Uh, what do you see for this series ahead, Murph? What are you focused on?

Well, P- Pittsburgh's been great, and they're one of the hottest teams in baseball.

Um, their, uh, their lineup is as good as ever.

They're in the top five in baseball and i- in, uh, um, in, um, the way they've played lately, OPS in the last month.

They've just done great things.

And, um, they're building for the future.

They got a...

Are those ones who are really good in their own echelon?

What do you see for this series ahead, Murph? What are you focused on?

Well, Pittsburgh's been great, and they're one of the hottest teams in baseball.

Their lineup is as good as ever.

They're in the top five in baseball and baseball.

The way they've played lately, OPS in the last month, they've just done great things.

And they're building for the future.

Like I said, they've got a great pitching staff.

What is the margin between the studs like a Miz versus those who haven't seen the success? Is it narrow, or are those ones who are really good in their own echelon?

Uh, what do you see for this series ahead, Murph? What are you focused on?

Well, P- Pittsburgh's been great, and they're one of the hottest teams in baseball.

Um, their, their lineup is as good as ever.

They're in the top five in baseball and i- in, uh, um, in, um, the way they've played lately, OPS in the last month.

They've just done great things.

And, um, they're building for the future.

They got a...

Are those ones who are really good in their own echelon?

Uh, what do you see for this series ahead, Murph? What are you focused on?

Well, P- Pittsburgh's been great, and they're one of the hottest teams in baseball.

Um, their, their lineup is as good as ever.

They're in the top five in baseball in, i- in, uh, um, in, um, the way they've played lately, OPS in the last month.

They've just done great things.

And, um, they're building for the future.

They got a...

Are those ones who are really good in their own echelon?

Great at-bats from Jackson Churio and from all-star Christian Yelich.

Yeah, no, they were great.

The whole lineup there, Mitchell, leadoff walk, Ortiz double in the corner, then Churio, battles, battles, and hits a 98-mile-an-hour fastball to the right side, gets through.

We score two runs.

Then we keep battling.

Bauer's walk and a pinch-hit walk, and then Yelich with a big sack fly.

The key note there is a lot of those guys didn't have good at-bats.

It's a confidence thing, and that's interesting, right? Because it's like the confidence is an interesting muscle, and it's hard to quantify how to get that back.

Great at-bats from Jackson Churio and from all-star Christian Yelich.

Yeah, no, they were great.

The whole lineup there, Mitchell, leadoff walk, Ortiz double in the corner, then Churio, battles, battles, and hits a 98-mile-an-hour fastball to the right side, gets through.

We score two runs.

Then we keep battling.

Bauer's walk and a pinch-hit walk, and then Yelich with a big sack fly.

The key note there is a lot of those guys didn't have good at-bats.

It's a confidence thing, and that's interesting, right? Because it's like the confidence is an interesting muscle, and it's hard to quantify how to get that back.

But how satisfied, at least, are you with a nine-game lead as you head down the stretch here? That's a nice little lead, Murph.

Yeah, I don't look at it like that.

I just don't.

I'm sorry I don't, but I don't look at it like that.

There's no comfort in anything right now.

Tap me on the shoulder when the season's over and let me know there's no more games.

I just want to compete tonight and see what we can do.

Yeah.

What does culture mean to a manager who clearly believes in setting some form of it and feels his team wins because of it?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's, like everything else, hard to evaluate in the whole leadership world.

It's hard to evaluate your culture.

It's hard to evaluate your influence on the culture.

So I let other people do it.

I just want relationships with players, and it's based on love and discipline, and that discipline deals with the standards in the game of baseball.

Very difficult to execute for all the reasons we know in today's world.

How do you balance it?

Why did you say that? Why did you believe that? What were you seeing back then?

I mean, I saw a hungry team.

Yeah.

I know their leadership from the top to the bottom.

And I saw the way they played against us.

They came here, they weren't intimidated.

Little kid playing second base, you know, plays with a little chip on his shoulder.

How do you balance that as a manager in today's game with so many numbers, so much research and sabermetrics that have been really infiltrating, not necessarily in a negative way, but it's in a way that was not what it was like 20, 30 years ago?

And this was a perfect example, Murph, of this young team really embracing these moments with the Little Leaguers and so many of them were quite familiar with our guys.

Yeah, I think people have understood that the Brewers are a little different with the small market team that that has had success, sustained success.

And people are wondering, I hear the comments all the time, I love the way you guys play.

I'm like, gee, I wish I felt more like that.

You know, it's just a great, it is great to hear.

And I think I don't realize it some of the time because my head's down.

But I think people have embraced the Brewers and the way these guys go about it.

You might see some guys out there who are fighting for a future in the league trying to make a name for themselves.

Is Bo Jackson running back from one now? Is that, is that experiment over?

Yeah, I think I won't say experiment over.

Cause I do think the Isaiah West stuff is real, but you know, I don't know if, if this was an intended to send a message to Bo that just like, Hey, you know, What you did last year doesn't matter, and you need to be on the same level as Isaiah when it comes to off-season work and all that, or if Isaiah just blew them away in the off-season.

But I do think that if there was a message intended, it has been received by Bo Jackson, because everything I heard was he was looking like the player we saw last season.

I think even at the time, people were excited.

For the first day after practice, Ryan talked about Isaiah and how good he looked and things like that.

But I think most people were quick to say, Bo is still very much a part of what they're doing, right? And I don't think it was meant to slight Bo necessarily.

Pat, what was your read on Coach Day when he talked about the backup quarterback situation and how Tavian Sinclair is maybe being pushed right now? So, two-parter, your read on that comment and what have you seen from the quarterbacks not named Julian Sane?

But what do you mean when you say there are layers to a trade?

Well, any, any trade first has to be approved by the owner.

You know, um, that's, that's the first thing.

So that usually has to do with financial implications and other implications.

I'm not sure.

I mean, every trade is different, and I was not privy to what was going on in the Scubal, and I certainly don't know what happened between Detroit and LA.

But, um, there's just more to it.

Is there any world where that's, that's a true statement? And maybe even not particular to this, but can a guy's agent get into you after a trade and say, "Don't use my guy this way"?

But what do you mean when you say there are layers to a trade?

Well, any, any trade first has to be approved by the owner.

You know, um, that's, that's the first thing.

So that usually has to do with financial implications and other implications.

I'm not sure.

I mean, every trade is different, and I was not privy to what was going on in the Skubal, and I certainly don't know what happened between Detroit and LA.

But, um, there's just more to it.

Is there any world where that's, that's a true statement? And maybe even not particular to this, but can a guy's agent get into you after a trade and say, "Don't use my guy this way"?

We want to make sure that we have this person in the best possible situation once we hit the big games in October.

Yeah.

I mean, we're not there yet.

And I refuse to put my guard down about that.

We're so fragile.

We're young.

We don't have the fill-ins the way the Dodgers do.

What did your team learn from going the distance last year with the Dodgers in the playoffs?

What would that look like? Is that something that you've even thought of, like how that could happen or how cool that would be to find a way to either pause the season or shorten the season to make something like that possible?

I think all those things are being considered.

You know, there's, there's a lot of, um, interest.

I mean, you look at the world cup and look at the Olympics in the past and different sports, look at the WBC and all the interests that gathered.

I think we're considering all those things, how it would work when you start talking about shortening the season, you start talking about, um, breaks in the season.

Um, you're talking about players health.

There's a lot of ramifications of all that.

Start a little bit later and a little bit sooner.

What would that look like? Is that something that you've even thought of, like how that could happen or how cool that would be to find a way to either pause the season or shorten the season to make something like that possible?

I think all those things are being considered.

You know, there's, there's a lot of, um, interest.

I mean, you look at the world cup and look at the Olympics in the past and different sports, look at the WBC and all the interests that gathered.

I think we're considering all those things, how it would work when you start talking about shortening the season, you start talking about, um, breaks in the season.

Um, you're talking about players health.

There's a lot of ramifications of all that.

Start a little bit later and a little bit sooner.

What did you see?

Yeah, definitely.

He had a long layoff.

And when you lay these guys off and you give them a rest, you know, it's going to be hard to kind of recapture your perfect rhythm.

Think of a guy shooting baskets when he hadn't been doing it in a game situation in 13 days.

It's hard to have your perfect shooting rhythm.

Well, he didn't have his great rhythm and he didn't have his great delivery.

What would that look like? Is that something that you've even thought of, like how that could happen or how cool that would be to find a way to either pause the season or shorten the season to make something like that possible?

What would that look like? Is that something that you've even thought of, like how that could happen or how cool that would be to find a way to either pause the season or shorten the season to make something like that possible?

I think all those things are being considered.

You know, there's, there's a lot of, um, interest.

I mean, you look at the world cup and look at the Olympics in the past and different sports, look at the WBC and all the interests that gathered.

I think we're considering all those things, how it would work when you start talking about shortening the season, you start talking about, um, breaks in the season.

Um, you're talking about players health.

There's a lot of ramifications of all that.

Start a little bit later and a little bit sooner.

And a lot of people believe that if that team would've just found a way To win an ugly game or beat Miami, then they're probably champs again, but who knows? All right, so but I wanna get your opinion on this defense and, and where you think they truly are going to be, and then also add the schedule to it and how much you think this defense will be challenged and what you think they will look like.

I think it's funny, first of all, the, the what-ifs that we could talk about.

Uh, you know, really going back to, like, '02 and, uh, all the what-ifs of this team potentially winning more national championships than it's had, but that's probably another question.

Uh, the defense, I think, is going to be really interesting to watch early in the season.

And I've said all offseason, uh, that I think the offense may have to do more of the, the heavy lifting, uh, particularly in that trip down to Texas and, uh, you know, some of the, some of the earlier games.

I think Illinois is one of the earlier ones.

And that's not because I don't trust these players and don't trust Matt Patricia and the rest of that staff.

Like, do you have some guys there, but who do you give the edge to?

You know, it might just be these five, six days here headed into the break, and might end up going back down, but how important is it for a young player who's developing to get that taste?

Well, that's it.

You know, um, that's why you have the minor leagues.

And then there's some guys you bring up just for a short time.

Um, other guys you wanna only bring up if it's gonna be extended.

But, um, yeah, because it takes a while to adjust.

But sometimes an older player, um, you know, has a little better feel of what it's like to stay up here four or five days and then get redirected.

Um, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Is it too soon to say what, what might happen with Big Wu?

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Is it too soon to say what might happen with Big Woo?

Yeah, to reiterate, he is a special person to the organization for many years.

He's done good every time out for us this year.

It's really unfortunate, but we do have hope, and he's going to pitch again.

We know that.

It's just a matter of getting them healthy, and it might take a while.

This issue is kind of common to guys that have that type of shoulder surgery.

I think it's fun to watch on the TV when he makes a remarkable catch.

Can you really go into detail what Brewer wins look like? Because you guys win often.

Yeah, no doubt.

But the way you do that is you play with a little bit of an edge and you play all nine.

You go pitch to pitch.

You don't have divided attention.

You're not thinking about your numbers.

You're not thinking about anything but this next pitch.

So is there anything you do differently during these tough stretches to make sure that guys stay fresh or as fresh as they possibly can?

Can you really go into detail what Brewer wins look like? Because you guys win often.

Yeah, no doubt.

But the way you do that is you play with a little bit of an edge and you play all nine.

You go pitch to pitch.

You don't have divided attention.

You're not thinking about your numbers.

You're not thinking about anything but this next pitch.

So is there anything you do differently during these tough stretches to make sure that guys stay fresh or as fresh as they possibly can?

Can you really go into detail what Brewer wins look like? Because you guys win often.

Yeah, no doubt.

But the way you do that is you play with a little bit of an edge and you play all nine.

You go pitch to pitch.

You don't have divided attention.

You're not thinking about your numbers.

You're not thinking about anything but this next pitch.

So is there anything you do differently during these tough stretches to make sure that guys stay fresh or as fresh as they possibly can?

Can you really go into detail what Brewer wins look like? Because you guys win often.

Yeah, no doubt.

But the way you do that is you play with a little bit of an edge and you play all nine.

You go pitch to pitch.

You don't have divided attention.

You're not thinking about your numbers.

You're not thinking about anything but this next pitch.

So is there anything you do differently during these tough stretches to make sure that guys stay fresh or as fresh as they possibly can?