Craig Counsell isn't ready to call it quits on his playing career just yet.

But when he does, the Whitefish Bay resident and two-time World Series champion ought to consider a career in coaching.

Tuesday night Counsell showed his savvy again in the bottom of the 10th inning when the Brewers trailed by a run with two outs.

After pinch-hitter Brad Nelson doubled, Counsell quickly reminded manager Ned Yost that a pinch runner might be in order.

"All I was thinking about was putting somebody in there that could hit a home run," Yost said. "The best one I could think of was Brad Nelson. I had home run, home run, home run on my mind. He rips a double and I'm thinking "˜OK, good.'"

That was when Counsell offered his advice.

"There gets to be a lot going on sometimes so you bring it up. When you're on the bench, you're always thinking about when you can be used and getting ready for those situations," said Counsell, who turned 38 on Aug. 21 and is in 13th big-league season.

"I know we've got all these guys and he wanted to run for him. With everything going on, you just bring it up."

Yost didn't mind giving credit where it was due.

" "˜Couns' comes up and says, "˜Hey, you might want to think about pinch-running here,' " said Yost with a chuckle.

Yost promptly sent Tony Gwynn Jr. in to pinch run for Nelson but the Brewers failed to tie the game.

"As a bench player you really try to think about how the manager is thinking, what he's going to do in certain situations," Counsell said. "You tend to manage with Ned as the game goes on."

And about that future coaching gig?:

"I'm just trying to think about playing right now," said Counsell, who is batting .232 in 90 games this season. "But when I'm done, I'd like to be involved in baseball. I'm not sure what capacity but I want to be around the game, for sure stay involved."