Brewers offer fresh blood if you don't bleed Dodger blue

Pat Murphy, the gregarious manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, was in no hurry to wrap up his news conference Sunday.

- BILL SHAIKIN COLUMNIST

JEFF ROBERSON Associated Press

FANS CHEER for the Brewers, who swept the Dodgers this season but now face a different team.

He compared Mookie Betts playing shortstop to Stephen Curry playing forward. He anointed Freddie Freeman as his favorite player even though “he’s ruined Brewers history many times.” He read off names from an eight-year-old Dodgers scouting report that included Yasiel Puig, Rich Hill and Curtis Granderson.

“I love Kenley Jansen,” Murphy said. “You guys miss him?”

All good things must come to an end, even a manager working his audience with the rapport of a stand-up comedian. The Dodgers’ time in the news conference room was fast approaching.

“I don’t want to take up any of the Dodgers’ precious time,” Murphy cracked. “They're on a shoestring budget.”

Murphy is only too happy to play into the predominant story line for the National League Championship Series: The defending World Series champions, with a payroll three times that of the Brewers, against a plucky little outfit representing baseball’s smallest market.

If he can say anything that puts a little more pressure on the Dodgers, good for him. Back in July, when the Brewers swept the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, Murphy told a roomful of reporters: “No disrespect to the great fans of Japan baseball, but they can’t name five guys in our lineup.”

Christian Yelich. Jackson Chourio. Hmm, does Ryan Braun still play here?

“We're always the underdogs,” Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff told reporters Saturday.