"We'll never know whom Brewers manager Ken Macha was going to use as his closer Friday night.

All Macha would say before game time was that he had no intention of using closer Trevor Hoffman for a fourth consecutive day as the Brewers prepared for their series opener against St. Louis at Busch Stadium. That matter became moot when a major rainstorm postponed the game in the bottom of the second inning.

The game was rescheduled for 7:15 p.m. Monday.

Because Hoffman missed most of spring training as well as the first 18 games of the season with a strained right oblique, Macha drew the line after three appearances without a day off. Hoffman saved all three games of the Brewers' sweep of Florida at Miller Park, making him 8 for 8 for the season.

As for giving Hofmann a night off, Macha said, "That's how valuable this guy is. If I get him hurt, see that sign up there? I'll be taking a lot of those."

Macha referred to the Tums sign atop a building across from Busch Stadium where the antacid tablets are made. And, about that same time, Hoffman took what appeared to be a nasty spill over a cart of batting-practice baseballs as the Brewers stretched on the field.

With teammates and medical personnel rushing toward him and Macha's eyes widening, Hoffman jumped up and started laughing. He had successfully "punked" the rest of the team, the first real example of how he built a reputation as a prankster.

"That was a good one," Hoffman said. "The ball cart was in the perfect place."

As for what Hoffman has meant to the club since being activated, Macha smiled and said, "When the season is over, I don't think he'll have a 0.00 ERA. Somebody's going to score on him.

"But you take a look at what we did the first 18 games (8-10) and what we've done since (13-4) and you'll see what he has meant to the team. He's been throwing strikes. Every one of his outings has been less than 15 pitches except one. That's incredible."

Though it has seemed at times that Hoffman has thrown his fastball more than his vaunted changeup, the future Hall of Famer said he hadn't reinvented himself.

"I've always tried to establish the strike zone with fastballs," Hoffman said. "Jason (Kendall) has been very helpful in persuading me in using some pitches in certain situations. A lot of it is just execution.""