Brewers still underdogs against Dodgers but with new attitude

MILWAUKEE – At this stage of the playoffs last year, Brewers manager Pat Murphy joked that he was certain the Dodgers couldn’t name eight players on his roster. The false humility backfired.Murphy’s words cast a spell on the Brewers, who went from being the winningest team in baseball to a collection of obscure laborers as unremarkable as the podunk town in which they play.The Dodgers swept the Brewers in four games and went on to win the World Series.With his team once again set to take on the Dodgers with a place in the World Series at stake, Murphy has returned to the National League Championship Series with a new tenor and more less conciliatory message.“We want to kick their butts,” Murphy said.California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!A two-time manager of the year, the 67-year-old Murphy maintains a hokey demeanor that plays well in an unsophisticated market. Murphy started his news conference as he often does, asking reporters with whom he was unfamiliar to stand and introduced themselves.He playfully asked Japanese reporters if they could help him land a job in Nippon Professional Baseball.But before Murphy was the manager of the Brewers, or even the coach at Arizona State or Notre Dame, Murphy was an amateur boxer who moved to Miami with designs of fighting professionally.The day before Game 1, the fighter in him emerged. Murphy said he regretted how he characterized his team last year.“I”m sorry I played that underdog card,” Murphy said.

“I probably shouldn’t have played that, used that as an excuse for why we didn’t play well.“I don’t care who the underdog is.I don’t care who the favorite is.

It’s about getting in the ring and fighting it out.”There were more...