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NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS VS NATIONALSOctober 9, 2017Carl Edwards, Jr.Anthony RizzoChicago, Illinois - postgame 3 Q. Carl, the other day we were talking with you in the clubhouse in Washington and you said how you wanted the ball. Again, how eager were you to get the ball again and as a bonus, if that's the right word, to face Harper again? CARL EDWARDS, JR.: I was excited. I told you last outing that I wanted really, really bad. Just me getting back out there really helped that a lot. Q. What about Harper? CARL EDWARDS, JR.: And Harper, the guy can hit, man. He's not, you know, Bryce Harper for nothing. The guy's good. And you know, it's just nice it get back up there against him. Q. Anthony, the cameras caught you pretty clearly screaming, "Respect me, respect me" after your single, and I wonder what you were referring to; that they pitch to you rather than walk you? ANTHONY RIZZO: Yeah, that's the mentality I take always with the base open. I want to make guys pay. I hit where I hit in the order. I drive in runs, and that's just the mentality that I always take in. Usually I keep that stuff behind the scenes and say that stuff, but just my emotions got me there. But you know, that's the mentality. I believe I'm a really good hitter. I believe I'm one of the best hitters in the game and you have to believe that. You have to believe in that. There's a lot of power that comes with that? Q. With Harper, it looked like five pitches, all fastballs tonight. Was that -- why that approach? And secondly, just how important do you think you and the setup guys in front of Wade Davis are to this Cubs team? CARL EDWARDS, JR.: Yeah, I took a different -- same approach as last time I faced him. Just last time I left a hanging curveball up. And the setup guys in front of Wade, our goal is to go out there and get a clean inning to keep our team in it. We take the lead and hand the ball over to him. He's been real good this year. Q. What does it mean that Joe has so much faith to put you in the game and really has your back? CARL EDWARDS, JR.: It means a lot to me as a young player, coming in and taking, you know, being in a pressure situation like that. I actually refer that back to last year, when I was coming in in crucial situations, and all that, I feel like is leading up to right now where I'm at today. Q. Anthony, when Scherzer gets taken out of the game, is there a change in your guys's -- do your eyes open a little bit wider; the guy that had not given up a hit until so late in the game, is it good to get him out of there? ANTHONY RIZZO: Of course. He's Max Scherzer for a reason. He was dominating us, there's no two ways about it. And Zo with that hit, the double, to get him out of the game was big for us. You just feel energy when you get guys like him out of the game. They have a really good bullpen, but when you get their ace, their guy out of the game, then obviously we have to score. But a lot of momentum when we got that one run. Q. Anthony, there were two games in this series where their starting pitcher looked like they were dominating you, but you hung in there, your starter gave you a chance, and the offense battled back. What's the mentality -- and we've seen it now three years. What's the mentality that enables you to do that? ANTHONY RIZZO: You've just got to stay in the moment. These games, it doesn't matter what you did the last at-bat; if you got a hit, if you got a home run. It's all about that pitch and that next pitch, and you've got to be ready for that pitch. What you did, you know, previously, means nothing anymore. You've got to be ready every single pitch, and to stay in games like this, we know; we know we're good. We know someone is going to come through, and it's just a matter of time before someone does. Today it was Zobrist getting us started with the double. That was big; Jon Jay with the bunt there in the ninth. There's just so many little things; C.J. bouncing right back today and getting three quick outs for us. It's just who we are. We all believe in each other. Q. Joe said that you guys were really happy for Schwarber; that you came back and won the game. Is that how you felt about it? ANTHONY RIZZO: That's who we are as a group. There really needs to be nothing said when he comes in the dugout, and there really wasn't much of anything said. We pick him up and we pick each other up, and that's what makes us a really good group. And we've been playing together now for a few years, and we know we give our best all the time. No one wants to make a mistake. No one wants to give up a hit. No one wants to give up a run and make an error. That's what you have to do as a teammate is pick up everyone on the team. Q. Anthony, along that part, there are some guys in the bullpen, C.J. and Pedro, who have been around awhile. The growth of that bullpen, when you talk about you guys do things your way, just how does it feel when you look up and you see those familiar faces coming in in big spots? ANTHONY RIZZO: I think just that's the way our team's built. I think that's our identity is we have kind of a three, four-headed monster down there, and we have guys that can get outs when we need to get outs, and today was no different. We have full trust in our bullpen and when our starters go deep like that, it really makes it hard for the other team to score some runs. Q. With you guys being up in the series now, what's your mentality going into Game 4, and how do you feel in terms of ending the series tomorrow? ANTHONY RIZZO: We feel good. You know, we've got to attack. We've got to be in attack mode. There's no relaxing just because we're up in the series. I'm a big, big believer in, you know, travel day wins. You've got to get that win on a travel day because it makes everything better. The flight's better; everything, the morale is better. Tomorrow we have a chance to, you know, seal it up here at Wrigley Field, and I expect our fans to be insane, just like they always are, and we'll be ready to go. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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