By Arnie Stapleton
The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - One of the Milwaukee Brewers' slumping hitters wandered into the dugout during batting practice on a recent afternoon and lamented that when pitcher Wes Obermueller got sent down to the minor leagues last month, "there went our offense."

The remark produced chuckles and more than a few grimaces.

Obermueller's .381 batting average was indeed tops on the team - and just another example of how the pitching staff has carried the punchless club all season. During a recent 10-game stretch, Milwaukee was 4-for-73 with runners in scoring position.

Milwaukee, which hasn't finished with a winning record since 1992, had a 41-34 record on July 1 despite the lowest opening-day payroll in the major leagues. The Brewers have lost 19 of 29 since then and are fourth in the NL Central, 61/2 games out in the wild-card race.

"For me, an offensive slump is kind of like the flu," manager Ned Yost said. "It's miserable while you're going through it, but sooner or later you get over it."

Only first baseman Lyle Overbay (.326, 38 doubles, 67 RBIs) provides much of a threat, and even he slumped badly last month. Geoff Jenkins (.247, 15 homers) and Scott Podsednik (.254) have underachieved and Junior Spivey was hurt much of the year before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery Friday.

Wes Helms has slumped so badly at the plate, where he's hitting just .249 with two homers, and in the field, that the Brewers acquired Russell Branyan from Cleveland even though they already had five left-handed hitters in the lineup.

"That doesn't bother me having all these left-handers," general manager Doug Melvin said. "We do have a disadvantage when they bring in the lefties in relief. But if we have seven left-handed hitters in the lineup, we have the advantage, I would like to think, for six innings."

Branyan has fit right in with the Brewers - he's hitting .077 with just one hit - a 480-foot homer off Greg Maddux - in 13 at-bats so for Milwaukee. The only team hitting worse than Milwaukee at .252 is Montreal at .244.

The Brewers' 3.94 ERA, however, is seventh in the NL - Milwaukee hasn't ranked in the top 10 since 1997.

Still, Ben Sheets is 9-8 despite a 2.58 ERA and 156 strikeouts to go with just 21 walks. Doug Davis is 10-9 despite a 3.79 ERA (although he is 1-for-44 at the plate) and Victor Santos (9-6) recently lost a game in which he gave up just one unearned run in six innings.

Sheets complained last month that having to pitch perfectly every time out was taking its toll and other starters agreed.

Nonsense, Yost retorted, suggesting that getting very little run support should make a pitcher focus harder and minimize mistakes.

"This game's about playing under pressure every time you go out there. I mean, that's their job," he said. "If you get a four- or five- or six-run lead, then, yeah, they've got a little more cushion to work with. If you don't, you don't. You hold them to less runs than you score, whatever that is. If it's one, then you've got to hold them to none. If you go out and score 10, you take your cap off to your offense and say, 'You allowed me to give up nine today. Good job.'"

Sheets finally got some run support Sunday against Pittsburgh, but he was long gone by the time Bill Hall's ninth-inning single gave Milwaukee an 8-7 victory.

"We've had a rough stretch, but the thing is nobody was hanging his head," Hall said. "And it's a good thing we're struggling now rather than late in the season. Hopefully, we can get back on track and get back in the wild-card race."