Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Friday afternoon the Miller Park home crowd might help wake up the team's slumbering offense that has put them on the brink of elimination entering Game 6 of the NLCS.
"I think our crowd is a huge part of this game tonight," Counsell said in a pre-game media session. "One of the things I thought we had trouble doing at Dodger Stadium is we were unable to put a lot of pressure on their pitching.
"Hopefully, that's something that the crowd can help with. As we get rallies going, that can add to the pressure. So, if anything, the home crowd, I think, doesn't make you more nervous.
"It helps you out and, hopefully, that's what a home crowd is for, is to help you out a little bit like that."
Counsell's words proved prophetic, as the sellout gathering made its presence known even well before first pitch.
The first sign of how jacked Brewers fans were was in pre-game, when Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado was introduced. He heard booing like no visiting player perhaps ever at Miller Park, as the result of his kicking of Jesús Aguilar's leg in Game 4 at Dodger Stadium.
Machado – who was also involved in a couple hard slides into Orlando Arcia when the series was being played in Los Angeles – was fined $10,000 by Major League Baseball for his misdeed.
But Milwaukee fans wanted to make sure his eardrums paid a toll as well as he heard even more booing as he walked up to the plate for his first at-bat.
He then struck out, earning gigantic cheers.
Before the game, Counsell was asked if he were still a kid from Whitefish Bay attending Game 6, how he would greet Machado.
"I'd cheer for my own team, yeah," Counsell said with a laugh. "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."
The cheers after Machado's whiff grew even louder in the bottom of the first inning when the Brewers put up a big four-run rally against Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu to take a 4-1 lead. Ryan Braun's RBI double in the second upped Milwaukee's lead to 5-1.
Then, in the middle of the third inning, Counsell's pre-game remarks were televised on the Miller Park scoreboard, earning yet another nice response from a crowd that very clearly was doing all it could to help insure a Game 7 on Saturday night.
Old reliable: As is the standard operating procedure, scheduled Game 7 starter Jhoulys Chacín met with the media on Friday afternoon prior to Game 6.
The right-hander was in good spirits and laughed when he was jokingly asked if he would be pitching in the first inning Friday, a reference to Counsell pulling Wade Miley one batter into Game 5 and replacing him with Brandon Woodruff.
"Maybe," he said. "Nobody knows."
Jokes aside, Chacín was in something of an unusual position. Not only did he know at that point whether or not there would even be a Game 7, there was also the possibility that he'd be utilized to pitch in Game 6 if Miley had struggled early.
Before Game 5, the thinking from the outside was Miley would make a traditional start and Chacín would then start Game 6 on three days' rest. He started Game 2 of the National League Division Series on three days' rest as well after starting Game 163 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
In his 10th year in the major leagues, Chacín has said from the outset of his time with the Brewers – he signed a two-year, $15.5 million free-agent contract on Dec. 21 – the potential of pitching in the postseason for the first time was a big reason he chose Milwaukee.
"It would be an honor for me to pitch in Game 7," said Chacín, who has thrown 10 1/3 shutout innings in two postseason starts. "I think it's way more than what I dreamed about. And just to think about it, it just blows my mind away.
"And I really don't think about tomorrow; I think about today. You never know if I'm pitching today. I don't know if I'm pitching today. I just want to wait to tomorrow and see how I feel and see how everything just gets together.
"To be pitching in October is something I guess I can't explain. But, like I said, just want us to win today and then think about tomorrow."
While Chacín's 15-8 record, 3.50 earned run average and 192 2/3 innings made him the team's unquestioned No. 1 starter in the regular season, his major-league-leading 35 starts were a source of pride for the 30-year-old Venezuelan.
"I feel fine. I think right now you really don't feel the tiredness or anything like that," he said. "You just want to win and keep moving forward.
"I think I've been able to stay healthy because all the guys in the clubhouse help me – the trainers, the strength coaches and everybody have helped me to keep especially my shoulder and back healthy.
"Trying to go start by start, all that routine between, to keep me healthy. Just to go through the season and now to the playoffs, I think that they have really helped a lot, that's why I've been healthy the whole year."
Baseball’s spy game
After a report in The Athletic that the Brewers had concerns about the Dodgers using video to steal signs from the catcher, Counsell was asked if the team needed assurance from MLB or stadium security that no spying was taking place at Miller Park.
“No, I really don’t,” he said. “This is part of (what goes on in) the regular season, 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.
“I think the league has taken steps to highlight the importance of how seriously they take the issue.”
Spying in baseball became a topic of discussion recently when the Boston Red Sox accused a Houston Astros employee of doing it from the Boston dugout during the ALCS. There was a report that the Cleveland Indians had similar concerns during the NLDS against the Astros.
MLB issued a statement Wednesday saying the Astros did not violate any rules related to spying on the Red Sox, or any team. MLB also said the Astros weren’t the only team accused of spying as related to sign stealing:
“The commissioner’s office reinforced the existing rules with all playoff clubs and undertook proactive measures, including instituting a new prohibition on the use of certain in-stadium cameras, increasing the presence of operations and security personnel from Major League baseball at all postseason games and instituting a program of monitoring club video rooms.”
Free burgers part of story
The Brewers arrived back from Los Angeles about 5 p.m. Thursday, leaving some time to get in on the hamburger giveaway from George Webb restaurants as a result of the team's 12-game winning streak, reached in Game 1 of the NLCS.
Counsell didn't grab a free meal but said, "I did see some coverage of it. Like I said when it happened, it got a bunch of people free hamburgers.
"So, that was the most important thing about the 12th win. It was not the win in Game 1, it was that we got a bunch of people free hamburgers."
Counsell was joking, of course, but said the burger giveaway would always be part of the team's amazing run that began near the end of the season and carried into the playoffs.
"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. It's another way for people to remember it."
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