Fight gives Brewers a spark

The dugout blowup last week between slugger Prince Fielder and pitcher Manny Parra was looked at as a crack showing in the Milwaukee Brewers' resolve. They had just been swept by the first-place Chicago Cubs, and now it appeared outwardly that they were a dysfunctional family.

"The one-time leaders in the NL Central, the Brew Crew are in full-on crisis mode," wrote one newspaper blogger.

Not so fast. The Brewers haven't lost since. Sure, fighting is a little uncouth, but getting a little blood boiling certainly didn't hurt them. (Didn't hurt that they were playing the Reds and Nationals, either.)

Even with right fielder Ryan Braun out (back injury), Milwaukee will take a six-game winning streak into a six-game West Coast road trip that starts in San Diego tonight. And despite the fact their closer entering the season, Eric Gagne, has struggled, the Brewers have been stellar in the clutch. They are 23-10 in one-run games and have won 21 games in their final at-bat.

Last August, the Brewers went 9-18 and had three losing streaks in August of four games or more. But entering Tuesday, they're 8-2 in August so far and lead the NL wild-card race by three games over the St. Louis Cardinals.

"When I first got here, what our fans wanted was a competitive team, more than anything else," Brewers manager Ned Yost told MLB.com. "Now, when they've got guys that compete, they get upset when things like [the Fielder-Parra incident] happen. ... I just don't want cookie-cutter players. I want guys that compete, guys that play with fire and passion."

And when we look back after the season, will this fight be a turning point? Said ESPN.com's Tim Keown: "It will have everything to do with the team having better players. But that doesn't mean the moment won't be cited as the defining moment of the Brewers' championship season."