Nelson urges team to steal more bases MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers love what Carlos Lee's bat has brought to the team's new-look offense. But they have also been impressed by his legs. "Carlos is a real good baserunner out there," said first base coach Dave Nelson, the team's baserunning instructor. Manager Ned Yost was impressed on Monday when Lee hustled to score from second when Pirates infielder Bobby Hill botched what should have been an inning-ending popup. Nelson was impressed when Lee singled earlier in the game, then hustled to second base when the relay scuttled through the infield. He made his first glaring mistake on Tuesday night when Lee was doubled off second base on a lineout to right field -- Yost confirmed that it was not a hit-and-run -- but Lee has usually been good at the little things. That's leaving good impressions about the Brewers' big man. "What I look at is can they go from first to third when they're supposed to?" Nelson said. "Do they get back on line drives? Are they aware of situations before they happen so they are prepared to make the right decisions?" Much is being made in Chicago this week of a play involving Lee in Sunday's Brewers-Cubs game. Walker was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday with a moderate to severe medial collateral ligament sprain of his left knee, suffered in the crash at second base in the 10th inning. Lee slid in hard and successfully broke up a double play, but his right shin collided with Walker's left knee. "He stood there the whole time," Lee said. "I didn't have my spikes up or anything. I was just trying to break up the double play. I wasn't trying to hurt anybody." Walker, who called Lee a good friend, saw a photo of the play on the Cubs website and said, "It looks like he's doing some kind of tae-kwon-do on my knee." But he declined the notion that Lee's slide was dirty. "In baseball, you're taught to break up the double play and that's the bottom line," Walker said. "We have mixed emotions in the clubhouse about whether it was malicious. Personally, I haven't seen it." Nelson had seen the replay, and had no problem with Lee's slide. "Carlos slid in and got his leg out to hook [Walker]," Nelson said. "It was nothing with spikes or rolling into him. Carlos just hooked him with his leg." That's fair game, according to Nelson. "If [Walker] didn't get hurt on the play, nobody would have said a word," Nelson said. "It's all a part of the game. Carlos didn't go in there trying to hurt him. He just went in there and tried to break up a double play." Running free: Nelson loved watching Scott Podsednik because he always tried to make something happen on the basepaths. The Brewers don't have anybody with Podsednik's raw speed this season, but Nelson pointed to Lee, Junior Spivey and Bill Hall as players who have showed savvy on the bases. Nelson also mentioned Brady Clark, who replaced Podsednik as Milwaukee's leadoff man. Clark won't lead the Majors in steals, like Podsednik did last season, but Nelson is urging him to be more aggressive anyway. "Brady has to get a little more larceny in his heart for me," Nelson said. Hot start: Mark the date. Damian Miller led the Major Leagues entering Tuesday's games with a .471 batting average. "Obviously, I like to hold my own offensively back there and not embarrass myself completely," said Miller, who laughed when someone pointed out that he won the Week 1 batting crown. "You just try to keep doing the same things you're doing, which is not easy in this league." Just as Yost declined to put stock in left fielder Geoff Jenkins' slow start, he is not jumping up and down about Miller's quick one. It's all about consistency, Yost said. "You just have to keep it going," Yost said. "You look at everybody's track record and you see that they've all been run producers throughout their career. They're going to produce runs. It doesn't mean that they're not going to have high spots and low spots." Doubleheader: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is scheduled to host Valpariaso on Wednesday at Miller Park following the Brewers-Pirates game. UW-Milwaukee is managed by former Brewers pitcher Jerry Augustine and is 11-13 this season. Current Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon played his college ball at Valpariaso. --

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