ONE SPRECHER TO CRY IN. The Milwaukee Brewers were no-hit Tuesday night.

The Brewers got only three balls out of the infield against [Justin] Verlander, the liner by [Corey] Hart and two routine flies by J.J. Hardy. After Verlander struck out [Craig] Counsell and Tony Graffanino for the first two outs in the ninth, Hardy flied out to right on an 0-2 curveball to end it.

Asked about the pressure of being the last hitter between Verlander and a no-hitter, Hardy said, "I think the pressure started mounting in the first inning when he was throwing 100 mph with that curveball and changeup.

A Sprecher for drowning sorrows seemed in order, as the Crew had set a team record for consecutive games with 10 or more batters struck out.

Wednesday evening went a little better, as the team rallied for a win.

The drama began before the first pitch when Carlos Villanueva had to replace injured starter Chris Capuano on a moment's notice. It extended to Bill Hall's first home run in nearly a month, at a critical juncture, and culminated with closer Francisco Cordero recovering from his lost weekend in Texas.

And, oh yeah, there was that little matter of recovering from being no-hit the previous evening.

Add it all together, in combination with the team's 10-20 slide entering the game, and it was difficult to imagine a bigger victory than the 3-2 nail-biter the Brewers took from the Detroit Tigers.

They then held the Tigers off again this afternoon.

By holding on for a tense 6-5 victory today over Detroit at Comerica Park, the Brewers claimed only their second series since May 9.

That calls for another Sprecher, not to cry in.