MILWAUKEE — After a productive NLDS against the Padres, Christian Yelich was absent from the Brewers’ lineup for Game 1 of the NLCS against the Dodgers. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy offered a detailed explanation when the 12-year-old Twinstripe Reporters asked that very question at the start of Murphy’s pregame press conference before Game 1 on Sunday. Murphy’s response began with the pitcher on the Dodgers’ mound: left-hander Tarik Skubal. “It’s about our team and what’s best for our team today,” Murphy said. “It may not be the whole game, but it’s the best for our team today. You look at the matchups and you look at the history, and you look at how the guy throws at a guy potentially and what he could contribute. “And this guy who’s playing in place of Yelich in the first half of the game. [designated hitter Andrew Vaughn]he’s pretty good.” Vaughn posted an .834 OPS in 331 plate appearances during the regular season as the Brewers picked the best matchups for the right-handed first baseman. That included a .336/.421/.517 line against lefties, though Vaughn has just a .488 OPS in 23 career plate appearances against Skubal. In a perfect world, Murphy could start Vaughn at first base, moving Jake Bauers to right field and leaving Yelich in the lineup as the designated hitter. But Bauers has been playing the second half of the season with a broken right toe and shin pain, so the outfield isn’t a good option for him right now. Typically, on days like this during the regular season, Murphy brought Yelich back into the game as soon as he could regain the lead of the pack. “So that’s the weight of it all,” Murphy told the youngsters. “But as long as you tell the player up front (in case you get out of this business and go into coaching, a real business), you’ll tell the player beforehand.” Music Lessons Since those young reporters hail from Freehold, New Jersey, another native of that town came up in the conversation Sunday afternoon: Bruce Springsteen. wins since Murphy took over as manager, it’s because the captain is a big fan. Why Bruce? And of course, it’s about a girl. “I was in Florida, I was in college in 1980. I drove in the pouring rain to the Hollywood Sportatorium because I had a person I loved and I wanted to go to the concert,” Murphy said. “I had a purple Jeep that I drove. … It’s pouring rain and I have those sliding doors, like the old mail trucks. Water is entering. I feel miserable and say, ‘What am I doing?’ I don’t even know if I like this girl, you know what I mean? “He played for five and a half hours. I was amazed. It wasn’t even about how good or bad the music was. It was the River Tour, and it was incredible. So it piqued my interest.” Murphy saw Springsteen again while he was head baseball coach at Notre Dame. And again a couple of years ago at Wrigley Field. “The message just resonated,” Murphy said. “He grew up a Catholic kid in New Jersey. I was a Catholic kid from upstate New York. There’s a lot of things that resonate with me in the way he talks about things. I’ve had all these opportunities to go backstage and I’ve never met him. I don’t want to meet him that way. I want to meet him one-on-one. I don’t know if I ever will, but I’d like to meet him one-on-one and sit down and talk to him.” That puts him in a crowd in baseball circles. Murphy has learned over the years that Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Randy Johnson are also big Springsteen fans. “I’m not necessarily a music connoisseur, nor do I know anything about it,” Murphy said. “I can’t carry a tune or play an instrument. But this guy just talks to me, man. I didn’t grow up with that kind of music, but it’s just amazing.” Old friends For three of the four presidents of baseball operations still standing this postseason, the friendships go back a long way. The Rays’ Erik Neander and the Brewers’ Matt Arnold worked for the Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman in Tampa Bay, and this is the second straight year Friedman and Arnold have faced off in the National League Championship Series. Arnold has won the MLB Executive of the Year award two years in a row. Friedman’s club, however, won the last two World Series. When their teams met in Los Angeles in August, they argued on the pickleball court. There is no shortage of bad words between the two. “I will say, Matt Arnold, it’s a great moment,” Friedman said Sunday. “I went to Carnevor Steakhouse last night and Matt Arnold has his own knife there with his name on it. When we worked together, I thought, ‘This is going to be a hit.’ I didn’t think he’d have his own knife one day. I’ll tell you, it worked well. I used it. It worked well.”
