Brewers’ backs are to the wall

Reporting from Milwaukee -- When the subject of the Brewers’ postseason troubles was raised the other day to Jerry Hairston Jr., he paused. And then laughed.

“Oh, like ‘82?” he asked incredulously. “Listen, that was a long time ago.”

Yes, it was, but then the situation for the Cardinals and Brewers was reversed. Now, it’s the Brewers who are down three games to two heading home for Game 6 in the National League Championship Series on Sunday.

The Cardinals closed out the 1982 World Series with two victories, and that at least might give the Brewers a glimmer of hope.

About all Hairston remembers about baseball in 1982 — when Brewers represented the American League in the Series — was that he was running around the old Comiskey Park clubhouse and then-White Sox manager Tony La Russa “was probably sick of me.”

Here it is 29 years later, La Russa is leading the Cardinals and the 35-year-old Hairston is playing for the Brewers in the perfect example of how small a world baseball can be.

Hairston Jr. and brother Scott were allowed in the clubhouse back then because Jerry Hairston Sr. was a White Sox player and grandfather Sam was a longtime coach.

“I really enjoyed Jerry [Sr.], one of my favorite players, and then he had these two little kids, two little jerk kids, running into my office telling me to play their dad more than I’m playing him,” La Russa said with a laugh.

The bigger point is what has happened since that fall of 1982.

The Brewers have been to two National League postseasons since then, losing in 2008 to Philadelphia and surviving the first round this year. The Cardinals have been involved 11 times, including four World Series. And they have been to the postseason in eight of La Russa’s last 12 years at the helm.

Although the Cardinals have the upper hand, winning at Miller Park has become a near-impossible chore for the opposition.

The Brewers were swept there only one time during the regular season — by the Cardinals at the end of August as they started their improbable wild-card run.

The domed roof will be closed Sunday because of cool, possibly damp, weather.

“The fans are confident, players feel their confidence, and it’s an edge,” La Russa said. “It’s an edge when you go in and play against them that you have to overcome.”

The chore will fall to Edwin Jackson, who started Game 2 there and left in the fifth inning with a 7-3 lead over Shaun Marcum. His opponent again will be Marcum, who has had a rocky postseason.

Roenicke has tired of answering Marcum-related questions, but he undoubtedly will have little patience once Sunday’s game begins.

Here is the statistical sad news on Marcum:

His postseason earned-run average in two games is 12.46, including that battering the Cardinals gave him Monday.

In five regular-season starts against the Cardinals during the season, he was 1-2 with a 5.10 ERA.

In his first season with the Brewers, he was 5-4, 4.81 at Miller Park compared to 8-3, 2.21 on the road.

“The first two months of the season, he was probably our best pitcher,” Roenicke said. “And then I thought he was pretty steady from there on out.

“I know you look at the last few games, and we talk about whether it’s luck, whether he’s not quite as sharp; his numbers aren’t as good.

“But I still think Shaun is capable of getting back to where he was like he started at the beginning of the year.”

Either he gets back to that point or the Brewers begin their off-season as the Cardinals move on to another World Series.

dvandyck@tribune.com