	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS INDIANS

October 9, 2017

Joe Girardi

New York, New York - postgame 4

Yankees - 7, Indians - 3

Q. Joe, just with Severino, he was so bad in the Wild Card game and so uncharacteristic. You had a lot of faith because you know how talented he is and how mentally he'd be able to handle bouncing back like that.
JOE GIRARDI: Part of it is the steps I've seen him take this year. You've seen players continue to take that step and he'd done it all year.

I told him after the game, he grew up a lot today. He started to get tired after the six innings and it was the part of the lineup giving him trouble and he was able to get the extra inning, which was good for our bullpen. To me, that's growing up.

Q. Joe, I know Judge had that one hit. That was a key at-bat against Bauer in the second. What allowed him to challenge Bauer so much where he was kind of forced to throw fastballs to him?
JOE GIRARDI: I just think, again, I've said he's been patient and he continues to be patient. They're making a lot of good pitches on him, there's no doubt about it.

But he's maintaining his strike zone when he gets a pitch to hit, a lot of times he's able to hit it. He was able to do it tonight. That is a huge hit. It's a big hit. There's a big difference between 2 and 4. It allowed Seve to relax a little bit. They clawed their way back into it. They got it to 5-3, but we were able to add on. That's important to a club like this, that we were able to change the momentum back.

Q. You guys have a lot of momentum going into Game 5. How important do you think it is for a lot of the young players on the team?
JOE GIRARDI: The fact that we've been able to play in some of these games, I think, helps. You play in the game, Minnesota. You play in the game where you're down 2-0, you're down 2-1. You're facing a guy that we really didn't do anything off of the last time.

So, I mean, obviously, we know we're facing a great pitcher, but there's a lot of confidence in that room, and they pick each other up and they grind out at-bats and pitchers pick each other up and make big pitches.

So should be a lot of fun Wednesday.

Q. Joe, getting back to Severino, what specifically did you see the difference in the way he attacked the Indians' lineup this time in the previous game and the Wild Card game?
JOE GIRARDI: I thought he was on the corners more. I thought he was down more today. He really didn't hit a spot. I asked Larry after that -- six hitters that he saw in the game against Minnesota, I said, You know, he was up.

He goes, He didn't really hit one spot the whole night in that game.

But tonight, he did. And I think he was able to relax a lot more. He was able to control his adrenaline. I believe the first fastball we saw against him -- for him against Minnesota was 100. Maybe the first one was 96 tonight. He was able to channel things down and make his pitch, as opposed to just trying to power his way through it.

Q. Joe, each time your team has been faced with a must-win, they've stepped up to the challenge. Have you learned anything throughout this stretch with your team that's maybe caught you off guard?
JOE GIRARDI: No, I don't think so. I've seen them step up a lot during the course of the season, but obviously, you know, when you're in the playoffs, I think it's important to learn how to win those games and I think you play -- you see players mature pretty quickly in these type of games.

So moving forward, I think it's important. Obviously, Wednesday's a really big game and let's see what happens.

Q. I recognize it's a lot, but I wonder if you can in some way frame the past 48 hours from how you personally and this team might have felt on Saturday and how you feel right now.
JOE GIRARDI: Yeah. When you go through what we went through on -- I don't even remember what day that was. Friday. It's as difficult a loss as I've had as a manager.

Had some difficult losses as a player. But it's really difficult. And it's difficult because I care so much. And it's not just -- it's not caring about myself. It's caring about everyone else that is involved and that is wrapped up in the Yankee baseball.

You know, whether it's the fans, the front office, the owner, the players, the trainers, the support staff, the coaches. I really care. And, you know, we've gotten it back to 2-2, and we got a shot now.

So it's a totally different feeling than it was the other day, and these guys have picked me up.

Q. Joe, could you just walk us through the eighth with Dellin and then Kahnle?
JOE GIRARDI: Dellin struggled throwing strikes and I just felt like I had to make the move to go to Kahnle. And in a night where you're trying to stay away from Chapman, I'm trying to do everything I can to stay away from Chapman, so I just felt like I had to make the move. His other four innings have been really pretty good.

But tonight, he was a little off.

Q. And also, your DH spot --
JOE GIRARDI: Yeah. Well, they're due. That's the bottom line, they're due. So hopefully, they have a big night on Wednesday.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297