For Brewers fans, the saddest moment of the 2011 National League Championship Series has not arrived yet.

That will happen when Jonathan Lucroy or Mark Kotsay makes the last out in the bottom of the ninth, and the Brewers' season ends.

But there was a sad moment in the bottom of the seventh, when Ryan Braun struck out on three pitches against Octavio Dotel. Braun had a fantastic season and played brilliantly in the postseason before this last game. But Dotel's got his number, and that last out in the seventh marked Braun's ninth strikeout against Dotel in 11 career at-bats.

There was another sad moment in the bottom of the eighth, when Prince Fielder led off and grounded out weakly to second base. Fielder isn't gone yet and it's not crazy to suggest the Brewers might find the money to sign Fielder to a big contract this winter. It seems unlikely, though. Fielder's going to want a lot of money the Brewers probably don't have, and a lot of years that GM Doug Melvin probably doesn't want to give him.

So that might have been Prince Fielder's last at-bat for the franchise that drafted him, and made him a star. Which might make you a little sad, even if you're not a Brewers fan.