Tommy Lasorda knew what he was talking about.

The 2000 U.S. Olympic baseball team skipper claimed that Ben Sheets was the real deal, and most of us probably figured he was right. But this soon? As far as deal speed goes, Sheets' rapidity ranks right up there with FDR's first 100 days in office.

Starter Jeff D'Amico is disabled, yet the Brewers have maintained a 30-30 mark through early June. Playing .500 baseball isn't rarified air in New York, but it is here. And were it not for Mr. Sheets, the Brewers would not be gulping it.

Everywhere you looked this spring, the baseball media picked the precocious Brewers starter (dare I say ace?) as the National League's 2001 Rookie of the Year. This is usually the quickest route to a May demotion to Triple-A. Remember how touted Oakland's Eric Chavez and St. Louis' J.D. Drew were in 1999 before their lousy opening seasons?

As it turned out, Sheets was sent down even quicker than that. Davey Lopes sent him packing to Indianapolis in April,only to keep his future star pitching every fifth day in a month dotted with off days and rainouts (this was also prior to D'Amico's injury).

Sheets accepted the move like a professional and has been the Brewers' best pitcher since returning. From April 28 to May 13, he ran off four wins in four starts, including an impressive 4-1 victory over Kerry Wood and the Cubs on May 8. "These two young men have old-school makeup," Lopes said of the would-be rivals after the game. "They're both similar in many, many ways ... They don't want to come out of the game. They want the ball."

Last week Sheets spun a five-hit shutout against St. Louis, his first big-league complete game. "How about the way that kid turned it up tonight," reliever Chad Fox said after the win. "He is really something special."

And this past Sunday, Sheets snapped a 12-game Cubs' winning streak with his sixth win of the year (Chicago went on to sweep St. Louis this week to make it 15 of 16).

"When he gets in trouble, watch him, the guy bears down and gets it done," Jeromy Burnitz told the Journal-Sentinel this week. "You look up there at that radar reading, he's not just a finesse guy. He's pumping 95 in there."

The quiet determination of the 22-year-old from Louisiana is impressive enough, but how about his timing? Sheets has already snapped two-, four- and two-game Crew losing streaks this year, all in games against division rivals Chicago and St. Louis. Five of his wins have followed Milwaukee losses. He's the only guy to beat the Cubs in the last two-and-a-half weeks. What was it Lasorda was saying about him?

"This guy is a great pitcher," said Lasorda after the gold-medal clincher against Cuba, a Sheets shutout. "He has a lot of qualities necessary to become a big-league pitcher. He's just a baby, and look what he did."

"He was composed. He was focused on every pitch," said U.S. catcher and former World Series MVP Pat Borders. "Nothing bothered him. He was like a 40-year-old man."

Sheets isn't Warren Spahn just yet, but he's been nearly as indispensable to the Milwaukee rotation. With D'Amico and Wright both out, Sheets, Allen Levrault and Kyle Peterson were forced to start consecutive games against the Cardinals last week. After the Sheets shutout, Levrault and Peterson followed with key victories. But somebody had to win the first one, which came after four straight Brewer losses. Sheets did.

Though the rookie righty can bring mid-90s heat, it's his 12-to-6 curveball that has led to a 3.06 ERA in 10 starts. Sheets also possesses a wisdom not inherent among 22-year-olds with great stuff: pitching economy.

He struck out six Astros across six innings in his second start, and he hasn't gotten that many since. After working at AAA for a couple weeks, he's won six of eight starts since his call-up. He has never given up more than five earned runs in a major league game, and he's never worked fewer than four innings, either. That one, typically despicable rookie performance all first-year pitchers seem to have has yet to emerge.

Though Sheets is not dominating, his modest strikeout numbers (37 Ks in 61.2 innings) belie his repertoire (Note: In over 150 innings between AA and AAA last season, he fanned 119). He might not have Wood's no-hit stuff, but Sheets does seem to offer the type of reliability seen in Andy Pettitte or Tom Glavine. He's a pitcher and not a thrower, but he will undoubtedly have his share of 8-10 punchout games.

Perhaps most promising to Dean Taylor and Davey Lopes is Sheets' clean medical file. Thus far, he has taken the ball throughout his career. With D'Amico and Wright's spotty history at the big-league level, and the travails of prospects like J.M. Gold, Valerio de los Santos, Peterson and Jose Garcia, bouts of shoulder stiffness are about as welcome at Miller Park as Illinois license plates in the parking lots.

Hopefully, Sheets will send Cubs fans off on many long drives home.