Brewers Executive Vice President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger considers himself a lucky guy. The Milwaukee native took the job during the Ulice Payne regime and stayed through the transition to new owner Mark Attanasio.

Effectively running the day-to-day operations of the team, Schlesinger is just a few weeks shy of his 44th birthday. He's not the youngest in his field, but he's quickly risen through the ranks as a Los Angeles attorney to a Disney and Anaheim Angels executive, and now back home to River Hills. A father of three, he says he counts his blessings "only about 20 times a day."

As the Brewers close in on their first non-losing season since 1992, Schlesinger admits that he's not sleeping much these days. Still, we caught up with him last week in this latest edition of Milwaukee Talks.

OMC: The Brewers will finish right around .500 in 2005. Whether you hit that mark or not, do you consider this to be a successful season?

Rick Schlesinger: Yeah, I would. We want to win as many games as we can for the rest of the season and finish strong. But whether we finish 82-80 or 80-82, I think, overall, we don't consider this the greatest season in the history of the franchise, because it's not. We know we have a lot of work to do. But what we look at is if we've built momentum in the community, if the team performed better on the field, and if we're better positioned for the future. The answer to all those questions is yes. You can't do everything in one season, and Mark (Attanasio) has definitively made an impact. I think we've made some good strides and have to continued to raise the bar.

OMC: Do you think there's more honesty between the new ownership and the fans?

RS: I wasn't here before January of 2003, so it's hard for me to gauge what was said. I think, candidly, people confused optimism with being less than honest. I don't subscribe to that. I think Wendy (Selig-Prieb) and the commissioner (Bud Selig) were expressing a lot of optimism, and I think in this business you have to be an optimist. You are selling something to a community. You're selling the promise of good times, you're selling hope and faith, and if you fall short on the field, people will say you're not honest. I'm saying I don't always agree with that. From our perspective, since I've been here, I think we do owe the fans and the community honesty about where we are as franchise, and sometimes it's painful to be honest. I think what we did over the last few years with a reduced payroll -- we were being honest why we were doing it. Maybe that wasn't the message fans wanted to hear, but it was the honest message. We try to pride ourselves in being candid while still being optimistic.

OMC: Attendance is up significantly, so you must be doing something right. Why are more people going to Brewers games?

RS: The key factor is performance of the team on the field. We're in the business to win baseball games. Everything else we do is designed to help support a winning baseball team. There is no question that we're playing our best baseball on the field in years. Not only are we winning more games, the games are more exciting. We've scored more runs than we've allowed, which says to you that the games have been close, even games we've lost. There have been very few games where we've just been blown out. It's been exciting baseball, it's been more winning baseball. First and foremost, I attribute the increase in attendance to that.

Secondly, our new owner has brought some enthusiasm, a fresh look and some hope to people who may have been disenfranchised by prior ownership for whatever reason. The third component has been our tremendous schedule this year. We've had 10 games against the Cubs, we've had the Yankees. We've been fortunate to have a really good schedule that's conducive to attendance. The fourth factor is that we've significantly increased our marketing and advertising budget this year. Marketing doesn't drive attendance, it supports attendance. If we do a better job of messaging, it will translate to better attendance.

OMC: You joined the team under Ulice Payne and stayed on while the team was sold, but it's panned out nicely for you. Did you worry about job security?

RS: It was interesting because when I came to the Brewers, I was expecting to work for one president for the entire duration of my employment situation, and I had no inkling that the team was going to be sold. Obviously, we had some dramatic changes. The president left and the team was put up for sale. (Chief Financial Officer Bob Quinn and I) were so busy doing the day-to-day operations of the club that we didn't have a lot of time to think about our future. It was blessing in disguise that we were busy trying to do everything. We thought that we had done a good job under tough circumstances, and thought that Mark was the type of guy who would let management prove themselves. I thought he wasn't an owner who would come in and make change for change's sake.

OMC: What is Mark Attanasio like as a boss?

RS: From my perspective, it's an ideal situation because Mark has made it clear that he expects the management to run the team, and he will hold us accountable, based on our decision making, which is what I want. Because if I'm going to be held accountable, I want the authority to make decisions. That's something I like to do, and I'm confident that we're making mostly correct decisions that we will be rewarded for. It's been a great relationship. He's a very smart guy and he lets me know in what areas he wants information about, what areas he's interested in, and he values our judgment and our opinions. When we've gone to Mark for additional resources, whether it's additional funds or additional human resources, he's given all the tools we need.

OMC: How often do you talk to him?

RS: I talk to him quite a bit. We communicate through the phone and through Blackberry and through e-mail. I talk to him many times a week in some form or another. In the 21st century, you can follow the team quite closely. He watches the game on television, listens to the radio broadcasts and follows us in the media. He's very much in touch.