MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Despite Sunday's loss in Cincinnati, the Milwaukee Brewers still lead their division by five games over the Cardinals. Part of the reason for their success is the team chemistry that reaches as far as the social network.
The Brewers are a close-knit team both on and off the field.
One example is how players encourage each other after wins via Twitter!
Brewers players congratulating one another over social media is something that has become commonplace.
Pitcher Kyle Lohse is a "Johnny Come Lately" to the Twitter world. The always insightful veteran lost a bet with the Brewers' social media director.
"You see the kind of support we get. It's pretty cool. You know, you obviously get used to that 'block' button pretty quick. I've gotten accustomed to that. You know, when you're putting yourself out there, you're going to have people that try to start something -- but you just ignore them. You know, there's certain guys that I like to mess with. You know, Luc, being one of them," Lohse said.
"Luc" of course, is Lohse's battery-mate -- catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
"Yeah, he's trying to get more followers than me, so...I told him good luck with that. So we'll see how that works out. It's cool. I think it's important for everybody out there to know and the fans to know that we are supporting each other, and fighting it out, and battling together, so you know, good and bad, we always have each other's backs," Lucroy said.
When he isn't putting down batters as an effective relief pitcher, Zach Duke is picking up his phone to tweet.
"It's great. You know, we've gotten a lot of great responses from the fans out there. It seems like everybody's taken to it and supportive of it so, we'll keep it going," Duke said.
Will Smith is another one out of the Brewers outstanding bullpen who tweets. He says it's gotten personal for Jim Henderson and Tyler Thornburg.
"Thorny and Hendo just had a race to try to get to 10,000 (followers) which was kinda funny. You know, we just try to have fun with it. It's a long season, so it's important to have little things like that to help you get through," Smith said.
At 57, Brewers Manager Ron Roenicke is old enough to be the father of most of his players.
He's bright and in the know, but don't expect the former Big Leaguer to get a Twitter handle anytime soon!
"Not on Twitter and I can say I don't think there's any way in the world I would ever be on it," Roenicke said.
Roenicke is old school, but he's not a hard line guy. The bench boss is just trying to be protective of his players and the team.
"I'm fine with guys doing what they want to do. It's just when it comes to baseball stuff and what's going on with injuries especially -- stay off the Twitter. If they go there, that's wrong. And the back and forth stuff -- because when you have Twitter, and you are mad right away and can get on it, you put something out there that you don't want out there," Roenicke said.
Don't worry skipper! Your crew agrees -- once you hit send, it can be tough to make amends.
"You've always got to read it twice before you do it, but I never tweet when I'm angry," Lucroy said.
"I think we've got a pretty smart team as far as that goes. There's one guy who I won't name that's not on Twitter anymore. He knows the drill," Lohse said.