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NL DIVISION SERIES: DODGERS VS NATIONALSOctober 9, 2016Jose LobatonDaniel MurphyWashington, DC - Postgame two Nationals - 5 Dodgers - 2 Q. José, after the first game of this series, when you guys couldn't seem to get a run home with a key hit, you come up with a three-run homer to get it started, what's that like for you, and now knowing you're going to L.A. with the games tied? JOSE LOBATON: Feeling great, I think everybody going to feel great now. That's what we want, do something good for the team, so the team can get that little push that we need. And hopefully what we did today, the way that we played today, you know, can be good for the team to go to L.A. happy and we can do something better. Q. The way the wind was blowing in from left field today, did you think you could hit a ball out there? Because nobody else came close to doing that. JOSE LOBATON: I didn't know until I hit the homer. I remember the inning before, I was talking to the umpire, and I was telling him the same, like you know, wow, that wind is really bad for hitters now. And then when I hit the ball, I was like, I think I hit it really good, just I don't know if it's going to go out. And then when it went out, I was like, wow, that's pretty cool (laughs). But yeah, everybody was asking the same, and a couple guys in the dugout are like, wow, maybe that moment wasn't windy. Maybe that moment it just stopped and gave me something extra. Q. José, Wilson got hurt obviously a week before the season ended, and obviously because of that, you would have to play a larger role here in the playoffs. What did it mean to contribute in that way and not having to fill in for Wilson, too? JOSE LOBATON: I feel like losing Willy is tough for us, besides a player and a team that I play, he's just my friend. I love him as my friend and I want to see him doing good all the time. But it's part of the game and we've got to keep going forward. Right now, we don't have Willy. I've got to try to do something for the team. And I'm not saying that I'm going to be like Willy and hit a homer and hit .300, but I'm going to do something what I do in the game, play my defense all the time and play hard and then see what happened. Like today, I didn't try to hit the homer and I got the homer. So maybe Willy can hit that ball farther than me, but you know, that's part of the game. We just going to go there and play hard every day no matter who is in and who is not. Q. Daniel, when the day started, did you think the wind would cause more havoc than it did? And also, the catch Jayson made with the bases loaded, how difficult was that? DANIEL MURPHY: Yeah, Howie hit that ball really well to Jayson, and for him to make that play right there is a game saver. If I'm not mistaken, Seager may have hit a foul ball in the first inning that the wind -- I think we all got a look at it and it just knocked it down like a pitching wedge. So at that point I thought somebody was going to have to do something special to get it through that, and he did. I mean, he hammered that ball. And I also look as what José did, and the play that Howie Kendrick made on Rendon's ball, that was a tough play for him to come up on a knee like that and then get up and throw out. The wind definitely was doing some strange things out there. I think the outfielders on both sides did a great job, and then the big blow was José's swing to cut through the wind right there. Q. You were able to add on your RBI singles in the fifth and the seventh, but the fact you were able to get those key hits today with traffic on the base paths, how good was that as you head forward in this series? DANIEL MURPHY: Yeah, again, there was traffic already out there. So Trea gets the base hit up the middle, Bryce works a really great at-bat after Trea steals a base and to shoot that ball in the 5-6 hole off the ridge, like I've never faced him before but that's unpleasant from a left-handed perspective. And then J-Dub takes a really good pass and just misses it, and fortunately I'm able to put that ball in play. And then J-Dub comes back the next at-bat with two outs, and hammers -- he cuts the wind, too, and short-hops the ball. He smoked that ball. I think maybe on a fair day it might get out of the ballpark. I get a pitch up the middle, up in the zone and am just able to kind of fight it off. I felt like it was a lineup we were able to really, really grind out at-bats on them, things like Danny Espinosa being able to take a couple a hit-by pitches, Jose's at-bat, Zimm had really good at-bats. Just up and down the lineup, we were able to keep traffic out there, quality at-bats, and the more chances we give ourselves, the better chance we have to win. Also, you've got to look at what the bullpen has done, there was a lot of traffic out there for the Dodgers today, too, and I thought our pitching staff top to bottom did a great job. Q. With that wind, did your approach change at all at the plate? DANIEL MURPHY: No, most of the time, I'm trying to pull it anyway. Q. I know we asked you these type of questions last year, as well, but how is post-season different from regular season hitting in terms of approach, preparation, those types of things? DANIEL MURPHY: Facing Clayton and Rich is a poor start to begin with, especially from left-hander's perspective. Me and Bryce, I don't know if they got a right-hander over there, I don't feel like, I haven't seen one yet. The nice thing is to get a couple days to prepare. During the season you're just running through the rotation, not a lot of days off. So we had four or five days to prepare for Clayton and even with the day off yesterday to do some work to prepare for Rich watching some video. I think on both sides you can see that senses are so heightened in the playoffs from a hitter's perspective and a pitcher's perspective that guys take pitches that you're not used to seeing them take. So it's so much fun, you get to the end of it, you're absolutely exhausted. But you can see from bother sides from an offensive approach, guys have great at-bats, pitchers are executing pitches. It just makes for really fun baseball. Q. You might have had the best seat in the ballpark for the home run off second base. What did it look like and feel like when you knew that wind was up there, and even looking at the swing, what was the moment like? DANIEL MURPHY: Yeah, I was at second base and he gets the ball up in the zone and when he hits it, you know he's got it good, and the first thing I'm pretty sure all of us thought about, him included, is there's a lot of traffic up there and there's a ton of wind up there. I almost missed third base because I saw Toles going after it, and he knew he got it pretty good, too, because he turned his back and ran. And last look I got, he ran out of real estate and it went out. It's a massive swing, I can't speak to how big it is, because we're down all day on Game 1, Seager, again, today, gets us in the first inning to give him a 1-0 lead, and then for him to get that blast right there and put us out in front, it gave us the chance to extend the lead and is the first time we were able to play from in front instead of behind. Q. You may have covered this ground. You saw one curveball in your first at-bat. Was there any benefit, I know the result of the play, there was no benefit, but in terms of benefit of seeing that curveball one time, even if the location was going to change, obviously the location of the second pitch was much different, but seeing that curveball one time before, the at-bat before. JOSE LOBATON: It was kind of like fastball, changeup, whatever, and you see something your first at-bat, you kind of know how it's going to be or how they break. That at-bat, my first at-bat, he got me, like I was guessing curveball my first at-bat, and I stayed too much back and I couldn't hit it good. Then my second at-bat, I wasn't guessing. I was trying to see the ball and hit it, and that one, I hit it better. So I feel like my mind was more like, you got that pitch before, you saw it, so you know how it's going to break. And I was able to hit it good. Q. Shortly before the home run, you had the play at the plate. How frustrating was that for you? Did you think you had him? Did you think you had the ball there for a moment, and then how hard was it to just put that play behind you as soon as it was over? JOSE LOBATON: Really bad, because that happened the inning the same -- the inning before, they got a groundball double play with the bases loaded and then I come into the defense and that happened. I was kind of like, my mind, you know, I've been growing up a lot in baseball. And I've been trying to put, separate a lot, what happened in the moment and keep going forward. It's just like it's nothing you can do after. I was pretty sure that I catch the ball and I was pretty sure that he was out, and then I check my glove and it wasn't there. So I was kind of like, wow, I mean, I feel bad for Harpy, it was a good throw and I feel like I make a good play there. But you know, it's something that it's going to happen. The only thing that you've got to do is just play and keep going. There's nothing we can do in the past. It's something that we can do for the next at-bat and concentrate. Q. Daniel, can you give us some perspective on how you guys regard José in the clubhouse and what he's meant to you guys over the course of the year that we might not be aware of? DANIEL MURPHY: Yeah, José just does a great job of coming to work every day, he's always prepared, and it's been fun to watch him. He's had to take some time off because of some injuries, but it seems like no matter what he gets in there, he puts quality at-bats on the opposing pitcher. I think it's easy to see behind the plate how good he is. His hands are so soft. He can present so many pitches as strikes. He throws the ball well. But most impressive thing that I've seen is to take the layoff that he's taken this year on a couple of occasions; because one, Willy has played so well, and two, he's had to deal with some unfortunate injuries. To be able to come in and have really, really good professional at-bats, and we saw it again today. When is the last time you hit right-handed in a game? JOSE LOBATON: Like month and a half. DANIEL MURPHY: That's just professional right there and it's fun to watch. This is what we get to see because we get to see him put the work in in the cage and then it get to pay off in the game? Q. It was a super emotional series last year between the Mets and the Dodgers, and that's when a lot of things -- you were very much a part of that. How much did that series for you personally and the next series pave the way for what's happened ever since in terms of hitting, the hitting you've done between then and now? DANIEL MURPHY: I know that one of the first things that I've been fortunate to be in is in a really good spot in two really good lineups. Especially last year the second half of the year in New York, it was a really, really formidable lineup. You look again, I think today is a culmination of what we have done this year over the course of 162 games and Dusty keeps putting me in the middle of it. So I get to reap the benefits of guys on base in front of me and guys swinging the bat well behind me. I think, like anything else, most of the guys in this room have more post-season experience than I do. Hopefully the more you're able to play in the post-season, it seems like you able to try to keep your heart rate down and you're able to go and recollect on situations you've been in before. And so that's what I've seen, I think, with all the guys on our team; that we're able to pull on past experiences and when the situations get really big, it doesn't mean we're necessarily going to be successful, but we're able to slow the game down enough to put ourselves in the best position to have success. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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