|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS INDIANSOctober 9, 2017Todd FrazierDidi GregoriusNew York, New York - pregame 4 Q. Guys, we've been talking to you all season about some of the fun stuff you've done, including the Thumbs Down shirt that Todd's wearing and the dugout interviews and the pointing after a big hit. Just wondering, do you think that kind of camaraderie helped you guys relax last night in your biggest game of the year and will help you relax moving forward? TODD FRAZIER: I think all that stuff kind of intertwines with everything. A lot of stuff happens during the season. Lucky for us, we had some guy put the thumbs down kind of thing and it kind of just took off. I know Didi does a lot of emoji things that people love. That kind of interaction, that kind of makes baseball even better. And for something that means totally the opposite, it's just silly things like that. It does, it makes a team come together and it makes for a fun time coming to the ballpark. DIDI GREGORIUS: Like for me, I think thumbs down, pointing, do everything, it just shows the whole team is together. It's not just one guy pointing and everybody just staring at him, you know. We start something, you want the whole team to be on it. That shows everybody is together. Everybody plays hard. New guy comes in, Frazier comes in, everybody came in, everybody keep doing the same thing, thumbs down, pointing, all of the above, interviews in the dugout. But it's just keeping everybody loose, keeping everybody, like, happy and concentrating on the game at the same time. So the more relaxed, I think, the better. And after yesterday's game, I mean, Tanaka went out battling, pitched really good, so that's one thing that kept us in the game, striking out a lot of guys, runners in scoring position, getting ground balls and everything. That changes the whole thing, kept the momentum going our way and Bird came out big. So that's how it shows you everybody's together. Q. Todd, you mentioned last night that you were on a Reds team that was up 2-0, then lost three in San Francisco. I'm wondering if you talked about that. Didi was on that team, too. I wonder if you mentioned that at all to the guys. Was there a certain point in that series where you guys felt pressure when the giants had won a couple games? TODD FRAZIER: I think every game is pressure. Pressure-filled. I remember coming back and there was a big error in the tenth inning, I think, and they ended up beating it. The Giants beat us 2-1. The momentum kind of shifted a little bit. And I remember Hunter Pence had -- like we talk about camaraderie, he had these speeches he would do before games and we heard about it. And we're like, ah, you know, whatever, that's nonsense, whatever. Next thing you know, they win the next game by five runs. Next thing you know, we're playing at home and we felt like our backs were against the wall. Eventually, we ended up losing three straight. Been in the predicament before, and now I'm on the opposite end. Talking about it, not really. I don't think we're at that point. I think we're just at the point we're trying to keep that momentum alive and just keep on finding ways to get runs and finding ways to win games. Right now, I think we're on a good track right now, especially after last night. Any way we can win, we'll take it, and they got to do the same thing, too. So the Indians have to do the same thing and so do we. We're just fighting to get Ws. That's it. Q. Todd, you faced Andrew last night. Does his stuff look the same to you? And also, the fact that you guys got to him, he was so automatic last year, the fact that you got to him kind of like gives you guys a little more confidence facing him? TODD FRAZIER: Yeah. I think it's the same. I tip my cap there. The one slider he threw was pretty nasty. One of those things I looked at him, gave him one of these (gesturing). He's still there. He's still nasty. He's, what, 6'9", 6'10", and he's kind of like a Chris Sale, to be honest with you. Comes after you and has a nasty offspeed. So I think all his stuff is there. It was just one pitch, and I'm glad Bird took care of it. Just one of those guys where when he comes up, you got to figure out a way to get on base, figure out a way to get a knock. And he is, he still has his commanding stuff for sure. Q. Todd, you mentioned you being a local guy and I know you mentioned in the past you were at the Leyritz game in '95. What have these last two home playoff games felt like to you and what does it mean to be a part of that to you? TODD FRAZIER: It pretty much brings back all those memories. From watching them to being at a couple of them, I remember even a regular season game against the Red Sox, Nick Johnson hit a big home run, and it's just -- I remember now guys are still telling me, you know, the stadium's shaking still. So it's one of those things. I was up in the nose bleeds, too, watching these games. It was crazy. I remember telling my dad, Hey, man, are we going to be all right up here? He's like, Yeah, we'll be all right. They're exciting, man. You can hear the crowd playing a big part. We appreciate them and the way they're getting after it, man. We're having fun. It's just a great place to play, and with the crowd behind us 100 percent, seems like every pitch, it helps out that much more. Q. For either or both of you, just wondering what you might -- what you think you might see out of Severino tonight and how the Wild Card game and what he went through in that, what sort of impact that might have on what you see. DIDI GREGORIUS: I think about the Wild Card game, I think he learned from that. So whatever happened in the past already happened. So you can't focus on negative stuff. Just go back to his last couple starts, he's been really good. I think he's going to go back to that. That's what we want from our guy. He's been one of our aces from our team with CC and Tanaka the whole year. So why not go back to that. I think he will just look in the positive way and then go back to that. He'll be fine. So we've got nothing to worry about the Wild Card. It already happened. Q. Again, on Severino, what's it like to play behind him when he's on? Just what you see out of him, body language-wise, what it's like, seeing the hitters at the plate, how defenseless they might be when he has his good stuff. What do you guys notice out of him? TODD FRAZIER: I think the biggest part, I know Didi will attest this too, he works fast. That's 100 percent, makes us ready even more. And it's just one of those things where you got a guy working fast, throwing upper 90s, even in the 100s with a couple devastating off-speed pitches, that will throw any time in the count. We're ready. When I have to shift to go to second base, I got to sprint over there, which is good. Keeps us in the game. That's what he said, when he's working fast and he's getting the pitch, when Sanchez puts whatever pitch he puts down, he's like, Let's go, let's do it. That's when he's more devastating. Me and Didi are ready even more. That's the biggest thing defensive-wise. That's the best thing that can happen for us. Whether he's giving up hits or not, we're still in the game defensively because of how fast his pace is, for sure. Q. For such a young team you guys have, Sanchez and Judge and Bird, how quickly do the guys grow up in the playoffs when it's not such a new experience anymore, but because you've been through a couple of battles in the first four games of the postseason that you start to kind of adjust to the atmosphere and the setting? DIDI GREGORIUS: I think you're playing in Yankees stadium, the atmosphere is like this every day. So I think the guys grew up, I mean, right away. Even the first game, even started the Wild Card. But I think all the guys are here, are just as ready as they were day one. So everybody's ready. It's not because the guy is young, but he still has a lot of experience because he played a lot of games already. So if you look at it, it's another game, but it's more meaningful. I think they're already grown up and they'll do fine, especially when you see what they've been doing. So it's been amazing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|