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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 13, 2018

Craig Counsell

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - pregame 2

Q. Craig, this time of year pinch-hitting is usually a veteran endeavor. To what do you attribute Domingo's success given the point he's at in his career?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think for Domingo, when he was called back up in September with the rest of our roster, this became his role, and so we were able to get him a whole bunch of at-bats in the month of September. He probably had 15 or 16 pinch-hit at-bats in the month of September. So he got kind of his class, so to speak, or his experience or his apprenticeship in pinch-hitting. He hadn't done it much before, but he was very successful and did a really nice job in the month of September. And it's essentially what earned him the spot on these playoff rosters is how well he's done that job.

Q. A.J. Hinch was one of the first guys who kind of got the manager position without having coached before, and then you have, and it seems to be more popular. Is there a reason for this or a trend or why we're seeing it more often?
CRAIG COUNSELL: You know, I don't know. I think the big thing that -- basically what's happened is that there's different ways to get experience in a job, for a job. And so from my perspective, I was fortunate enough to play until I was 41 years old and gained a lot of experience from sitting on the end of the bench. I was fortunate enough to have a great job post playing, in the front office with the Brewers, that gained me a great bit of experience in all facets of the baseball operation.

And so in a lot of ways -- anytime you get the big job, whatever job that is for anybody, I don't think anybody's ever completely prepared for it. There's always a learning curve for the big job. But I feel like the experiences I got did prepare me to do this. And I think that's what a lot of teams are saying about the people they're hiring.

Q. Craig, your lineup today going with Shaw at second base, I know he's been one of your foundation players for the last couple of years, but I'm just wondering what you like about the match up with Ryu, and if I'm not mistaken, I don't think he's ever faced Ryu. So in your opinion, when it's a first-time batter-pitcher matchup, is there an inherent advantage one way or the other?
CRAIG COUNSELL: I don't think there's an inherent advantage one way or the other. Travis is in there because we like the matchup. I think our left-handers just have a chance to have success against Ryu, and that's why he's in there. And that's just kind of the course of things that we go through. It's not always simple right-left stuff. We try to dig a little deeper sometimes and in this case we think the lefties are a good matchup.

Q. Craig, you said the other day that you didn't have any concern over what's going on with J.J., but I was wondering after another struggling outing last night if that's changed or have you seen anything? He's clearly not as effective in the postseason as he was in the regular season. What are you seeing with him?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Again, he faced three hitters last night, he gave up a soft line drive to left field, a ground ball and a strikeout. Yeah, he's given up some hits, there's no question. I think ground-ball pitchers -- and he is a high ground-ball pitcher -- you're going to give up some hits from time to time. The Kemp ground balls add somebody, it's an out. He's had some bad fortune with some ground balls in the playoffs, and that's part of a ground-ball pitcher's fate.

Q. Craig, I want to ask about two of your pitchers. Miley, I know you weren't with him last year, but obviously he had a rough year with Baltimore and he was much, much better this year. Do you get a sense of what he's been able to do to improve? And also I know that you didn't use Burnes last night, but what makes him effective and when did you realize he could be a weapon for you?
CRAIG COUNSELL: For Miley, I think the big question for us was: Why did this guy walk so many people last year? And when you looked at his stat line and we signed him, it was concerning, you know, the number of walks. I think the big thing with Wade is that he recognized at the end of last year that there was an issue, mechanically, and just kind of how he's going to get outs that he needed to fix.

He would tell you that he went home that winter and, basically, I think the first thing is he said there's an issue I gotta fix here and went about trying to fix it. I remember distinctly watching his first bullpen in Spring Training in Phoenix and saying to myself, "Why would this guy ever struggle throwing strikes? There's no reason for him to struggle throwing strikes." And that's really what he's showed us this year is that his issues -- he fixed his issues.

He said, "I gotta change something." He worked on it this winter with a pitching coach that he was comfortable with at home. And then I think the cutter has given him a little bit of leeway as far as expanding the strike zone to get more swings.

As far as Corbin Burnes, I think Corbin has been a big -- an important player for us in the minor league system, somebody that we knew was going to contribute. The word on Corbin has always been kind of competitor, trust him. His first outing in the Big Leagues was a two-inning save in Miami. And I think that outing, if you put a guy into that situation in his big-league debut and you kind of just watch how he handles it and how he goes about it, and he handles it well, that's why you feel like he can handle all these other situations.

I mean, as much as this is going on, your big-league debut can be even more. It's kind of an individual thing. Everybody else is feeling it on days like this, but on that day it's just you're the one guy feeling it. He passed it with flying colors, and he's handled every situation very well.

The last thing I think, he throws a lot of strikes. He's just been in the strike zone a lot, or gets swings around the strike zone. So he doesn't beat himself from that perspective, and that's a really good trait.

Q. Craig, I know you explained last night about using Josh for a third inning, reacting to how the first two went. Did you go into the game yesterday feeling willing to sacrifice him for Game 2 if it meant getting three innings in one? And then, do you feel like you've sort of cracked the usage code with him after the trial and error throughout the last season and a half?
CRAIG COUNSELL: The first part, I think it's really just there's no -- I didn't go into the game with any of those thoughts. It's just read the game and see what it's presenting and how he's going through the first two innings, and what do I think he has left to go out there in the third inning. That was strictly what happened yesterday. I mean, I think anytime you extend a pitcher, there's a cost the next day.

The first part is you guys have been trying to crack my usage of Josh Hader. I think I've been pretty consistent on how we've used Josh this year. And nothing's going to change about that.

Q. Of your non starting pitchers, how many of those guys take batting practice regularly?
CRAIG COUNSELL: We've had -- a number of these guys have started games for us during the season. So we do limit the number of guys that are hitting at once. So it'll probably be the guys that are kind of scheduled to go are the guys that are hitting. We did have Woody hit yesterday, and guys like Junior and Freddy, those are guys with length, so there's potential at-bats. So you try to keep them somewhat active. Batting practice does not mean they're going to get hits at all. (Laughs) As we could go out and take batting practice and we'd have no results. I think we can all agree on that.

Q. Craig, many baseball analysts believe the more exposure you get to a bullpen, the more effective you become against it. Do you buy into that? Is familiarity a concern for you?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Look, I think, again, our choice is to try to use the guys that we think have the best chance to get outs to get the outs. In a seven-game series, familiarity, that's part of playoff baseball and part of seven-game series baseball. It's part of in-season baseball against a team in your division. You're playing 19 games, starters are going to wrack up 25 plate appearances against players in a season. Relievers are going to wrack up 10 or so plate appearances in a season against a guy.

Familiarity, maybe because we don't play the Dodgers very much, there's a lack of familiarity. I don't think it's always the recipe for success for a hitter, as we talked about the first time going through. The beauty of the game is adjustments, and I think when you're talking about inter-divisional matchups and us playing the Cardinals or the Pirates or the Cubs, it's the same thing that happens when we face teams a lot. You're still going to go with your best guys in the right situations. That's not going to change based on familiarity.

Q. Craig, when you guys did the homework before you signed Lorenzo in the off season, how much was defense a part of that discussion, and what has his defense, how has it impacted the club, and where does he rank with guys you played with and against like Finley and Edmonds and some of your favorites?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, defense was a huge part of the equation. I think it probably was a central factor in the decision is how well he plays defense and the pride he takes in his defense and how important it is to him. Lorenzo is up there with all these guys. I mean, it's the same. It's the incredible radar. It's the strides after the ball, and then Lorenzo adds, I think, just this competitiveness to make plays and to be in the center of things, in the middle of things that I just love to watch.

Q. How significant has the impact been of just the production that you're getting from both Manny and Erik at the plate offensively?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think -- look, in the playoffs, the bottom of our lineup has been a huge factor. They have provided some offensive boosts and really been central in two of these games. And that's a really good recipe for success. You know your guys in the middle are going to have some big games, but we've gotten two big games from the bottom of our lineup already this postseason. Erik and Manny have already been in the middle of it. I don't know what the catchers are doing, but it's gotta be pretty good with Manny on base yesterday in Game 3, and Erik was on base three times.

And we're getting good stuff from them. They're doing a heck of a job on both sides of the ball. Manny has caught two games now. We're asking a lot of him. He's catching five pitchers both times and we're asking a lot of him and he's done a heck of a job.

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