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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 19, 2018

Craig Counsell

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - pregame 6

Q. You had the one lineup tweak with Travis moving to cleanup and Aggie. Were there splits involved in that as well as Aggie scuffling a little bit?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, it's the same guys in there, and I do think the left-handers match up well against him. Really, I think just trying to split up the right- and left-handed hitters and making it as tough as we can on their bullpen. Their bullpen has done a really nice job. And we've had trouble putting rallies together against their bullpen. So we'll try to make it as tough as we can against them.

Hopefully we score some runs early, but we're just trying to make it as hard on them as we can.

Q. To follow up on that, what have you seen from Aguilar in the second half? His power numbers have dropped off. Do you think the pitchers are pitching him differently? What do you think has come from that?
CRAIG COUNSELL: More than anything -- every season for these guys is different. I think Aggie had an absolutely amazing first half. And he came in the second half, his numbers declined a little bit. The pace he was on was kind of out of this world. And there's adjustments made, of course. They've made adjustments to him and now has the -- he was an All-Star. He has the respect of the other team and certainly the attention of the other team now as he goes into the second half.

He's still capable of a lot. And I think I'm still expecting a lot. And he's going to be an important player in the next two games for us.

Q. Knowing what's at stake tonight, how do you keep nerves in check for a game like this?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, I think our crowd is a huge part of this game tonight. One of the things that we've had trouble -- I thought we had trouble doing at Dodger Stadium is we were unable to put a lot of pressure on them, on their pitching. And hopefully that's something that the crowd can help with. As we get rallies going that can add to the pressure.

So I think, if anything, the home crowd I think doesn't make you more nervous; it helps you out. It helps you out and hopefully that's what a home crowd is for is to help you out a little bit like that.

Q. Because you have to win two games, can you share with us anything the philosophy of Jhoulys today. Are you going to send him out to the pen at the start of the game? Could he figure in this game early or is it a late in-case-of-an-emergency type situation late in the game?
CRAIG COUNSELL: I think you have to have every player available today that's rested and able to pitch. Jhoulys is certainly able to pitch. So you have to factor him in. And so where that is, I think, there's other guys that are rested as well. There is a game tomorrow and that matters. We do have some other guys that are rested.

But if Jhoulys needs to factor in the game, then he'll factor in the game.

Q. If you were attending this game as your old self, as a kid from Whitefish Bay High School, and not as a manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, how would you greet Machado today? (Laughter.)
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I mean I would -- I'd cheer for my own team, yeah (laughter).

I'm guessing some other people won't take that view. But I'd cheer for my own guys, yeah. That's a good question, that really is. That's a good question (laughter).

Q. I'm just curious, what did you make of the reaction to what you did with Wade pitching for one bat and taking him out? Did anybody reach out to you with their opinions on it and what did you think about the reaction, whether it was positive or negative?
CRAIG COUNSELL: I mean, when you're going to do something like that, I think the first place you have to be is you're not worried about the reaction. So the reaction is what it is. We're trying to win baseball games and we're trying to do everything we can to win a game. And so the reaction is -- I think most different decisions or unique decisions or things that haven't been seen before are going to be met with opinions on both sides of the ledger. So you're ready for that. You accept that. That's part of it. And you move on.

Q. You were in this game in 2011, Game 6 elimination game in the NLCS. What do you tell your players today as a manager, for that same game, your young players?
CRAIG COUNSELL: We're ready for the game. Look, I don't think it changes -- your mindset changes. You're in the NLCS. And for whatever game you're in it doesn't change. That's how you treat it. Whatever the score, if you're up 3-0, down 3-0, you don't treat any of these games differently. These are games you're playing to go to the World Series. So you don't treat them differently, you really don't. The only thing I think that changes for us is you're going to use pitching differently in a game like today because there may not be a game tomorrow.

But the rest of your mentality, I don't think, for a player, for a hitter or for a pitcher, it doesn't change one bit.

Q. Do you feel like you need assurance from the League or from stadium security folks to have confidence that there's no spying going on, no cameramen where there shouldn't be, anything in that regard?
CRAIG COUNSELL: No, I really don't, no. This is part of the regular season. It's more -- and part of the playoffs. It's always something you have to be aware of. But I don't feel like we're going to do anything different. And I think the League has taken steps to highlight the importance how seriously they take the issue.

So we're not doing anything different. We've prepared before the series for this. And I think we're doing what we prepared to do and we're executing it the way we want.

Q. I'm continuing my coverage of the hamburger beat. When you got back to Whitefish Bay yesterday, did you bump into anybody, or did you see the TV coverage of the hundreds of people standing in line? I don't assume you went in and got one.
CRAIG COUNSELL: No, I did see some coverage of it. Like I said, when it happened, I got a bunch of people free hamburgers. So that was the most important thing about the 12th win (laughter). Was that Game 1? That was not the win in the Game 1, it was that we got a bunch of people free hamburgers.

So to me it's just another piece in this fun journey that we're having. It will be part of kind of the folklore of it when we look back on it. And it's another way for people to remember it.

Q. Besides maybe Woodruff, all relievers available tonight?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I would say that's probably where I'm sitting, yeah. We do have to -- I think depending on how the game goes, you do have to think about Game 7 a little bit, too. We've got some guys how they worked in Game 4 I think -- the guys that worked big in Game 4 are probably the question marks in this game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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