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Traded to Milwaukee by the Nationals on August 31, Gio Gonzalez will lead the NLCS for the Brewers' rotation. (Benny Sieu / USA Today Sports)
MILWAUKEE – It's around the end of August 31, after a game that will not be remembered, on a night where he will not forget, that Gio Gonzalez's past has come face to face with his future.
He entered the Nationals Park interview room and sat down in front of a National-themed background, dressed in a dark blue hoodie from the Milwaukee Brewers Brewery. He had just been traded to the Brewers of the Washington Nationals. The agreement was reached at some point, at the beginning of a rain-soaked match between the teams, early enough for the fans to shout "Thank you, Gio!" And "We love you, Gio!" even though he did not receive the official word. Washington was his home. Washington was the place where he had founded his family. In Washington, he won 21 games in 2012, the best season of his career, since he finished third in the Cy Young National League vote.
But now, the Nationals were losing players and Gonzalez was next. He was not the pitcher that he once was. It has not been for months. He did not know how he would be used by the Brewers, if he would be a starter or a replacement or even he would throw at all. All he knew was that a new start, a necessary new start, was ahead.
"Right now, August 31 is August 31, but what are we, October 10 or 11? Ready to play the first game, "said Gonzalez Thursday, wearing a Brewers long-sleeved shirt in another white-walled interview room at Miller Park in Milwaukee.
And, yes, he was talking about the first game of the National League championship series.
[[[[Boswell: These playoffs are a perfect mix of innovative and old ideas.]
Gonzalez will lead the Brewers in a clash between the NLCS and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night, and he will launch the first pitch of the series around 8:09 pm. Eastern Time. The decision by Brewers manager Craig Counsell comes despite Gonzalez's poor performance in six career starts, although Gonzalez did not make a single round in the Brewers series during the Colorado round. Rockies. 11 record and 4.57 ERA as part of the disappointing Nationals season.
In spite of all that, Counsell likes the way the left-handed Gonzalez agrees with the stacked range of Dodgers. He trusts the 33-year-old for the team's 11-game winning streak and the next step in a tough race. Counsell will continue to deploy his launcher staff in a creative way – he recently used a reliever to start a game and he does not hesitate to use his pen sooner than expected – so Gonzalez should get the most possible outs before trouble stirs.
This assignment should be easy enough. After the past month, Gonzalez is happy to have him.
"I do not know, I can not explain what's going on," said Gonzalez about what had happened to him since he left the Nationals. "I just wanted to start, and I think [the Brewers] I've really helped. The guys were playing big games. The guys helped me out. Bullpen was amazing, so you knew. . . you can just go as long as you want and then you have the pen to pick it up somehow. It was a safe haven there.
"So for me, I mean, it does not detract from the guys I play with in Washington. They were phenomenal, and I built so good relationships with guys there. And now, I hope I can do the same thing here in Milwaukee. "
A good performance Friday could do a lot to bond with this franchise and this city.
Since the beginning of the transaction, Gonzalez is 3-0 in five starts with an average of 2.13. His biggest turnout came in Game 162 of the regular season, while the central title of the NL was still in play, when he pitched five scoreless innings in an 11-0 win. He did not leave the server, although he was able to discuss it, and his first match will take place eleven days of rest.
But the playoffs have always been a problem for Gonzalez. He racked up a career-high 4.78 points in the playoffs, after six opening games with the Nationals and he allowed three runs in three innings (while he had four) in a defeat of the fifth game against the Chicago Cubs last fall. In his playoff career debut, until 2012, he took the ball in the first game of the LNDS and participated seven times in five innings. In the fifth game of this series, as the season announced full, he let the St. Louis Cardinals narrow their deficit to a 6-0 deficit, allowing three points before being eliminated in a decisive pass, 9-7. loss.
The Brewers are not going to ask him too much on Friday; Counsell emphasized his commitment to abide by the conventions when it comes to his pitchers. The Brewers have a loaded paddock with the left – handed Josh Hader, Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress, all of whom were closest at one point of the season and could all enter the match at any time. Counsell even said that Jhoulys Chacin, the starter announced by the team for the third match, would be available in the first match, depending on the situation.
All hands are on the bridge. Gonzalez will be just the first to get out of the dugout.
"He just found a place where it's just a new start and a place where, you know, every player traded has a little more juice out there," Counsell said about how which Gonzalez had gained his confidence. "You have to prove yourself, even if you are an established major player."
Such a long wait between appearances is not totally foreign to Gonzalez. When he joined Milwaukee and Counsell thought about how to deploy his new arm, Gonzalez waited seven games in dugout before he could try his luck in a Brewers uniform. The time he had spent getting started gave him the opportunity to step back, look at previous months, see what worked and what did not work, and what he could do differently, given that his painting was blank.
But he still wanted the hill. It did not matter whether it was as a starter or off the market or in the first game of the Brewers' third appearance in a series of league championships. It never has.
"I just want to start. I am grateful to be able to play another game in the playoffs and with another team, said Gonzalez on Thursday afternoon. "I was almost on my way home in late September. So, sit here, and I start the first game of the second round, I think that's it. . . it's really remarkable, incredible, and I hope I can talk to my kids one day. "
And with that, Gonzalez grabbed his brewer hat from the table in front of him and quickly walked out of the room, heading for the brewers pavilion, to his new locker surrounded by his new teammates and the 27 hours preceding the next big start. of his life.
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