Friday, April 22, 2011

Former Viper Morgan Carving Out A Niche With Brewers:

Here is a article on former Vernon Vipers defenceman, Nyjer Morgan that was posted on the Milwaukee Brewers website last Friday. Morgan played two games with the Vipers as an "AP" back during the 1996-97 season.

This is posted on the Brewers website:

Morgan carving out a niche with Brewers

By George Von Benko

Special to MLB.com | 04/15/11


PITTSBURGH -- Speedy outfielder Nyjer Morgan looks like he has found a home with the Milwaukee Brewers. He has appeared in all 12 games this season -- including five starts -- and is batting .472, with two RBIs and one stolen base.

Morgan has bounced from Pittsburgh to Washington in his career, and was acquired from the Nationals on March 27 for infielder Cutter Dykstra.

He had fallen out of favor with the Nationals for a series of instances in which he lost his temper, including a bench-clearing brawl with the Marlins last September. Morgan was suspended eight games and fined $15,000 for his role in the scuffle.


Morgan is thrilled to be with the Brewers, and put all of the controversy behind him.

"There is just good chemistry here, and everybody gets along" he said. "That's what you need to have a great ballclub and to succeed. Our goal is to reach the playoffs. It starts from having a good skipper. And when you have a good skipper -- and he brings his personality into the locker room that's full of energy and has a great atmosphere -- that's a piece of the puzzle that people don't realize."

Morgan and his aggressive style have paid early dividends. In Wednesday night's 6-0 win over the Pirates, Morgan came on as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning and scored on a double by Yuniesky Betancourt -- barreling over Bucs catcher Ryan Doumit in the process.

"It's a part of the game," Morgan stated. "You've just got to go hard. I only know one way to play, and that's to play the game right, and to play the game hard and leave it all on the field."

"So far, Morgan has brought everything," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "He's brought great defense and great baserunning, and he's hitting .450 [going into Thursday's game], so he's done everything for us. You have to see a guy over the course of a year and what he does, but we always know he's going to play good defense -- and we always know he's going to be a good baserunner. The hitting part, sometimes you have better years than others. I, obviously, don't think if we play him every day he's going to hit .450, but he's been huge for us."

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