NL DIVISION SERIES: BREWERS VS BRAVES

October 9, 2021

Craig Counsell

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Who opens or closes the roof?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I don't know.

Q. Is that a team thing, a league thing? How is that decided?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, certainly in the regular season it's a team thing. I'm not -- you got me here. I don't know how it's decided, honestly. Sorry.

Q. You're sort of answering the question that this is not a big deal to you in terms of a baseball strategy point of view, sounds like?

CRAIG COUNSELL: No. I mean, I haven't thought -- I haven't thought about it at all. Is it a big deal in here?

Q. It's just puzzling, mostly puzzling.

CRAIG COUNSELL: Okay. All right.

Q. Like you saw, it's a gorgeous day and they close the roof.

CRAIG COUNSELL: I'd heard rain. What they had told me yesterday that there was rain in the forecast at some point. But my wife asked me why the roof was closed after the game, too.

Q. Did Freddy warming up yesterday change anything for future usage, possible for Game 3?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, he warmed up. We're not going to make a decision on Game 3 right now. I think we have to get some feedback from Freddy. I think that makes sense. All indications are that it's kind of like a bullpen day, essentially, the same day he would throw a bullpen. But we don't have to make a decision. Game 3 is 48 hours away.

Q. What were you maybe going to bring him in to do? What was --

CRAIG COUNSELL: Pitch. (Laughter).

Q. But one particular -- you've got to face three guys, so what would have had to have happened for him to get in, just Adrian getting into trouble?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, he was up in the bottom of the seventh. Lorenzo Cain -- the pitcher's spot was up following that. So, Freddy would have been in the game if that spot came up.

Q. No matter who you start out in Game 3, how much more comfortable a position is it for the manager to have all the good choices you have now compared to, say, 2011 when you were pretty creative, is that fair to say, in the way you --

CRAIG COUNSELL: I was creative in trying to get hits in 2011. But in 2018 --

Q. 2018.

CRAIG COUNSELL: 2018 -- (laughter). Wasn't creative enough, you're exactly right, thank you.

In 2018, we have different players, and they have different strengths. And so trying to put our positions and our players in positions to succeed. And it just means the games look a little different.

Q. Didn't get headlines, but can you talk about the impact of what Houser did in allowing the pen not only to take a break or just kind of get a day, coming into today knowing you're off tomorrow, how big was that?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think part of this series is we're relying -- I think it's Adrian and what Corbin did. And getting six innings from a starter, both teams really had low activity in the bullpen because of what their starters did.

I think one of the things I was hoping for, I was hoping to be able to use Adrian in multiple-inning situations, because he's so equipped to pitch in bigger stints. And so from that perspective, it worked out really well. And he did an excellent job.

And the one thing we mentioned yesterday, he did a job that he's really not familiar with, necessarily, in a huge spot. And that's a big deal.

Q. Would he be a guy you would go to again, or not today?

CRAIG COUNSELL: We'll get some feedback from him and see how he's doing.

Q. Is Manny in there today?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Manny is playing. Luis Urías is playing third and Escobar is playing first.

Q. As far as Manny goes, his second half he really drove the ball, his slug was way up. Do you think it's as simple as health for him? What do you think changed for him from first half to second half?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think Manny is a good hitter. I think he had 80 at-bats in the first half. It was a really small sample. He just never got going. He caught a good stretch. And he can hit -- Manny can hit. Manny gets a lot of credit for his defense. He's a good hitter. I think that's what he's always been really good at.

Throwing is probably his best tool. But I think Manny's aged very well as a hitter. He can swing the bat. And he obviously shows that he can do damage with it.

Q. I know the numbers speak for themselves when it comes to Max Fried has done in the second half. But without giving us too much of a game plan, how much would you like to see your guys approach a guy they haven't seen for a couple of years today?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Look, he's had a really brilliant second half. He's been really tough. He's plus stuff. He kind of bullies hitters, right-handed hitters on the inside part of the plate. That's what he's best at.

So there's that -- he throws a lot of strikes. He does not walk hitters.

So it's that fine line -- there's always a fine line with hitters and the pitching cat-and-mouse game of often right around the pitcher's strength is the biggest place to do damage.

So it's when he gets it in, we're going to have a hard time hitting it. If he leaves it over the plate, there's a chance for damage. And that's the game that's played all the time with pitchers and hitters. Essentially Charlie Morton yesterday executed a whole bunch of pitches. That's why you saw nothing from us.

He was really good at it. When these guys, these elite pitchers execute their pitches, it's tough to score. Fortunately for us, Charlie made a mistake. Fortunately for us our hitter put a great swing on it. But there weren't many mistakes for us to hit yesterday. That's going to be the same story today, I feel like.

Q. He's here now. So I'll embarrass him. But Omar, you talked about his defensive impact last night. (Laughter). Does that include the ninth inning, that (indiscernible) play, he made the choice to go to second to get the winning run out of scoring position, kind of a little thing but --

CRAIG COUNSELL: I was yelling third in my head, not out loud; I knew he wouldn't hear me. But there was a play -- what it did is it made -- I think it made it safer for Josh right there. And just safer for the team, in general. Like where a hit, you lose the lead. Just getting an out at one of those bases I thought was a big deal.

But I thought the blocks in the first and the ninth were enormous plays that kept us in there. And then frankly just getting Corbin through the first inning and navigating that, kind of navigating, all right, my pitcher is not quite on it today. How do I get him on it?

And that's a skill that catchers have and Omar performed it yesterday really, really well. He got him back onto his game and got him kind of onto cruise control, so to speak.

Q. Since Escy is playing first, how do you think he's improved? Looks like he's gotten way better at picking balls. Have you seen really good improvement?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think it's just comfort. We brought the player here, and he had not played first base. And, I think, we believe that there was going to be a learning curve there. We believe that he had almost to make mistakes and have just experience out there to get better.

And I think that's what's happened. I'm confident when I bring a middle infielder into the mix, raised as a middle infielder, that he'll be able to make adjustments to handle first base with experience.

Q. Is Murph the coach that worked with him the most or other guys?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I would say that's fair. Murph and Jason Lane.