MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers will closely monitor Eric Thames for lingering left leg soreness but don't plan to significantly alter his pattern of playing time, according to manager Craig Counsell, who believes the best way to break Thames' recent funk is to let him swing through it.
Thames' season has been split almost precisely in half. In his first 90 plate appearances before exiting an April 26 game against the Reds with a tight hamstring, Thames hit .370/.489/.904 with a Major League-leading 11 home runs and became one of the best stories in baseball. In the first 94 plate appearances since, while battling sore legs and strep throat -- and with the hitter behind him, Ryan Braun, mostly out of the lineup with injuries -- Thames slashed .