Christian Yelich makes no excuses for struggles at the plate as Brewers fall behind in NLCS
LOS ANGELES – Christian Yelich isn’t a “dog ate my homework” kind of guy. No excuses for failure. No baseball gods frowning on him. Go ahead and keep your St. Christopher’s medals.
So, as the presumptive National League most valuable player was surrounded by reporters Wednesday at his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, Yelich honestly explained why he has been MIA in the NLCS.
“I feel a little off,” said the Brewers rightfielder, who went 0 for 4 in the Brewers’ 5-2 loss to Los Angeles in Game 5, continuing his series-long slump (3 for 20, .150). “Credit those guys for making good pitches. It happens throughout the year where your swing feels better or it feels worse; you feel good, you feel bad.
“You just have to battle and compete. That’s all you can do. You have to keep grinding it out.”
When Yelich got off to a strong start in Game 1 of the NLDS against Colorado, going 2 for 3 with a home run and two RBI, the Rockies stopped giving him much to hit. He walked six times in that three-game sweep, collecting no more hits.
Yelich has drawn four walks in the NLCS but the Dodgers, featuring predominantly left-handed pitching, have not worked around him. They have pitched him consistently up and in, but Yelich was getting that treatment over the final month of the season when he was on fire as well.
“I’m just not getting it done,” he said. “I’m having opportunities, getting pitches to hit. I’m just missing them. I’m not executing. I’ve got to figure it out.
“I feel like I’m getting pitched similar to the way I was pitched throughout the year. But when I’m getting mistakes, I’m fouling them off or popping them up. I’m just not capitalizing. It’s frustrating. It’s part of the game of baseball. It happens throughout the course of the season.
“You’ve just got to compete and grind it out, and at the end of the day, find a way.”
Three of the four Los Angeles starting pitchers are lefties, including Clayton Kershaw, who rebounded from a poor Game 1 outing to shackle the Brewers on three hits and one run for seven innings in Game 5. Yelich fared quite well during the regular season against southpaws, batting .337 with a .983 OPS, but the Dodgers feature some of the best in the league.
“They’ve got really good pitchers; they’re making pitches when they have to,” Yelich said. “I thought Kershaw made some really good pitches in that at-bat when I punched out with a guy on third (in the third inning). He threw a front-door cutter, put his curveball right where he wanted to, then threw a slider that looked like a fastball and broke off the plate.”
Yelich basically put the team on his shoulders in the final month, helping the Brewers forge a 20-7 record and finally catch the Cubs for first place in the NL Central. He looks a bit fried right now, which probably shouldn’t be surprising, considering the bright spotlight that was on him for so long.
“It’s just more magnified now, with higher stakes, so it’s more frustrating,” he said. “In the regular season, you’ve got 162 games and it’s going to average out. In these short series, it’s magnified. It’s frustrating when you’re not getting the job done. But they’ve got some pretty good players over there, too.”
When the Brewers’ offense operated on all cylinders this year, it was usually because Cain and Yelich were setting the table in the Nos. 1 and 2 spots in the batting order. With Cain having his ups and downs, and Yelich nothing but downs, that element has been missing in the NLCS, with few others picking up the slack.
But, when manager Craig Counsell presents his lineup for Game 6 on Friday night at Miller Park, in a win-or-go-home scenario, he said the first two spots in the order will remain the same.
“I’m glad Lorenzo is leading off, and I’m glad ‘Yeli’ is hitting second,” Counsell said. “They’ll do the same on Friday. We’re in a good spot with those two guys at the top. You’re just kind of waiting for something big to happen with them and I’m confident it will.”