Eric Gagne has grabbed just about every inch of news print and camera the Milwaukee media has to offer.  Ryan Braun is hitting the cover off the ball and the Milwaukee women are at odds over whether he is cuter than J.J. Hardy.  Prince Fielder's refusal for a steak dinner continues to make most people think that is the reason he is not bashing out homers at his '07 pace.  All the while, the quiet, tall man from Bowling Green, Kentucky hits, and hits, and hits some more.  Ned Yost once said at the beginning of the season that when Hart gets hot it is like you almost don't notice because of how he goes about his business.  He usually does not hit tower home runs like Fielder and he usually does play with the showmanship that Braun does.  This is a guy that uses a country song as his at-bat music!

He has been the one Brewer bat that has not been asleep all year.  As I write this, Hart is batting a healthy .303 with a .359 on-base percentage.  I guess the only reason he is not getting any press is because he has only one lousy home run.  He makes up for that with 15 hits in this month alone (just hit one as I edit this).  He is pretty much getting a hit a day.  How about his .326 average this month.  Not bad for a guy that most people thought a career year for him would be .275 and smack just 20 homers.

While Brewers fans hope Mr. Attanasio can pull a rabbit and the gross national product of New Guinea out his pocket to keep Braun and Fielder long term, the focus should be instead on hoping a guy like Corey Hart sticks around.  Lets face it, the chances of Fielder or Braun playing beyond the required service time are not good.  Corey Hart is the type of guy that can man right field for 12 years.  He is humble and he is good.  He's a great fielder and he can even steal a base.  You can bat him 1-5 and get great results.  Remember when people thought he should be traded because he was never going to be a star.  Well, he may not make a ton of All-Star teams but he will also not hire Scott Boras did get him the first flight out of here come free agency.  He may cost some money but he will not cost that 12-15 million that Fielder and Braun could potentially end up earning. 

We should live in the moment but we should also know that the big gray elephant in the room still looms with Fielder and Braun most likely finishing their careers outside of Milwaukee.  The Brewers can follow the mold of drafting well and funneling in potential star players i.e. Matt LaPorta to take Fielder's or Braun's place should they choose big green dollar pastures.  You need to also make sure you keep a couple of these current youngsters around long term, i.e. like how Geoff Jenkins stuck around for a while.  Hart could be that player.  You just hope he can hit lefties at the age of 34.