So Just How Pissed Off Is Pat Murphy?

When it comes to managing a major league ballclub, life is not fair. You always have one bad year, maybe one really bad month, from getting fired. Even when you’re doing well, the vocal contingent of your citizens still drives you crazy, mostly because they sound exactly the same way when they’re shocked to lose someone’s life. Writers that you’ve known for years will one day turn on their laptop and pen a thousand words because you no longer have what it takes. And above all, an unrelenting attitude whenever you’re out there doing your job by “ game, the camera is trained directly in the face. Whenever you watch what you’re watching, you’re likely squirming at the television, often in slow motion, flapping your hand in frustration or launching into an F-bomb.

As a result, managers tend to at least try to put on a stoic front. Some are better than others, but I’ve always had to watch Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy in particular. He seems to feel the game more than most actors. He constantly checks his notes, or makes more notes, or retreats a few steps into the tunnel, which he drags into the dugout to think things over. Also, it depends a lot on taste. But on Monday night, when the Brewers took care of business against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLCS, I noticed one movement on Murphy’s face that seemed so clear every time he found it on camera. All night, as far as I’m concerned, no matter how well they behaved on the field, Murphy looked pissed off.

To be fair, the camera tends to find the agent when something is wrong. We want to see the most progress. When Yoshinobu Yamamoto labored in the first inning, you could feel the frustration of the production crew as he kept finding Los Angeles coach Mark Prior on camera, who had never in his life betrayed a single motion on camera. This is what Mark Prior does with his face, after he has just struck the pitcher from the side;