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After a tremendous regular season and a very good start to the NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Milwaukee Brewers are on the brink of elimination. After watching the first two games of the series that didn’t seem likely. The Diamondbacks looked overmatched. They looked like a team that was completely outclassed and while the D-Backs have fought back and have all the momentum after back-to-back wins, this is why the Brewers have home-field advantage in this series. Milwaukee seems to have the edge. They have the crowd on their side, they have the experience, they have the offense led by Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, and they have their number one pitcher, Yovanny Gallardo, on the mound who shut down Arizona in game one. Nyjer Morgan joined ESPN Milwaukee on the D-List to talk about how he feels heading into game five, how he feels being in the playoffs for the first time, how he became so popular in Milwaukee despite playing with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, and what he makes of the Diamondbacks creating something that model their version of the “beast mode”.
“I mean the people just have to be ready to come out to the game, support us, bring the energy like they brought all year, and we can get that home crowd advantage. We worked hard for the home field advantage and this is the reason why we got it, just in case something like this happened. We just gotta stay focused, stay within ourselves, and not really panic. Just go out there and do what we’re supposed to do like we’ve done all year. We’ve been able to take care of games where we need to. I feel like as long as we do that we should be fine.”
How he feels being in the playoffs for the first time:
“Me, being in my first playoffs, this is something that I was totally every game…I’ve been totally trying to calm myself down because this is my first time and I’m trying to make a little too much happen and getting out of my game plan a little bit. I gotta get it going to help out the club and help guys get some offense going too. This is a hard fought series, the D-Backs aren’t quitting, and we just have to be ready to go out there and do what we know how to do best and that’s bat that ball around, swat it around.”
On his popularity growing so much on a team with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder:
“Just being me. That’s all I can say. The only person I know how to be is myself. I have always been this person and I guess in Washington it was kind of frowned upon and it’s just me being me. (Host: Yeah but it’s not just you being you, there’s three or four of you.) Well true that. I enjoy putting out that good energy for the fans. People pay good money to watch great players out there and I want to leave a lasting impression on people’s minds. If they have basically never seen the game or seen me, and understand that you have to go out there and hustle. I’m not a home run hitter or a guy like that, but I try to make things happen any way I can. Try to catch balls in the gap and run into the wall if I have to. Just basically your blue collar player that’s ready to go out there, go to work, and go to battle for his franchise and his teammates.”
Whether or not he was upset that the D-Backs came up with something to counter the Brewers celebration tactic:
“I thought it was kinda corny. It’s a copycat league so you know everybody’s gonna do what they gotta do. Everyone is feeling the beast and feeling how we bring the energy so if they’re gonna do their little cobra thing then it’s all good. We all know what time it is and who started the real beast mode and having fun with teammates and fans.”
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