MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers, short of starters by season’s end but long on smarts and creativity in the area of run prevention, spent weeks putting together a pitching plan for Game 2 of the National League Division Series. Four batters into the night it had gone sideways, but they won anyway, 7-3 over the Cubs on a power-packed Monday night at American Family Field.

They won because a team that doesn't hit many home runs hit huge home runs in bunches, and because a rookie flamethrower who couldn't find the strike zone late in the regular season delivered the most pivotal stretch of outs in his postseason debut.

Surely there are lessons in there about the unpredictability of October in Major League Baseball. Best to let the smoke clear from the stadium’s pyrotechnics system before sorting

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