MILWAUKEE -- Pat Murphy had an unprompted message for Brewers fans going into Saturday’s must-win Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Cubs. Actually, he had a couple of messages.
Whether he read something he didn’t like (unlikely, based on his stated preference to avoid coverage of the team), made a foray into social media (even more unlikely, given his regular references to “Twizzler” and “Faceplant”) or just sensed unease after the Brewers lost Games 3 and 4 of the series in Chicago after taking command of the series with wins in Games 1 and 2 at home, was not entirely clear.
But the man had something to say.
So, in his own words, here are the highlights.
The message to his team after two tough losses:
“I mean, there is nobody on our team except for [Christian] Yelich and [Freddy] Peralta that's ever played an away playoff game. So, they got their first taste of it in an unbelievable environment. It's a good learning experience for a young team. This is a team that's taken on all adversity.
“Guys, to criticize this team for losing two games in Chicago in that environment as well as the Cubs played is how well they capitalized on every little thing, that's baseball. This team hasn't had more than a four-game losing streak in two years. It's the greatest two-year win total in Brewers history. Now, they've done that without the big roster, without the big budget, without the free agent signings, without the Trade Deadline stuff. So, respect this team.
“Will they respond? They always do. I fully expect them to respond. That was a tough environment for two days for these young kids. They're very young. Again, who on the team other than those two have been on the road for a playoff game? It's hard to do.”
Given all of the off days and workouts in the last two weeks, has he learned anything about his club?
“Again, there's not one prognosticator that picked them over .500, so this team has overachieved all year. And this team had a dream, wanted to do something special for the fans of Milwaukee, for Bob Uecker, for each other.
“How last year ended [with a heartbreaking NL Wild Card Series loss to the Mets in Uecker’s final season], they had a magical season last year that nobody expected. That's what the fans don't understand sometimes. They're critical, and that's their right. But they're also important to us that they come out with the right attitude and help us out the way the Cubs' fans helped them and the way the Brewers' fans helped them in the first two days.
“This is baseball. This is hard to do. We're the only small market team doing this. Get behind these guys. They're doing it for -- a lot of it for the first time, and they're well aware how hard it is to be in the position they are. Look at what they put themselves in this position. So, I'm proud. I admire this team. I really do. They had two games when the other team played really good, one of the best teams in baseball, too, and that can happen. I'm proud we're in the spot we're in. We're five wins away from the World Series. I learned a lot about this team, and one thing is it's resilient and they bounce back.”
Do they need to win this series to validate the regular-season success of recent years?
“It would be great. Validate? You guys have the job to write and criticize and do what you've got to do. That's what you do. Validate? The validation comes from within. You know what you've done. The team knows what they've done.
“I'm not looking to validate anything with anyone. I mean, it speaks for itself. Neither of these years were we picked over .500. Maybe we were last year a little bit. We won the [division] by 10 games and we won this [division] by five games and we're trying to get to the World Series and win it, and so are 30 other teams or 29 other teams.
“To be in the position we're in, there's no validation. I just want to do this very badly. I don't think it validates -- what does that mean? Are we not good because we didn't win a playoff series after we got a bye in the first round by having the best record in the league? That's got to count for something. But I'm not going to think about that. I'm just going to plan for [Saturday] and plan on winning.”
On what he’ll look for Saturday to know his team is refreshed and ready?
"Yeah, you'll feel the energy. The pit in your stomach is a good thing. That means something special can happen. When you have that, that means we can do it. I wish the fans could look at this as the way I know this team. Like what they've done to overachieve and what they've done to put themselves in this place is really special, and to get behind them and help them, instead of thinking, 'Wow, we haven't won a playoff series, we deserve it.'”