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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 20, 2018

Craig Counsell

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - pregame 7

Q. For a guy who was involved in a couple of famous Game 7's on the World Series stage, when the game starts is it like every other game, just with all the pregame hoopla?
CRAIG COUNSELL: I don't know. I don't think at any point you think this is like any other game. I do think for the players the game starting is the best tonic, though. It puts you into a little bit more normalcy.

But, look, man, this is a very different type of game. There's way more emotion. The crowd's way louder. Everything is more magnified. So it's different. When the game starts to get going you can get lost in the game, that's almost a good thing, kind of getting lost in what you have to do and your process and everything like that.

Q. Big game last night for Jesus. What have you seen from him over the last couple of years, maybe outside of the nine-inning games that's taken him from being a waiver claim to having a huge night in a big game for the Brewers?
CRAIG COUNSELL: For Jesus, this is all about just getting a shot. I think he was in a really good organization that he was just blocked in. Cleveland has been rolling in a bunch of playoff teams. Carlos Santana was kind of entrenched at first base; he is largely a first baseman only. So he was stuck.

He's a good hitter. He's a big man but he's a hitter first. And I thought yesterday, three opposite field hits, I think it shows you this guy is a hitter first.

Q. One more memory road question. What do you remember about the '82 ALCS, the final game, and your thoughts and what it meant for the city and for Milwaukee?
CRAIG COUNSELL: The thing I remember the most is my routine during the games is that I would walk County Stadium and in right field there was the stairway to the upper deck and you could kind of -- it was a back-and-forth ramp. And I would stand on one of those ramps in like the sixth or seventh inning, that was my lucky spot, to try to get some runs. And I think that's when Cooper got the hit.

I thought I was very lucky at that time. That was the spot. I'd found the spot. Didn't work in the World Series, but I found the spot in the ALCS. But it's a routine. It's not superstition, I want to be clear with that (laughter).

So that's probably my fondest memory of that time. But it was still the same. It's October baseball and you kind of unite a community around something that everybody is enjoying and talking about.

Q. When you look at the year-to-year progress in recent years of the organization, what is the sense within the organization that this is just the start of something, this season?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I mean I think your goals are always to build sustainability, I think. And it's the hardest thing to do is to build sustainability, I think. So that's going to be what we spend a lot of time talking about next year, probably, is sustaining this. But we feel like that's at the forefront of all of our decisions is how do we build something that we can sustain. So hopefully that gives us a ways and a means to kind of make that happen.

Q. With Buehler, here's a kid who hasn't faced an elimination game before. Is there a way to rattle a young kid? And as follow-up, is there some routine superstitious place in this ballpark that's not the top of the stairs at the sixth or seventh inning?
CRAIG COUNSELL: I don't think the formula is different no matter the age of the pitcher or the experience of the pitcher. We've got to put pressure on them by getting guys on base. That's how the crowd gets involved. That's how runs get scored is guys on base. You get leadoff hitters on base, you get multiple runners on base, that's when the pressure starts. You're in a nine-inning season. This is a nine-inning season. So that would be that.

I think routines for this ballpark, nothing particular, really. Routines in the baseball season, they come and go. But sometimes you don't even know you're doing them. I do have a couple but I'm sure that they're coming and going all the time, yeah.

Q. I don't know if we could have predicted in the middle of the season when we get to Game 7 of the NLCS, that Orlando Arcia would have a 15-game hitting streak. Is it sheer confidence or did he make a dramatic adjustment? What do you think finally got him going in the direction you guys thought he'd be going all along?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Largely for Orlando I think confidence plays a big part in this. And the other thing is just he got in a point this season where he just gave away too many at-bats. There was just at-bats that he flat out gave them away. That's the best way I can say it.

And really since his recall or right around the trade deadline or right before the trade deadline, it's just been a much better -- it doesn't mean the result is going to be a hit every time, but he's been much better at minimizing those at-bats.

Everybody has an at-bat that doesn't look good. But he had too many of them. And I think he's done a better job of staying out of those at-bats. And that's led to more success. In a streak like this, he's got some confidence going right now, I think we can all sense that.

Q. From what you've seen of that group of '82 Brewers over the years, how are they kind of regarded around town? Do you think your team understands how they'll be looked at if they can win tonight, maybe the next series, too?
CRAIG COUNSELL: They're regarded very highly, and as they should be, because it was a unique cast of characters, I think, and a team full of -- and I would compare them to this team in the sense that there's a lot of what we call on this team there's a lot of one of ones; you don't find that guy out there anywhere. Wade Miley is not out there anywhere else, there's no more Wade Mileys out there. And I think the fans can connect with people like that.

I think it's hard for players. I don't think players always understand or always kind of relate to the legacy part of things. We all know we're doing something that's cool and this has been fun, and we want it to continue. But how it's going to look when people look back on it, it's hard to think about that right now. It's going to be a team that people are very fond of as we go forward, for sure.

Q. (INAUDIBLE)?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I mean I think the best comparison would be the team in Arizona. I think it had a little more -- it stayed together a little bit longer. Players were there longer. It connected with the community better. And so those players certainly are still -- a lot of them are part of the Diamondbacks organization still, as they should be. The history should be remembered.

Q. Besides being up there on the catwalk, what are your clearest memories of the '82 World Series and sort of what the town was like at that time, what the city was like?
CRAIG COUNSELL: I don't remember the town necessarily. I was 12, so my dad didn't let me out on the town at that point (laughter). I wasn't allowed on Wisconsin Avenue at that point.

I mean I remember coming to the ballpark. I remember staying home one day because I thought it would be better if I didn't go to the game. I think you just remember a month where everybody has something in common. And that's the best part is that strangers on the street and non-baseball fans, they've got something in common. And that's what October baseball does. It brings a place where everybody in the community has something in common.

Q. You mentioned the Miami experience. It's hard enough to be sustainable, as you mentioned. What was it like knowing in that Spring Training that you had a championship team together that had been taken apart intentionally?
CRAIG COUNSELL: In Miami it was very clear -- I distinctly remember the team after we won, it was maybe three hours after the game and everybody is still in the clubhouse, and the team got together in the training room, the players and the coaches, and maybe some front office people, and kind of pleading to try to keep it together because it had already been rumored that this was going to be it. And so it did create a little bit of a shadow over that, I think, and it was a little sad because of that. Because that's one of the coolest parts about winning, I think, is trying to do it again and defending it and the immense challenge that that is. So it did cast a different light on that, for sure.

Q. We talked to Jhoulys about this yesterday, but what do you think has been the biggest key, not just for his durability, but his consistency from the start to now? And the confidence you have handing him the ball tonight?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think Jhoulys is a product of his experiences and he's learned what's best for himself. I think our medical staff and our training staff have done an excellent job of knowing the person, knowing the body, what makes him tick, what gets him right. He understands it better as you go along in your career.

I think DJ, our pitching coach, has done a nice job of tweaking some things with him and encouraging new things and exploration of how can I be better and what's next, even though I'm a veteran Major League pitcher. I think those are the things that make you better. That's the constant search that good Major League players have and need to continue to have.

As far as giving him the ball, I think he's had the ball in Game 163, a Wild Card game, a game in Dodger Stadium, and he's pitched brilliantly. And frankly, hasn't got enough attention for how he's pitched in his last three starts in absolutely huge games. It's around 15, 16 innings, one run, in three starts. That's pretty heady stuff.

So he's been our guy. And we're giving the ball to the right guy today.

Q. How do you feel like your rotation sets up for today? Is anybody off the table?
CRAIG COUNSELL: No. We're set up good. We're set up as well as we could have hoped I think going into the seventh game of a series. So I think that nobody is going to come in and say no today. And even if you say no to anybody, they're going to say, I'm fine. We're in good shape.

And I think, as the same thing across from there, it's a nine-inning season today. And that's how you treat it.

Q. There's a lot of talk about 1982, but wondering how you're feeling today. Nervous? Excited? All of the above?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, that's how you should feel, I think. Yeah, I mean I think I'm excited to get the game started. I think everybody, if you would take a poll of the players, they would have chosen to have a 1:00 a.m. start, a little break, and then start the game again.

But that's the good part about it, you get to think about it for a little bit, that's part of it. And everybody's excited and wants to get started. It's always, in my experience, there's some calm in the clubhouse before days like this. It's a little more calm because you know there's a storm outside. And it's going to be pretty cool when you get out there and it's going to be packed full of emotion.

Q. You guys have reached this point, you're one win away. Win or lose, you've done it in such an unconventional way, and such a challenging convention. Do you think any of your guys can take any appreciation from that, that you've done it a different way to get to this point?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, if anything, I give our guys a tremendous amount of credit for the openness they've shown to some different things that we have tried and thought to do to give ourselves a chance to win. They've been completely on board. They've enjoyed it. And I think now they've owned it. And like it. So that's a cool thing. I think it has been part of this season for us.

And we've done things just -- we did a couple of things that were quite different, but in general I don't think we've been radically different. And like I said, the whole point is to use our guys and our talent in the best way we can to win baseball games. And I think there have been -- like I said, I applaud them for how they've handled all those situations.

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