Pat Murphy was not a fan of (some of) the fans.
After his team’s deflating 9-7 loss in 10 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 14, the Milwaukee Brewers manager made it a point to mention his disapproval of the American Family Field fans booing closer Trevor Megill.
Megill, an all-star last year for the Brewers with 51 saves over the two previous seasons, had another rough go of it, blowing a save and allowing three runs in a tough ninth inning of the Brewers’ loss. It was his second consecutive poor showing of the homestand, with the other coming four nights earlier when he allowed four runs on nine pitches.
Megill would have picked up his third loss of the year had it not been for a rally by the offense in the bottom of the ninth that sent the game to extra innings, where the Brewers proceeded to lose anyway.
And interspersed throughout the outing were boo birds from the crowd of just over 25,000.
“The fans booing him after he saved 30 games for this team, kid that’s been through all he’s been through, and what he did the year before for us to help us win the division, and then what he did last year and then came out with an arm injury and still pitched,” Murphy said. “Pitched one of the biggest innings of Game 5 [of the NLDS]. For them to be booing him out there, that’s just not our best fans, that’s for sure. We have great fans. Let’s remind them of that. It’s OK to be disappointed, but sometimes young men go through tough stuff.
“I was disappointed in those people who didn’t support him when he’s going through that stuff. Does he probably care? No. Is it expected? That’s fine. But these aren’t machines out there. These are people. I thought that was in poor taste, but I’ve done things in poor taste, too.”
Murphy, who is the one who brought up the booing, went on to say the Brewers will consider moving Megill off the closer’s role given his performance.
“Is he throwing the ball well? No,” Murphy said. “Is he giving up hard contact? Yes. Do they swing at it like they know it’s coming? Yes. But he saved 30 games for us last year so my heart goes out to him right now. It bleeds for him because he’s feeling it.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers’ Pat Murphy calls booing of Trevor Megill ‘in poor taste’
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