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AL DIVISION SERIES: RANGERS VS BLUE JAYS

October 14, 2015

John Gibbons

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame five

Blue Jays - 6 Rangers - 3

MODERATOR: First question for John Gibbons.

Q. Gibb, can you first describe your thinking as the matters events in the top half of the inning unfolded and then maybe your emotional swing when Bautista hit the home run in the bottom half?
JOHN GIBBONS: When we load the bases up?

Q. When you were trying to figure out what happened.
JOHN GIBBONS: You know, I'm still not certain what happened, what was going on what the ruling is. You saw Russell throwing the ball back, his hand sticking out. I don't know if anybody saw that, but we saw it on video. Really it came down to the rules are what they are and I'm still a bit in the fog about that. But you didn't want something like that to be the deciding run in a game of this magnitude, so that was kind of my beef. But the umpire crew did a great job, they really did. Those kind of plays are never easy because it's affecting someone. It's a crazy play. I haven't seen it before like that. But it ended up turning out all right. Then we had the bases loaded there and we get the ground ball to first base, they get the force at home. And you're wondering, okay, because you know Dyson's coming in who is one of the better relievers in baseball. He's a ground ball machine. So you're sitting there very easily to turn a double play for him. Then we got the jam shot by Josh to tie it up, and then Bautista. He's got the flare for the dramatic, you know. On the national stage, it really showed off.

Q. John, have you ever been involved in a baseball game like this before? Like, in the minors, as a player or have you ever experienced anything quite like this?
JOHN GIBBONS: You know, definitely not this level, I can't remember, it definitely wouldn't compare to minor league level, but I just spent two months with the New York Mets in '86 so I wasn't an active player but I was around with the comeback against the Red Sox. I know crazy things happen in this game, especially this time of year. I think it's very rewarding for this group. We thought we were too good to bow out in the first round, but they were just as good over there. Whoever wins this game is going to be a good representative in the next round. It's special for these guys. It's special for everybody around here because it's been so long. You can have a great year, and if you bow out in that first round, it's still a good accomplishment but it just doesn't seem right. So we're moving on and hopefully play well this next years.

Q. John, your fans have been great throughout this entire run since the team turned into a competitor. But can you talk about the emotions you're feeling when you see what was going on after some of those reactions to the calls today?
JOHN GIBBONS: Yeah, I thought they were great other than the ones who were throwing the beer cans because I almost got hit by one of them. They jumped on board. They've always said in this town and really this country, you put a good team on the field and the place will explode, and really that's just what happened. Alex went out and made the huge deals that really set this thing rolling, and they've done their part showing up. But it's been a long time. They've been starved for winner and hopefully we can continue and turn out to be that team, but they're just as excited as we are, maybe even more, so I know it's a good relief for them.

Q. John, do you believe in baseball karma, what comes around goes around, after that 7th inning?
JOHN GIBBONS: I don't know. You know what, as long as you're involved in this game, crazy things happen, you know. And things you maybe have never seen or very rarely have seen. A little something like a little dribbled ball, or what have you, a little thrown ball like that one really can ignite something or make a difference in a game. So we were fortunate, we took advantage of a couple mistakes they made, and it was when we evened it up. We definitely caught some breaks today, too.

Q. Congratulations.
JOHN GIBBONS: Thanks.

Q. They worked over Edwin pretty well in the series and didn't give him much to hit. What went through your mind when you saw Edwin hit that ball?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, I kind of had the feeling Eddy was about to erupt, too. He's hit some wall-balls in the series, the first go-round here at home, the first couple games. You knew he was close. It's really hard to hold him down really in five games. It's usually he's going to do some damage. That's what we needed. You're down a run. It's a tight ballgame this time of year, it's tough to manufacture runs sometimes, and Hamels was really good, and you knew their bullpen was good when they got to it. That was what we needed to tie it up and, okay, here we can do something and of course the next thing you know we're down again. But yeah, our lineup is so deep, they're all dangerous in there, at least through five, six, seven. And somebody's going to do some kind of damage.

Q. John, how did not having Loup or Price available affect the way you used your bullpen? And I guess how much did you feel like you could extend Sanchez and then Osuna?
JOHN GIBBONS: Right. We knew coming into the game, when Cecil first went down, it was kind of changing things anyway, and that's why we used David in those -- that game down there in Texas. I even said to Pete Walker, the pitching coach, today there was a situation. As the game was going on, it was a tight game, I said perfect spot for Cece here, but we don't have him. Even Loup, we were wishing Loupy well out there, we're hoping he comes back soon. Yeah, you do feel naked but we have some guys that have been pitching pretty good, the youngsters with Sanchez and Osuna. They both went above and beyond what they normally do. They're basically 180 guys. And we've even tried it multiple innings or innings plus and they struggled with it, but today was different, they knew it. So we really, it was the three young guns, homegrown, big arm, original Blue Jays. So I know the organization is proud of those guys.

Q. John, can you take us through what happened the first time the benches emptied? It looked like Edwin was trying to calm the fans down and then something was said to him?
JOHN GIBBONS: I'm not sure exactly what happened. The next guy's probably got a perfect answer for you. You've got to help me out, host. There was a couple instances, a lot of times what happens, nobody's ever really sure what's going on unless you're involved. There's a lot of tension, both teams are trying to win. I mean, this is do-or-die. You know, one thing teams that get to this point, a big part of the reason of that is because they're great competitors. They've got fire inside of them. Sometimes that happens, and both teams are a perfect example of that. The umps held it in check, but I know that, you know, the baseball world is watching on TV. You've got kids, don't always like to see it but that's the level we're at, it means so much but it didn't get out of hand and it's over with.

Q. John, after the craziness of today, it's maybe easy to forget that at one point you guys were down 0-2 in the series heading back to Texas. Was there one moment where you thought or you heard from players like they could -- they believed they could turn this thing around?
JOHN GIBBONS: We didn't know for sure when we headed to Texas but we were taking BP on the off day down there. I just had a good feeling the guys were nice and loose and relaxed and that's important with this group. Then for the first game I felt we looked like the old team, we were playing like we done all year. Then of course we had the big outburst the next day. Of course this is our team. You've still got to win three in a row but before that first game in Texas, Joe Torre was down there. Joe came up to me, he had texted me, this isn't insurmountable, because he did it with the Yankees. He said, hey, take it one day at a time. Great advice. Easier said than done, of course. He told Bruce Bochy that when they were down in Cincinnati and they went on. Coming from him, it's kind of a comforting thing. I know it's not easy, but kind of gives you, hey, you know what, it could happen.

MODERATOR: Let's let Jose get up here. Thank you very much. Go celebrate.

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