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AL DIVISION SERIES: RANGERS VS BLUE JAYS

October 8, 2015

John Gibbons

Toronto, Ontario - Pregame

MODERATOR: I'm going to ask you to just say your lineup.

JOHN GIBBONS: Yeah, we have Revere, Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion, Tulowitzki, Smoak, Russell Martin, Ryan Goins, Kevin Pillar.

MODERATOR: Now we'll let them question it. Anybody got a question for John today?

Q. There's been so much talk about David Price's past against the Texas Rangers and he had had issues with the New York Yankees this year and showed that he's a different pitcher now than he was in the past. Is he just one of those guys that whatever he had done in the past, it doesn't matter because he's David Price?
JOHN GIBBONS: Yeah, it doesn't phase me at all. I don't get caught up in all that. I know how good he is but also this is the big leagues. You're facing good players. Everybody, they're all still human beings, as good as they are sometimes. We're glad he's on our side. We'll throw him out there today and we expect good things.

Q. Gibby, you had Tulo hitting 7th those couple of games he was in, in Tampa coming back, back in his fifth spot today. Were you just looking for something that you saw with those two games or was this always the plan?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, we had him down, I think he was 7th down there for those two games because we were concerned about his timing, how he looked, trying to win those games. Everything we saw was good and, of course, he's one of guys who had some success against Gallardo from their days in the National League. He's hit him pretty good, so we'll put him back up there and let him run with it. He's not a hundred percent but he's sure good enough.

Q. John, how crucial offensively has the bottom of your order been this season, Goins and Pillar, I guess, in particular?
JOHN GIBBONS: Right. They've been huge. You look at the big years that guys like Donaldson and Bautista, and those guys had -- the guys down at the bottom got to get on base for those guys. You look at what Pillar has done, Goins since he has taken over, he has had a great year. Travis who's not here with us now, was as good a hitter as you're going to find this first month and a half. So that's key, that was a little bit of a black hole for us last year. This year the guys really stepped up in an unheralded role, they've done a great job.

Q. Colabello is another unheralded guy, but he's had another really good year. What kind of role do you foresee for him this year?
JOHN GIBBONS: He's a big part of it. When we're facing a lefty, he could be the guy. Key pinch-hitting spot maybe today or during the series, if he's not in the lineup to begin with, that kind of role. But yeah, since he's got here all he's done is hit, with some big clutch hits, too. We look to use him, put it that way.

Q. Gibby, they say in the playoffs, runs are really at a premium and teams have to scratch and claw to score obviously with the big offense that you have, it hasn't been a problem all year but do you feel like there's a need to do anything different to play for one run more often, to try to do things that this team hasn't done before because it's the playoffs and maybe it is tougher to score?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, you know, I've seen many a game on TV this time of year and, yeah, usually, you look at -- well, you look at the two wild card games, two shutouts and dominating pitching. Certain guys in our lineup that you call on to do certain things, to bunt and things like that, maybe hit and run, but there are certain guys in the lineup that don't do that and I think it would be crazy to ask them to try now. But certain guys have been doing certain roles all year. If that situation calls, those guys will do it. The other guys will just play their game. I think it would be crazy to try it the other way. Don't expect to see Bautista bunting. I'm sure somebody out there would expect it.

MODERATOR: Or somebody in here.

JOHN GIBBONS: Somebody in here maybe.

Q. John, what kind of a boost did Stroman give your rotation when he came back and was able to do what he did in September?
JOHN GIBBONS: Yeah, huge. Totally unexpected. I've said this many times, he told me in spring training after the injury, "I'll see you in September" and I thought it was, you know, pipe dreams. We encouraged him, he went off, and got his education, did his rehab and kept moving and moving. Next thing you know, he's here. Even I thought when there was word that he was going to make it back, that he was probably going to be out of the bullpen. He might throw an inning or two, and at least he could say at the end of the season he would go home healthy, but things kept moving fast. Put him in a rotation and he really picked up where he left off last year, and he's been a force.

Q. John, anything in particular with the matchup about Gallardo for having Goins bat 8th and Pillar 9th?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, we looked at -- we have normally our lineup's an easy team for opposing side to plan their bullpen because we're so right-handed up top and then if we have any lefties usually they've been bunching up down at the bottom. So what we did today and we've been doing a lot lately, if anything you can go left, right, left, right down at the bottom so if they want to go to their one lefty or whoever it is, at least he's got to face a righty coming up, too. That was kind of the thinking behind that. Goins has been swinging well the last couple months, as has Pillar, so that's kind of the way we've been approaching it because it can be easy to match up against us how it's normally set up.

Q. You and Cito have San Antonio roots. Do you ever get a chance to use him as a resource? I don't know how much he's around the club, but tap into his vast knowledge and exchange thoughts with him or anything?
JOHN GIBBONS: Cito comes around, not a lot. We will see him every now and then, he'll stick his head in. I'm a big fan. He's a San Antonio boy. We don't sit around and talk a lot but he's always been very encouraging. Any time you're in the same position, same team, things like that, it can only help but give you a little bit of advice. Yeah, but I'm a big fan, it's always good when he's around.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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