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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS ROYALS

October 22, 2015

John Gibbons

Kansas City, Missouri - Workout Day

Q. How are you going to generate more offense in this ballpark?
JOHN GIBBONS: Bunt more, I don't know (laughter).

I have no idea. Hopefully don't pitch as well. I don't know. I don't know how to answer that.

Q. Is there adjustments that the hitters can make to maybe (INAUDIBLE)?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, no, you can focus a little different on different things, but you've still got to play to your strengths. You're probably not going to score as many as in our place, that's pretty obvious. But, I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know.

Q. As you look back on David's start in Game 2, as they saw him the third time around, did you think it was pitch selection or them doing a good job or him just not executing what he was throwing?
JOHN GIBBONS: They did a great job. He was cruising to that point. He was strong. He hadn't labored at all to that point. I saw the highlights, the videos, the pitches of him, really, it was great at-bats. There were some great at-bats like we had last night that turned into walks, that kind of thing.

But I thought they did a heck of a job. It was one of those things where everything kept snowballing. Sometimes when that happens, it's tough to stop it. That was probably part of it, too.

I thought he was still locating the ball pretty good. He fouled off some tough pitches to stay alive. But I think most of that was on them.

Q. Have you talked to David about rhythm? He had the 11 days off and the three days. Have you talked to him about how he feels in terms of his routines?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, he feels great, he really does. He feels strong. I don't know how many years in a row now, but he's up almost on top of baseball in his log. This time of year, there's a little fatigue there. That's why we gave him that time off at the end of the year.

He feels great. No complaints that I'm aware of. And he's ready to go. The situation the last few games, there was a chance he'd come out of the bullpen, he's all for that. No complaints.

Q. The bullpen, did you frame it as like a compliment, that you're our best option, for Texas and potentially here?
JOHN GIBBONS: We didn't have to sell it to him one bit. Actually, he came and said, I can pitch out of the pen today. It wasn't like we were holding a gun to his head. He was for it. He's done it before. It goes back a ways, of course.

But the circumstances, do or die games, he was available. Dave's the ultimate team guy. He's here to win. That's what drives him. As good as he is, that's his focus. They all care about the numbers, the stats, that's baseball, that's the way guys are. But when it comes down to it, he's playing to win. If it calls for him to throw an inning or two out of the bullpen to help the team win, when you have to win, shoot, he loves that, that's what he's all about.

Q. He came in relief, you said if he got up he was coming in. Yesterday he got up with a big lead. What were the factors, were you kind of going back and forth in your mind about how long you let him warm up, whether you bring him in in that set of circumstances?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, there, he was getting ready for Hosmer, if a couple guys got on he would have faced Hosmer. And then Marco ended up running that, now it's later in the game, we feel good, we have Sanchez, and then of course Osuna. And the way their lineup is starting to stack up, it worked perfectly.

Q. How do you pinpoint with a guy like David who pitched so well during the regular season, he's in the Cy Young discussion, top two candidates for Cy Young, and then in the Postseason, it's just not there or he pitches so well for six innings and then gets run up in the seventh inning? How do you pinpoint how a guy can be so good at one moment and then seemingly not so good?
JOHN GIBBONS: To be honest with you, I've only seen him good. When he was in Tampa or he was in Detroit against us, he was dynamite. We acquired him, he was dynamite. In his first playoff start against Texas, he gave up a couple of big hits, but overall he pitched pretty solid. There were a couple of home runs, two-run homer and then Odor hit the solo, that was the difference in the game, the difference came on two swings.

And then he was great here the other day, but that seventh inning got away. I've seen him good all year. People talk about his playoff record. I haven't seen all those games, I guarantee there's probably a little bad luck in there a time or two. But I've got zero complaints.

You get to be one of the elite pitchers in the game for a reason. Those are kind of the guys that get you here. Without David we're not here, anyway. So it's a moot topic there. Who knows. It's hard to say. But I'm glad he's going tomorrow. I'm not hesitant one bit to throw him out there, because I've only seen him good.

Q. What are your thoughts about Ventura? You saw him Saturday, as well. You've seen him a couple of times this year. What's he shown to you? Does he look different at all through the regular season and through his Postseason starts?
JOHN GIBBONS: We haven't seen a lot of him. We did see him the other night. I thought we battled him pretty good. That was the day of all the shadows, so it was tough seeing on both sides. He's got an overpowering arm. If he's on, I sound like a broken record, he's on, when you've got that kind of arm it's going to be a tough go.

He really let's them fly, hopefully if he's a little bit wild we take advantage of that. But he's one of those guys, he's there attacking, there's no finesse to him. But I liked our bats against him the other day, hopefully we can do that again.

Q. What did that win in Toronto do for your team's morale?
JOHN GIBBONS: Well, it got us back here. That's huge for the morale. Well, really, we had to have it. We just felt great getting it.

Our goal, of course, was to bring it back to Kansas City. We did that. And we're riding high right now. But we always ride high, if you want to know the truth. We don't always win, but we feel good.

Q. Loup is back?
JOHN GIBBONS: I haven't seen him, but, yeah, he's supposed to be back.

Q. Have you seen any commentary on how you guys have approached and played in elimination games in the Postseason?
JOHN GIBBONS: We were playing good, really good. Yeah, really, look at the elimination games, our offense has really come to life in those games. But we've been saying all along, that's the key is scoring runs. Maybe we can pull it off again.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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