Only a half-game separates the Brewers and St. Louis in the National League Central Division Standings but as the old adage about real estate goes, it's all about location, location location.

And right now, the Brewers' location is atop the division, thanks to a thrilling three-game sweep of the Cardinals over the weekend powered in large part by Prince Fielder, who is enjoying one of the best stretches of his career.

His sixth-inning home run Sunday, which gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead, was his eighth in 10 games. What's more impressive is that all but two of those blasts have given his team a lead.

"I think there's something about him," manager Ron Roenicke said. "I think he's a big-time player, and that's what they do. There's not a lot of them. (Albert) Pujols is one. (Joey) Votto is one. (Lance) Berkman is one. There's a few others.

"When guys hit late home runs consistently, and not just home runs, but when you have good at-bats and drive the ball in key situations consistently, you're a big-time player."

Fielder is certainly the definition of a big-time player. His 19 home runs are second only to the Dodgers' Matt Kemp in the National League. He leads the National League with 58 RBI and 37 extra-base hits and is hitting .305 overall, with a .415 on-base percentage and a .627 slugging percentage.

Over the last 10 games, Fielder has 12 hits (two singles, two doubles, eight home runs), with 16 RBI, 10 walks and only four strikeouts.

"When they make a mistake, I'm not missing it," Fielder said. "That's always good."

Milwaukee is alone in first place for the first time since July 4, 2009 and 10 games above .500 for the first time since June 6, 2009, when the Brewers were 33-23.

Roenicke has displayed a reserved and even-keeled demeanor since taking the job and that hasn't changed much as his team pursued and eventually moved into first place.

"How many games do we have left," Roenicke asked after Sunday's game. "It's still too early. It was a great series. It's a huge confidence builder for our guys, going into it and playing like we did. It's still way too early, but I like how we're playing."

All according to the plan: When the Brewers rebuilt their starting rotation during the offseason, they had situations like the Cardinals series in mind.

Though St. Louis missed Yovani Gallardo, who saw his six-game winning streak snapped in the series finale with the Mets Thursday, Chris Narveson took the mound Friday and pitched eight strong innings while his offense did their job.

Zack Greinke came on next, and earned his sixth victory of the season, going seven innings with three runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts in a 5-3 victory, followed by Shaun Marcum's similar effort Sunday.

"This is what we hoped for," Roenicke said. "We are really comfortable with our five starters. And even when you're comfortable with it, not all of the time are they all pitching well at the same time. Right now, everybody's pitching well and that's why we've been on this roll for a month now."

Milwaukee starters own a 29-15 record and their .659 winning percentage is the best in baseball. Over the last 34 games, the starters have gone 19-5 with a 3.55 ERA.

The pitchers' improvement has taken a lot of pressure off the offense, which has had to carry the burden the past two seasons.

"It makes you very confident because you know you don't have to do too much," said Fielder. "Whenever you go out there with that thought, you usually do a lot."

The Brewers' pitching staff, as a whole, has been effective all season long. The staff ERA is a respectable 3.61, a noticeable improvement from previous years. Milwaukee pitchers are second in the National League with 7.96 strikeouts/nine innings and second with a 2.92 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Last year, an overworked bullpen had to pick up the slack when the starting rotation suffered. Milwaukee relievers finished the season third in the National League with 518 innings of work. This year, the Brewers' bullpen has worked 190.2 innings and posted a 3.17 ERA, compared to 220.1 innings and a 6.08 ERA through the first 66 games in 2010.

"If we can go out there and keep the bullpen rested, it's only going to help us in August and September," Marcum said.

Dillard impressing: Roenicke has been pleased with the work from relieve Tim Dillard, who was summoned from Class AAA Nashville My 14.

Since allowing two runs in his first inning of work (May 23 at Washington), Dillard has not allowed a run in 8.2 innings and is holding opponents to a .152 batting average (5-for-33).

The right-hander throws sidearm-style but that hasn't limited his effectiveness against lefties, who are hitting just .133 against him.

His success thus far has earned some consideration for use in close contests.

"If he's this good, he's going to be in some late games," Roenicke said. "He has been really good."

Gamel could get call-up: With interleague play on the horizon, prospect Mat Gamel appears to be in line for another chance to make his mark at the big league level.

The Brewers will be able to use the designated hitter for three interleague series, including one this weekend in Boston then from June 28-July 3 in New York and Minnesota.

"We talked about it a week ago, we talked about it 10 minutes ago," Roenicke said. "He's playing really well at first base. Offensively, he's done a nice job. He's a little inconsistent, but he's done a nice job. He can swing."

Having Gamel, who's hitting .303 with 11 home runs and 39 RBI at Class AAA Nashville, with the team would allow Roenicke not only to stick an extra bat in the lineup, but also to give Fielder a day off at first base.

"It's great to have those guys off their feet for a game in the field," Roenicke said.

On the farm: Over the last seven games with Class A Brevard County, OF/1B Brock Kjeldgaard is hitting .478 (11-for-23) with a triple, seven home runs, and 12 RBI. He's hit 14 home runs since May 17 and is the Florida State League leader with 17, second in slugging percentage (.595), fifth in total bases (116),and has the best home run to at-bat ratio (1/11.47 HR/AB). Drafted by the Brewers in the 34th round of the 2005 draft as a pitcher, Kjeldgaard was converted to a position player in 2008 and has 68 home runs since.

Injury report: RHP Takashi Saito was slated to pitch an inning for Class A Wisconsin Sunday but was scratched due to a sore shoulder. He was evaluated by Brewers doctors and is now scheduled to throw later this week for Class AAA Nashville.

Quick hits: The Brewers are the only team in baseball that has not lost consecutive games at home this season ... In games started by Marcum, the Brewers are 8-4 ... Milwaukee has completed four series sweeps at home this season ... Entering play Sunday, opponents were hitting .250 of Milwaukee starters and .241 off relievers ... Rickie Weeks has hit seven of his 12 home runs this season at Miller Park ... The Brewers are 28-16 when hitting a home run ... Craig Counsell's triple Friday was his first since Aug. 29, 2009 ... Josh Wilson is hitting .444 (4-for-9) with two home runs and four RBI since joining the Brewers May 25 ... veteran Brewers correspondent Larry Lapidus, who has long held the honor of asking the first question during postgame press conferences, is out indefinitely after suffering a broken ankle this week.

This week: The Brewers will try to build on their lead with four games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Randy Wolf will pitch the opener against Chicago's Ryan Dempster (5-5, 5.96 ERA), followed in the rotation by Gallardo, Narveson and Greinke. After that, the Brewers get their first taste of interleague play, kicking off a string of nine straight games against American League foes with a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Attendance (through 34 home dates): Total – 1,152,574; Average – 33,899; Sellouts – 9.

NL Central standings (through games Sunday)