the Kansas City Royals, also a small-market team, got off to a hot start and became the feel-good story of the year. They didn't make the playoffs, but finished above .500 and were riding high coming into this season.
They quickly fell back to earth, though, and entered the break with the worst record in the American League.
The same thing could conceivably happen to the Brewers, but there's reason to hope it won't.
For one, there's a precedent. The Minnesota Twins have done what the Royals couldn't. The Twins were the feel-good story in 2001, and they still haven't fallen back to earth, winning the division title in 2002 and 2003.
But the real reason to hope lies in the Brewer's farm system. Baseball America ranked it as the best in all of baseball, with tremendous depth and plenty of star power. Second baseman Rickie Weeks and first baseman Prince Fielder -- Cecil's son -- are consensus top-10 prospects in all of baseball and should be wearing Brewers uniforms in the not-too-distant future.
The fact that the Brewers are winning now -- before they're supposed to -- is a huge bonus. It means that when the youngsters make a splash, they'll be joining an already-successful team and won't be asked to play the role of saviors.
The sausages, of course, cannot be forgotten in all this. It's been a rough time for them. Randall Simon's unprovoked attack on the Italian Sausage took its toll. And having to play second fiddle to a real baseball team this season has undoubtedly bruised some egos.
But if they can just accept their roles and realize that they're still the most popular sausages in America, they'll quickly see that, as native Milwaukeeans themselves, they have a lot to be proud of -- a team built for the future that just happens to be winning now.
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