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AL DIVISION SERIES: ROYALS v ANGELSOctober 5, 2014Ned YostKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI: Game Three Q. What's the word on Herrera, and how did he come through yesterday? NED YOST: Good. He came through good yesterday. Played catch with Dave, didn't feel anything. We're going to take him out today and throw him a few off the side and make a determination off of that. Q. Is he available tonight if he comes through that? NED YOST: If he comes through it, we'll see, yeah. Q. Your club has responded very well to backs against the wall. How do you approach tonight when their backs are against the wall? Do you do it any different? NED YOST: No, same way, the exact same way. I know the importance of these games. In '82 we made the playoffs, went to Anaheim, lost the first two games and came back to Milwaukee and won the next three. Until it's over, it's not over. Your focus is the same every single day until it's done. Q. It seems like Gore and Dyson have had big impacts off the bench. How valuable is it having those two speed guys? A.Well, it's really valuable. They're like having a big pinch‑hitter coming off the bench late. With their speed they can win you baseball games and Dyson has done great job the last couple of years doing that, finding ways to‑‑ if somebody gets on, Billy Butler was as good as anybody getting on in the ninth inning in a tie ballgame or down one, and getting Dyson in the ballgame to put him into scoring position. Having those two guys on the bench late are a big weapon. Q. What kind of impact did Jeremy Guthrie have on your team? NED YOST: He's having a pretty big impact. Jeremy is a very smart guy, very loose guy, very team‑oriented guy, and a guy that's been for the most part very consistent in his performance. He's a veteran guy, he's a very calm guy, speaks Spanish. He's had a lot of input with Ventura and our Latin players, and he's had a big impact for us. Q. I'm sure you've seen the statistic the last five teams to win three extra‑inning games in the postseason went on to win the World Series. One of those was the '91 Twins. Does that statistic have any kind of meaning to you or does it tell you anything about your team? NED YOST: No, it doesn't have any meaning to me, and I hadn't heard it, so I'm glad you told me that. No, we just stay focused on what we're doing today. If that was true we could quit today and go get ring sizes. That's not true. We've got a long way to go. We've got a lot of work to do. Q. Eric Hosmer has really come on certainly in the postseason. How satisfying is that for you guys as an organization? He's been someone you've depended on, you've been very confident that it's going to happen for him. It's just a few games but he's seemed to enjoy this stage. NED YOST: Well, he has, but what's so impressive to me is they all look like they're enjoying it, and that's fun to see, that we get in this type of atmosphere and they're flourishing. They've just been waiting for it to happen, and they're taking advantage of it. We've always believed in Eric Hosmer, we've believed in Mike Moustakas and everybody we've got on our team. I wouldn't say we're sitting back saying we told you so. We're just happy for them that we're helping them put us in position to win baseball games. Q. Are you enjoying this? NED YOST: I am, I'm having a blast. I'm really enjoying it. It's fun coming to the ballpark every day. That's what's fun about the postseason. When everybody else is home, you're still playing. I am, I'm enjoying it. Q. We've seen the impact your bullpen has had in these games. We've also seen teams like the Giants succeed with a bullpen, the Orioles. Has the bullpen become a bigger priority in the postseason than even the rotation? NED YOST: Geez, I don't know if they've become a bigger priority, but I think they're as big. You know, our whole focus when we go into a game like tonight is James Shields, get us through six innings in the ballgame. Just get us through six in the ballgame and we can turn it over to the bullpen guys.  That is if Herrera is healthy. Even when Herrera wasn't available two nights ago, we still had guys step up in huge spots and get the job done, Jason Frasor in the ninth inning, Finnegan coming in and doing what he did. We've got a lot of confidence in everybody we've got down there. Our offense has a lot of confidence in everybody we've got down there, too, because they know, hey, look, let's keep it close, let's get it to the bullpen, and if we can take a lead and get it to the bullpen, odds are we're going to be celebrating a victory at the end of the day. That's important. Q. How close were you to using Guthrie in either one of the first two games? NED YOST: We were going to use Guthrie after Duffy in Game 1, and we didn't. We didn't do anything with him yesterday or the day before. Q. He finished strong during the regular season. What did you see from him those last three games? NED YOST: Well, command of his pitches are what allows him to be successful, and when he has command of his pitches, I mean, he keeps the ball down, he can spot in and out, he changes speeds really well, he works the throttle really well, he gets guys looking hard and then can go soft, get guys looking soft and can go hard. But just consistency in his command allows him to do that because when he's right, he's got pitches that go straight, he's got pitches that fade this way, he's got pitches that fade this way, he's got pitches that fade this way, and they're all coming out of the same arm slot. It's hard to determine what the ball is going to do until it's like halfway there, and when he's commanding, he's tough. Q. You showed a lot of faith not only including Tim Collins in the postseason roster but also using him in a key situation. He's had an up‑and‑down season but he's been lights‑out in the past. What gave you the inspiration to use him as that? NED YOST: Again, his command. When we sent him down, he was really struggling to command all three of his pitches. He's got three really good pitches, a good fastball, really good curveball and a really good changeup, and when we sent him down, he was struggling to command all three. When we sent him down, that was his orders. You need to get your fastball command back first, command your changeup, because if you can command both of those pitches, you can get swings and misses on pitches down with your curveball in the dirt. Went down there, and since he's come back, his command has been much improved. We know he's got great stuff, but in these games especially, you've got to know what you're getting when you put a guy out there. I mean, you've got to have a pretty good idea. You can't be putting a guy in wondering if he's going to walk the first hitter or walk the next hitter. When Timmy came back, all that doubt was gone because he's commanded the baseball really well since he's been back. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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