The Brewers ended their home season Wednesday and wrap it up entirely at Houston this weekend. They made some progress this year, but are still a long way from prime time.

Certainly, the team played with a lot more spirit and competed harder this season. The play of Scott Podsednik, Brady Clark and Keith Ginter should encourage fans for the short term.

Richie Sexson had another big power season. Geoff Jenkins was having a great season before he was injured. Dan Kolb looks like the team's closer for a while. The farm teams made progress.

All this gives GM Doug Melvin, who recently talked about the season on OMC, and manager Ned Yost something to be proud of, and to build upon over the off-season.

But, once the Brewers started playing contending teams the last month, you saw again just how far they are from being ready for prime time. After their 10-game winning streak, they were down to "only" 15 games below .500. As of Wednesday night, they were back to 25 under that break-even mark and had lost 17 of the last 24 games.

Players who looked like blooming stars when the Brewers were beating up on the Triple A version of the Reds looked mediocre at best against the Cubs, Astros, Cardinals and other contenders. Of course, it didn't help that one of the legitimate stars of the team, Jenkins, was lost for the rest of the season with an injury about the same time.

To win 75 games would be a good goal for next season. Maybe in 2005, the team might be ready to play .500, but that depends on a few things.

Will Podsednik, Clark and Ginter be re-signed and continue to make progress? Will the Brewers extend the contracts of Sexson and Jenkins beyond next year? Will Melvin be able to find a pitcher or two via free agency or a deal? And, will those kids at Double and Single A be ready for the majors and stick once they are in the big leagues?

The Brewers still need your patience. Attendance dropped again this season. The one concern is that the fans will finally run out of patience entirely, and the resulting loss of revenue could send the Brewers into bankruptcy, or at least into the status of a welfare team like Montreal, before they can really become a contender.

Turn out at a scheduled fan forum on Oct. 21 and give the Brewers' brass your opinions on what they can do to hold your loyalty and patience. Here's one suggestion from this veteran writer for the Brewers - cut ticket prices for next season to show fans you understand that while your product made some progress on the field this year it is still a long way from prime time.

Here are the 2003 Brew Crew Review awards for the Brewers:

Player of the Year -- Richie Sexson, who hit more than 40 homers for the second time with the Crew and became a more patient hitter in the clutch.

Pitcher of the Year -- Dan Kolb, a reclamation project who developed into a reliable closer.

Rookie of the Year -- Scott Podsednik, who should also be the National League Rookie of the Year.

Goats of the Year -- Pitchers Glendon Rusch, who fell from the rotation to a little used member of the bullpen, and Luis Vizcaino, who after having such a good 2002 season struggled most of this year. Both have ERAs over 6.00.

For winning these awards, these players will receive absolutely nothing.

The Nashville Predators assigned Darren Haydar, last year's American Hockey League Rookie of the Year, to the Admirals this week. Haydar scored 75 points for Milwaukee last season. He was one of 16 players assigned to the Admirals, who open camp next Monday ... Matt Thull of Wauwatosa and Jenelle Deatherage of Madison won the men's and women's races at Al's Memorial Run and Walk ... Aaron Lopez of Wisconsin Lutheran ran for 200 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-20 win over Watertown ... Tracy Stewart of Whitefish Bay gained 249 yards on 32 carries and scored three touchdowns in a 24-20 win over Milwaukee Lutheran.

UW-La Crosse beat South Dakota, 28-24, to record its 200th football win at home. The Eagles have a 200-64-9 record at Veterans Memorial Stadium ... Aaron Gibson of La Crosse Aquinas leads all state prep quarterbacks with 14 touchdown passes ... St. Norbert, trying to win its fifth straight Midwest Conference title, beat Monmouth, Ill., 38-15, to go 3-0.

The big event of the weekend starts Friday, when the Wave and its fellow Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) teams hold a tournament for to benefit Easter Seals. Games start at 1 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Arena, the new home of the Wave, and continue Friday and Saturday.

The weekend schedule is a little thin otherwise in the Milwaukee area. As mentioned earlier, the Brewers finish the season at Houston.

UW plays at Illinois at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Packers play in Chicago on Monday night. See coverage of that game on Tuesday in On The Pack.

Even the local college soccer teams are on the road, with the exception of the UWM women, who host Wright State at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Engelmann Field.

The UWM men will take a 15-game Horizon League winning streak into their conference opener at Cleveland State on Friday.

UWM's men face UW at 3 p.m. October 1 in a game that also will serve as a fundraiser for the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer (MACC) Fund. A special auction will be held during the game at Engelmann Field.

The Bucks also open their camp next week under new coach Terry Porter.