After the Brewers 4-1 game 1 win over the Diamondbacks at Miller Park on Saturday, all eyes in both clubhouses turn to Sunday's game 2.
Starting on just three days rest for the first time all season, Zack Greinke will try to put Milwaukee in command before heading to the Arizona desert for Tuesday's game 3. Greinke only threw only 74 pitches Wednesday night in the Brewers final regular season game of the year; a 7-3 Milwaukee win over Pittsburgh that clinched the No. 2 seed in the National League playoffs.
The Milwaukee righthander isn't concerned about the short rest, admitting that he "didn't throw that many pitches last time because we planned on it possibly happening."
Greinke pressed manager Ron Roenicke for the start and said before Saturday's game 1 that "I felt good yesterday, so I would be able to pitch today. So I should be able to pitch tomorrow."
Greinke taking the ball also allows him to pitch in his comfort zone at Miller Park, where he went 11-0 with a 3.13 ERA in 2011.
"Our team plays better here," Greinke admitted. "Sometimes when you get on a roll it just kind of continues easier. I don't even think I even noticed I pitched any better here than on the road until maybe a month ago when people were making a big deal of it."
Starting for Arizona will be righthander Daniel Hudson, who went 16-12 with a 3.49 ERA in 33 starts in 2011. The key to getting to Hudson will be to jump on him early, with batters hitting more than 50 points higher in the first inning (3.06 BAA in the first inning, with a 6.00 ERA) than overall (.255 BAA, 3.49 ERA).
Neither Greinke nor Hudson have ever pitched in a postseason game before; how each one handles the pressure could spell out who takes Game 2 before the series shifts to Phoenix.
Even though it's the biggest game of his career, Greinke says "it's still just getting ready for a game and just try to make your pitches."
Hudson, meanwhile, admitted the butterflies might get him. Then again, they might not. "Honestly, I don't even know what they're going to feel like, because I've never pitched in the postseason before," he said on Saturday. "I'm pretty anxious to get out there and see what it's going to be like. I imagine it's not not going to be too much different than your first couple of starts in your career, or your Major League debut."
Gametime Sunday has been pushed back to 4:07 because of the rescheduling of Game 2 of the ALDS series between New York and Detroit.
Doug Russell has been covering Milwaukee and Wisconsin sports for over 20 years on radio, television, magazines, and now at OnMilwaukee.com.
Over the course of his career, the Edward R. Murrow Award winner and Emmy nominee has covered the Packers in Super Bowls XXXI, XXXII and XLV, traveled to Pasadena with the Badgers for Rose Bowls, been to the Final Four with Marquette, and saw first-hand the entire Brewers playoff runs in 2008 and 2011. Doug has also covered The Masters, several PGA Championships, MLB All-Star Games, and Kentucky Derbys; the Davis Cup, the U.S. Open, and the Sugar Bowl, along with NCAA football and basketball conference championships, and for that matter just about anything else that involves a field (or court, or rink) of play.
Doug was a sports reporter and host at WTMJ-AM radio from 1996-2000, before taking his radio skills to national syndication at Sporting News Radio from 2000-2007. From 2007-2011, he hosted his own morning radio sports show back here in Milwaukee, before returning to the national scene at Yahoo! Sports Radio last July. Doug's written work has also been featured in The Sporting News, Milwaukee Magazine, Inside Wisconsin Sports, and Brewers GameDay.
Doug and his wife, Erika, split their time between their residences in Pewaukee and Houston, TX.
