Talkin' Baseball: The curious case of Craig Counsell

There’s a scene in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button when Benjamin meets up with his lifelong love interest, Daisy, for what seems like the 267th time during their interminable, crisscrossing lives. Daisy whispers, “You’re so young.” Benjamin pauses, stares back at her with his CGI baby blues, and says, “Only on the outside.” Cue swoons, and then light yourself on fire. This maudlin moment has nothing to do with baseball per se, but they say life imitates art, and the Brewers have somehow stumbled on their own reverse-aging man child as well. And for the second time this year, I’ve uttered these improbable words: “I can’t fucking believe how good our second baseman is.”

When the Brewers re-signed Craig Counsell to a one-year $1 million contract in January, the move seemed as insignificant as a fart in a hurricane. He’d played solid defense in ’08 as a fill-in, but he was still a 38-year-old utility infielder who hit .226 with 14 RBIs in 248 at-bats. Fourteen RBIs—that’s roughly the same number Prince Fielder knocks in every morning before he shaves. Add to that a batting stance resembling a contortionist swatting flies in a barrel, and all the power of butterfly flapping its wings, and, well, there just wasn’t much to like about this roster move.

But a funny thing happened on Counsell’s march to the baseball scrap heap—he’s good now. I don’t want to test fate too much, but I can’t imagine where the Crew would be if they didn’t have this guy. Obviously, he’s not in the same “we’d be absolutely screwed without him” category like Yovani Gallardo, Ryan Braun, or Fielder, but in the context of what’s gone down so far, he’s been just as valuable as any of these guys. Really.

So what the hell happened?

First off, the Brewers’ infield has been more schizophrenic than a spring day in Wisconsin. The unexpectedly white-hot Rickie Weeks blew out his wrist and was lost for the season. Bill Hall has continued his baffling incompetence against righties. J.J. Hardy test-drove an ill-fated batting stance that left him unable to hit for a month. And thus far, Mat Gamel’s looked like he’s still too green for prime time. Amid all of these lows, little Craiggy Counsell has been soft-shoeing though the landmines and holding it all together. Counsell’s played seemingly everywhere but batboy (and he’s probably filled in there, too, and no one noticed), admirably took over at leadoff when needed, and most importantly, started knocking the cover off the ball at a .311 clip.

Much has been made of hitting coach Dale Sveum revamping his swing, but I’m not ready to anoint him the savior. Sure, Sveum’s been known to have a little magic at his disposal (see: Easter Sunday, 1987, and the last 12 games of 2008), but it doesn’t take Charlie Lau to notice that waving a bat at the moon like a little leaguer won’t yield great results. It’s rare when a career .257 hitter suddenly turns into Wade Boggs in the twilight of his career, so I’m inclined to believe this transformation is somehow related to Counsell’s Button-esque ability to traipse through the space-time continuum and have everything turn up aces on a four-year loop.

In Counsell’s first year of significant action in the majors, 1997, he not only won a World Series with the Florida Marlins (the Marlins!), he tied Game 7 with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th inning, and scored the winning run in 11th. Fast-forward to 2001, and there’s Counsell in the World Series again, on base in the bottom of the 9th when the Arizona Diamondbacks (the Diamondbacks!) put an end to the Yankees dynasty of the late ’90s. There was no title ring for the little man in 2005, but his D-backs did finish second in their division, and he set career highs in home runs and hits. (Nine and 148 respectively, but hey, nobody’s ever going to confuse him with Hank Aaron.)

And that brings us up to the present. We’re in another bizarre four-years cycle, Counsell’s playing for the good guys, and he’s been as consistent as anyone on the squad. Less a band-aid than a 179-pound bottle of superglue, the Brewers’ C.C. Version: 2.0 has stabilized the infield, and come up with more than his share of key hits. He even willed a freaking home run over the right field wall in a win against the Cubs, which I’m guessing caused some extra special heartburn for the always-cheery Lou Piniella.

After ’09, Counsell’s future with the team is uncertain. It’s hard to believe he’ll have too much gas left in his Prius-sized tank, so maybe, just maybe, this season will parallel the 1960s for Benjamin and Daisy. That’s the decade their ages finally lined up enough to allow them some blissful rabbit sex with none of May-December creepiness that permeated the rest of that dog of a movie. Could this be the year the Crew hooks itself up to Counsell’s World Series tugboat? Does he have enough pixie dust left to sprinkle some on our own championship-starved franchise?

As a rule, I don’t like to beg, but I’m going to make an exception here: Please, please let it be. And I can’t believe I’m going to write these words, but dammit, I hope Counsell’s leading the charge.