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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DODGERSOctober 7, 2014Don MattinglyST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Four Q. Kenley was just in here talking about his feeling when he hears that, Oh, we just have to get to the Dodgers' bullpen. When you hear that what is your reaction? DON MATTINGLY: Who said that? Q. Kenley was just in here talking about it. And he said he took it personally when he hears, We just have to get to the Dodgers' bullpen. Just your thought on that. DON MATTINGLY: Well, I look at it like we've got to get outs. Not really worried about what anybody is saying or who is taking it personally or whatever. I'm more worried, really, about just trying to get the right guy in there to get those outs. So for me, I'm not too concerned about what anybody is saying or what anybody's reaction is towards it. Q. You have a lineup change, obviously, in centerfield. Is Yasiel healthy, is it a matter of the way he's been swinging this series? DON MATTINGLY: He's healthy. Pretty simple today, we just feel like this gives us the best chance to win today, just the best chance to win today. Q. Any hesitation taking Puig out of centerfield, given the outfield here is pretty big? DON MATTINGLY: No. Again, I think looking at all the factors, you kind of weigh them altogether and still get back to we feel like this is just the day for us to ‑‑ gives us the best chance to win today. Q. What have you seen with Puig, and do you think that getting hit in that first game might have gotten him emotionally maybe a little too charged up? DON MATTINGLY: Be hard for me to talk about his ‑‑ he can answer all those questions of if he's been emotionally too charged or whatever. It's hard for me to speak for him in those terms. Q. Last night, you compared Matt Carpenter to Stan Musial on the broadcast. At this point when he comes to the plate are you holding your breath? If he doesn't hit a home run we've done our job? DON MATTINGLY: I always had a lot of respect for the way he plays. And last year he was a tough out, he played solid second base last year. He's one of those guys that gets on base, just like a baseball player. So I think you have a respect for him. What did he hit? Two homers all year against lefties or three, and he's already got three this series in 12 at‑bats or something. That was my thought of Stan Musial, channeling Stan. Q. Do you have a feeling of how many outs Kenley could get if you got into that situation after seven? You talked about four the other day, could it possibly be more than that? DON MATTINGLY: We'll talk about it, kind of make that decision as we get there. Obviously this is a situation that it's kind of everybody is all in. You're going to ask guys to go a little farther. Obviously we're asking Clayton to go on short rest. Guys obviously this time of year you want ‑‑ are all willing to do things that you wouldn't normally want them to do. So Kenley is no different from the standpoint we would ask more. How much more remains to be seen. Q. As far as Matt Carpenter goes, do you feel that you have given him too comfortable at‑bats and would you like to see that change as far as your pitchers attacking of him? DON MATTINGLY: I don't understand. What are you asking me? Q. Do you feel like his at‑bats, he's been too comfortable there? Would you like to see your guys try to make him more uncomfortable, make him move his feet a little bit more just to try to change something? DON MATTINGLY: I'd like to get him out, as much as anything. It sounds like you're asking me, should we be knocking him down and all that stuff. Basically you're saying get him uncomfortable. So if Nolan was out there, give him the Texas bowtie, right? You've got to pitch to get him out. Part of that is being able to pitch to different parts of the plate and being able to give a guy a variety of looks. Right now, obviously, he's swinging the bat really well. And you're trying to do different things with him, but to get him uncomfortable or get him off balance. And right now none of that is working. So we've got to pitch. So we've got to continue to do that. We've got to try to get him off balance in some way. As much as anything you have to execute pitches. Making him move his feet or come in there, it's not going to hurt anything, but you're still going to have to execute a pitch. Because none of that is going to get a guy to ‑‑ a guy like him or guys that can hit, one ball inside doesn't keep you from hanging out over the plate. You've got to make pitches. Q. With the pressure that Clayton seemingly would be under tonight considering it's a must win, how do you think he handles this type of pressure as you've seen him develop in his career? DON MATTINGLY: Clayton will be fine. Every situation I'm sure is a learning situation for him. So I think he's going to be fine. We don't have any worries or concerns about how Clayton is going to handle anything. Q. Do you expect to use Puig off the bench tonight and if so, what sort of situation would you? DON MATTINGLY: We'll use whatever the game calls for, that's what we will do. If the situation was right we'd definitely ‑‑ you can't sit here and say, This guy is not going to play. This is not what this is all about. This is about trying to win a game today. If he's part of the equation of trying to win a game, he'll be in the game. Q. You mentioned you can't speak to Yasiel's state of mind, but what have you seen in those at‑bats, has the game sped up on him? They seem to be attacking with a lot of fastballs and he isn't getting around on it. DON MATTINGLY: It's so hard to see with guys that ‑‑ if you look at the stance or look at something else, it's going to look almost exactly the same when a guy is going good or going bad. So it's just that ‑‑ I always talk about hitting. It's just confidence. So again, I can't tell you that he's not confident or that he's overly confident or anything. So that's a question for him. But this is really nothing more than ‑‑ and feeling like this gives us a better chance to win today. It's not about anything bad with Yasiel, it's just that I feel like this gives us a better chance. Q. Why do you feel like Ethier gives you a better chance than Puig? DON MATTINGLY: He's a better matchup today. Q. Was Puig the best matchup yesterday? Did he give you the best chance to win over Ethier? DON MATTINGLY: We felt like that, if not, we wouldn't have played him yesterday. Q. Similar to that, what have you seen from Andre when you have seen him recently, what part of his game makes you think that he's going to be the better option in centerfield today? DON MATTINGLY: We just feel that Andre is a better option today. We're always very confident with Andre. The only reason that Andre is not playing every day is because we have an abundance of outfielders and at some point had to make a choice. Carl kind of was that choice. It's nothing, again, nothing bad about Andre, just the fact that we felt this guy is an everyday outfielder, it's just that we've got more than enough everyday outfielders. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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