MILWAUKEE -- The hot-headed coach saw promise in the skinny infielder, and rode him hard. That's how Padres interim manager Pat Murphy treated many of his players at the University of Notre Dame, including Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who so irked his skipper with a series of errors one fall that Murphy ordered Counsell onto a half-frozen field in November to field hot-shot grounders.
One particularly hard-hit baseball took a bad hop, bounced up and broke Counsell's nose.
"His nose was over here at 4:15," Murphy said, holding his hand on the side of his face, "and then he was back at practice at 5:15 with his nose back in place and said, 'Hit me some more.