What national writers are saying about the Brewers’ Game 2 win in NLCS

Milwaukee is buzzing with dreams of a World Series after the Milwaukee Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series with their 7-4 Game 2 victory Monday night, Oct. 12, at American Family Field.

Here’s what national writers had to say about the performance and Milwaukee’s chances:

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic: Dodgers need to adjust, including sitting Shohei Ohtani

"It’s difficult to imagine the Dodgers taking four of the next five games, even with the next three at home," Rosenthal wrote. "But considering how many escapes they pulled off while becoming two-time World Series champions, it’s also difficult to imagine them just fading away.

“’We know what we can do. We know the team that we have,’ left fielder Teoscar Hernández said. ‘There is still a lot of series to go. We know right now they’re playing really good baseball. They’re going to be tough to beat. But it’s not impossible.’

"No, it’s not, but so much for the Dodgers needs to change.

"Crazy as it sounds, the Dodgers need to sit Ohtani, whose at-bats could not be any worse, for rookie Josue De Paula. The idea is at least under consideration. Ohtani is 3-for-20 with no extra-base hits and three walks in the postseason. Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic he will speak with Ohtani on Tuesday and ‘try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us.’

Bradford Doolittle of ESPN: Brewers ‘won’t be denied’

"Other than the defensive miscues, the Brewers have displayed most of the characteristics so far in the series that helped them win an MLB-high and franchise-record 103 games this season," Doolittle wrote. "Patient at-bats. Contact hitting. An ability to hit to the situation. And that lockdown bullpen.

"Taken as a whole, it’s a package that many have taken to calling ‘Brewers Ball.’ Not among them is Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who said before the game, ‘I don’t think we play any different than anybody else. I really don’t. And I hear it a lot. ‘Oh, I love the way you guys play.’

"Murphy loves to be playfully coy in his media gatherings, so it’s sometimes hard to evaluate the veracity of some of his observations. Either way, he certainly liked what he saw from his team in Game 2.

"’This year, they don’t want to be denied, and they’re going against arguably one of the best teams in baseball ever put together,’ Murphy said. ‘And they don’t care. They won’t be denied. It starts with the dude behind the dish.’"

Jeff Passan of ESPN: ‘Something feels different’ about these Brewers

"For anyone who has been watching the Brewers, this isn’t exactly a huge surprise," Passan wrote. "They are a very, very good baseball team, and the 7-4 victory that staked Milwaukee a 2-0 advantage in the National League Championship Series was the latest piece of evidence in a season full of it. They have, in fact, been among the game’s best teams for upward of a decade now – but this year, inside the clubhouse, throughout the organization and to a hot crowd of 42,516 at American Family Field, starved for their first World Series title in 58 years of existence, something feels different. …

"Murphy’s desire to win can manifest in old-school ways. He is the rare major league manager who will still not hesitate to bench a player for lack of effort or a mental mishap. He works himself into a tizzy over little mistakes, joking that he would trade his challenges for the ability to tase players who fall short of the Brewers’ mission: a clean, fundamentally sound style of baseball.

"His team is a throwback. The players don’t hit many home runs; they do pretty much everything else. Milwaukee won a major-league-best 103 games this season, three more than the Dodgers, and yet entered this series as underdogs despite holding home-field advantage. That was fine with the Brewers. They are perfectly content winning ball games in their own style."

Bill Plunkett of Orange County Register: Dodgers simply outgunned in Game 2

"Billboards around town promote the Milwaukee Brewers with the slogan ‘Win Our Way,’" Plunkett began.

"The Dodgers tried. It didn’t work.

"They scored four runs without getting a hit with a runner in scoring position – or hitting a home run. But the Brewers outhit them 12-3 and the final 15 Dodgers batters were retired in order as the Brewers pulled away to a 7-4 victory on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

“’They pitched well and they hit good,’ Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. ‘That’s the name of the game, and they did it better than us today.’

Mirjam Swanson, Los Angeles Times: Will Smith’s made miscues that changed the game’s trajectory

"…Yamamoto made 75 pitches and gave up three runs on four hits. This time, he really could have used even a little bit of help from his friends — at the plate, where the Dodgers got only three hits, and behind it.

"Yamamoto would’ve benefited from fielders with enough footspeed to track down pop fouls (two of which fell to extend at-bats), and from a catcher with a sense of urgency to stop the bleeding before they needed a tourniquet.

"But Smith said he assumed Yamamoto, the Dodgers’ ace of the aces and last year’s World Series MVP, had everything under control. Smith assumed those challenges would better serve the team in the later innings.

"But Smith also failed to respect how dangerous and dug-in the Brewers are. Didn’t appreciate that the time to stop Milwaukee is now or forever hold your peace.

"The Dodgers not only left Milwaukee with both challenges remaining (both Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker successfully challenged strike calls), but the Brewers’ Brice Turang got the benefit of a first-inning double and third-inning walk when those at-bats instead should have ended in strikeouts.

“’It was kind of early in the game. We kind of had him on the ropes,’ Smith said of Turang. ‘I figured we could get him out there. The walk one was a bummer. But it happens. It’s baseball.’"

Matt Snyder of CBS: William Contreras, home cooking among the ‘winners’

Snyder’s "winners and losers" column gave credit to William Contreras, the Brewers bullpen and even playing at home, where the Brewers are 4-0 in the playoffs.

"The Brewers are now 4-0 at home in the playoffs after earning the No. 1 seed with a dominant regular season. That’s what you play for

Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.