MILWAUKEE -- There are two names most identified with the success the Milwaukee Brewers enjoyed in the early to mid-1980s. With two coaching vacancies recently opened among the freshest batch of Brewers success, will the team get a blast from the past?

"Over the course of the last couple years, we've talked to Robin [Yount] and Pauly [Molitor] and I'm sure it's something we might consider if it were something they'd be willing to do," Brewers manager Ned Yost said, addressing the media at Miller Park as part of a postseason press conference Tuesday. "Up to this point, it wasn't something they were ready to do."

Yost said he has several names in mind for the openings, which came about when third base coach Rich Donnelly and bench coach Rich Dauer were informed they would not be invited back for the 2006 season following the team's season finale in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

"I'm going to give it a week," Yost said of the jobs. "I'm tired right now, and I'm going to let the dust clear a little bit and we'll start looking. I've got some names in mind. We haven't contacted anybody. I think after a week we're going to sit down with Doug [Melvin, general manager] and start thinking about what direction we want to go in."

For now, Brewers fans no longer need to dwell on the names from the past and can be satisfied with an 81-81 finish to the 2005 campaign, a season that broke the club's 12-year losing streak. Yost guided the team to the club's second-greatest season-to-season increase in winning percentage (from .416 to .500) and gave the city a glimmer of hope.

"I felt in my mind that that it would be the first step in reviving this organization if we could play .500 or better," Yost said. "Playing .500 baseball, especially in a division that's as tough as the Central Division, means you have the ability to compete at this level. We thought that was a huge goal for us to set and get over, to get that behind us so we could move on and try to accomplish bigger and better things.

"It wasn't set out as a goal but it ended up something we were proud of -- finishing ahead of the Cubs," Yost added. "We finished dead last the last couple of years and to finish third -- even though it's middle of the pack -- we haven't done that in a while. That's a good start. We made the strides we were looking for, and they're strides we can really build upon this winter."

First-year owner Mark Attanasio, who has done his share to breathe new life into the organization, joined a sizeable chorus in praise of the third-year manager.

"I think you have to give Ned an 'A' this year," Attanasio said. "You see the way Ned kept these guys focused and the way they came out every game trying to achieve our goal. They all did a very good job."

The increase in respect around the league isn't lost on Yost, but the skipper said he wasn't dwelling on it, either.

"To be honest with you, it doesn't really affect me," Yost said. "It's hard for me to explain and it's hard for people to believe, but I'm not really in this for myself. I'm in this for the players, I'm in this for the fans. I want to bring a championship back here to Milwaukee. I didn't come here to build up Ned Yost, I came here to build up the Milwaukee Brewers and these players and give them every opportunity to be successful in every endeavor of their life and career."

Maintaining a roster populated with youth, Yost has high hopes for the future, even if he wasn't proclaiming a "playoffs or bust" line of thinking for 2006.

"With those players getting that first year of experience, they're understanding what it's like playing deep into September in front of full houses and big series and figuring out what it takes to win," Yost said. "They're going to come back with a 'been there, done that' attitude and a much more relaxed attitude next year."
Link