"We move on:" After great collapse of 2014, Brewers hope to turn things around this season

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The great collapse of 2014 -- the worst in Milwaukee Brewers history, and one of the worst ever in baseball. From the owner to the clubhouse manager, the Crew is determined to turn things around this season.

The Brewers roared out of the gate last year -- winning 20 of their first 27 games. Their nine-game winning streak included a 7-0 opening road trip. Ron Roenicke's crew led the National League Central Division for 150 consecutive days, but two brutal losing streaks proved to be their undoing. They lost 11 of 12 games from June 29th through July 12th -- and 13 of 16 from August 20th through September 9th. That slide included a loss in San Diego that prompted a rare outburst from Roenicke over a couple ball and strike calls from an umpire called up from the Minor League.

"He is terrible behind home plate. He calls pitches that aren't even close. A catcher sets up six inches off the plate and he calls them strikes. I should've been kicked out the last time we saw him," Roenicke said.

The Brewers were eliminated from the division race on September 21st. The historic collapse was complete -- playoff elimination and an 82-80 third-place finish. The meltdown devastated everyone in the organization.

"This will be the first year I don't address the team as a team at the end of the year. Every year, and this will be the first time I don't, because I'm just too unhappy," Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said.

Brewers Nation may not have forgotten, but over 12,000 fans showed up at the Wisconsin Center Sunday, January 25th for "Brewers On Deck" -- lifting players' spirits but not erasing their memories.

"I have things that I want to say, but that's for them. Not to be rude or anything, but there are things that I think are important. I'm sure there are some other guys that have things that they want to get off their chest," Brewers Pitcher Kyle Lohse said.

"I'm guilty last year of taking things for granted. I thought we were gonna be awesome all year. The next thing you know, come September we start slumping like we did. I take responsibility for not stopping it in its tracks," Brewers Catcher Jonathan Lucroy said.

"It was tough for me. It was tough for us as a team. You don't get those opportunities too often, and as we've all seen, if you get to the post-season, anybody can win it. The challenge is just getting in, and I've now played long enough to know that you don't get an opportunity to play those meaningful games in September every year, and when you do get those chances, you have to take advantage of it," Brewers Outfielder Ryan Braun said.

To a man, the Brewers are determined to make amends going forward.

"For all of us, it's encouraging to show that we're certainly good enough to compete with all the teams in our division. I think we play in the toughest division in baseball. I would take from that the fact that we played great for five months. We were in first place for a long time, and if we would have played in September the way we did for the first five months, we would have been in the post-season," Braun said.

"We can't change what happened last year. You just gotta let go and not let it affect anything going forward. It's just like one game to another for me. That's kind of the approach we have to take because you just leave the past back there. You learn from it and try to get better because of it," Lohse said.

"When you're watching the playoffs, the World Series, you say 'we're suppose to be there,' but it's something that gives you more motivation -- working hard until the next season. I know all my teammates, everybody feels the same way. After the season's done, we can't wait until 2015," Brewers Outfielder Carlos Gomez said.

"You learn from it. I think any time you go through things and you get through them, it helps you somewhere down the road -- so we move on," Roenicke said.

"We're determined, based on the way we finished last season, to do better this season, and when I say 'we,' that's not only all of us in the front office, but I heard a number of players who are out for this getting together and making sure that we see it all the way through this year," Attanasio said.

"We won 82 last year, and the teams in the World Series, I think they won 87 and 88, so ti's a small margin of winning another five or six games. We know that we did a good job, but we gotta find a way to finish it out and get to the post-season," Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin said.

The Brewers kick off the 2015 season on Opening Day, April 6th when they take on the Colorado Rockies.