"Ryan Braun was born to be a headliner, not a warm-up act.

With the Milwaukee Brewers in the national spotlight during major-league baseball's postseason, folks around the country are witnessing what denizens of Brewer Nation have known for years: Braun is something special.

"I've seen these stretches from him where you couldn't get any better," said manager Ron Roenicke, whose club will take a 2-0 advantage in the National League Division Series against Arizona into Game 3 on Tuesday night at Chase Field.

"First month of the season, incredible. Hitting .380 and 10 homers. I don't know how many RBI but stealing bases, making great plays on defense (actually, .367 with 10 HRs and 23 RBI). I've seen him like this, not just then but a couple of other times during the season.

"When he's healthy, when he's feeling strong, it's pretty hard to stop him.""