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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES VS BREWERSOctober 4, 2018Bud BlackMilwaukee, Wisconsin - pregame 1 Q. Buddy, you're going with Tyler tomorrow -- BUD BLACK: We're talking about tomorrow? Q. Is that okay, because we just got done talking to Tyler. That's why I'm bringing it up. BUD BLACK: Okay, that's fine. I thought today we were going to talk about today. Today is pretty important, too. Q. Let's talk about today. Back to the game, today the Brewers announcing a kind of bullpen he owe did that affect anything in your plans for the roster? BUD BLACK: No. No. You know, and a lot of managers say this, and it's really true. We have to worry about what we do. We've got to worry about our team and how we approach this game as far as how their pitching sets up. We've got to have good at-bats no matter who we're facing. I mean, that's probably the simplest way I can put it. Whoever the Brewers throw, we have to have good at-bats. We have to get hits. Q. Today -- BUD BLACK: Well said. Q. Thank you. In the Brewers' lineup you're facing Yelich, who's as hot as hot can be -- BUD BLACK: Oh, boy, what a player. Q. If memory serves, back in 2002, you're pitching coach of a team that might have faced the hottest batter ever in the world -- BUD BLACK: Do you remember that guy? I remember that. That guy was good. I played with that guy. Q. In a short series, how do you approach a hot hitter? Do you have a plan? BUD BLACK: Yeah, we've talked about it, obviously, the last 48 hours. You know, there's a plan, and I think each pitcher has their own style to get their outs. But we definitely know this fellow is swinging the bat great. I mean, just like we talked about 16 years ago, you have to be careful depending on the game situation. With that said, I think there also has to be an aggressive mindset to pitch a baseball game. I don't think you go into a game not -- I think it's best to think aggressively to each and every hitter. But the game sort of tells you certain situations, and with this fellow, he's swinging the bat great. He has been, and we'll watch today to see what's going on, and we'll take note of his swings, like we will all their swings, and how their results are. But for sure, I mean, he's been tremendous, especially the second half, and especially this month. Q. Tyler Anderson, before the Brewers' roster expanded, they were like .500 against lefties. That changed a little bit in September, but I assume that's something having to do with putting Tyler where you did. BUD BLACK: Well, I think it's more about what we have and not so much about the Brewers. I think with Tyler, he's been one of our guys, even though you look at some of his -- he had a tough August, right, but he had a really good June and July, and he's been one of the mainstays in our rotation. And we feel good about what Tyler can do every time he takes the mound. He pitched a really good game last Saturday -- sorry, last Sunday against the Nationals in a game that we needed to win. Really liked where his stuff was, his velocity, his secondary pitches. He threw great. As it relates to the Brewers, we saw some of the numbers, but again, on any given day, anything can happen, but I think it's more about how we feel about our pitcher and not so much about the opposition. Q. Kind of a different way to get here, you guys have mostly the same team that you broke Spring Training with with the exception of picking up Holliday and Oh. They made some significant changes along the way. Can you comment on the journey to get here and the different ways to do it? BUD BLACK: Yeah. Well, that's a good question, probably one that we can expand on more in just talking baseball. But you're right, our team is basically in a lot of ways the same team we had last year. We've changed some names, but it hasn't been radical, the turnover of our players. And that's just something that we felt -- as the season moved on, we felt about our roster and about who we had in Triple-A, who might have been on the disabled list and coming back. And as we really identified a couple things that we needed, we sort of went out and got those in reference to another bullpen arm in Oh, a bigger right-handed presence in Matt, picking up the third catcher, even though he's not active in this series. We felt as though that's just basically what we needed to do. Did Jeff try to add some more? Yes, he did. He exhausted, as all general managers do, phone calls and names and the potential of other players. I mean, that was out there, of course, even though it might not have been written about. Believe me on that one. There were some phone calls made about other available players, but it never came to fruition. With that, we always felt good about the core of our position player group. We felt good about our pitching, both the starters and the relievers. And every year is different about how teams go about the second half or a pennant race push. The Dodgers did a lot. The Brewers made some significant changes on their position player group. The Cubs did. Every team does some things. But we kept pretty much intact, but it wasn't -- you know, it wasn't a fact that we didn't try to get something done because we did. Q. This is about earlier this year, in the past, is that okay? BUD BLACK: You got it. Q. What kind of role has Matt Holliday been on the team, obviously just beyond the hitter? What difference have you actually seen him make? At his age to not play most of the season, have you been surprised by any sort of production you've gotten from him? BUD BLACK: Well, for me, I think what should be stated first is his motivation was to help on the field, as was ours, for him. He didn't want to come here just to be ceremonial, back comes an old Rockie. He wanted to contribute. And I think all year long, even though he was not actively playing, he was down in Florida continuing to work out, staying in shape. I think he was going to the batting cage. He was doing things in the hopes of playing this season, and I'm -- it wouldn't surprise me if Matt wants to make a run at it next year playing again. As we got to the summer, we felt as though a reunion could happen because Jeff reached out. I think Matt's agents reached out to Jeff, and there was dialogue about the potential of this happening as far back as June, and then obviously it happened. As we talked, and his conversations with our guys, first thing first was the play on the field. But I also instinctively knew that he would be able to help us in the clubhouse because of the presence, his character, his experience, and from what I've heard, as a teammate. And that was realized when he got here when I saw the interaction he had initially with our players. And again, I can't speak to any specific conversations, but like when I walk through the clubhouse or when I see Matt talking to somebody by the cage, when I saw Matt in the indoor cage talking with guys, or I take a walk back to the back of the airplane where players are and I see conversations, I know that positive things are being said, and maybe wisdom is being espoused to whoever he's talking to. And from what I've heard from other coaches, ex-teammates about him, that my level of trust and whatever was going on in these conversations was high, that there was always something good being said and adding that way. And again, on another note, his sort of looseness around the clubhouse, he's not uptight. He's been around this a long time. He's been in pennant races. He's been in playoff games. He's won a World Series. All this experience is bound to rub off. Again, I wish I could state a specific conversation, but I've seen him. I've seen him talking, and I know good stuff has come out of those conversations. Q. Obviously coming off a great victory at Wrigley Field, but coming in here, best home winning percentage in the National League for the Brewers, what's the key to road success here? BUD BLACK: Well, first of all, they're a good team. There's no doubt about that. And they've really played well in the second half, and they've added to their initial group with Schoop and Moustakas, and they've done some nice things as far as adding to their roster. But here, it doesn't change what makes a successful ballgame. We've got to pitch well. We've got to play defense, and we've got to hit. We've got to slow them down a little bit. They're a good offensive club. They run the bases hard. They run it aggressively. We've got to stay on top of that. You know, hopefully we can catch a lead early in the game, middle part of the game, where you can take some of their weapons away out of that bullpen, because when they get a lead, they're awful tough with the guys that they bring out of that bullpen. You know, maybe if we can force it a little bit early to try to score, it's easier said than done. We've got to get on base and we've got to have good at-bats, but that helps when you have a lead early in the game that you might force them to use different sets of relievers. But in a short series with days off, they could still go to their guys out there even though if they're down a run or two to keep the game where it is. Q. Antonio Senzatela has been through a lot on and off the field in just a few short years. What have you seen from him over the last couple of years in developing, and how much does it mean to you to be able to hand him the baseball tonight? BUD BLACK: Well, I think with Antonio, we've seen just growth in his maturity, how he's handling this. I think coming into last season, Spring Training, we saw a guy, what, 22 years old handle making the big league team, was very excited, very emotional when we told him he was making it. And then I believe he went out and he went 10-1 to start the season and was talking about being an All-Star. So the performance has been there. And getting to know him as far as the competitor, the heartbeat, taking the scouting report and putting it into play, all the things that you look for, he's handled that very well. He's handled some adversity, right, taking him out of the rotation, putting him in the bullpen, not making the team this year, not pitching a lot early, pitching here late. He's handled all that with maturity. I know going into the game, we feel good about where the head is. We feel good about where the stuff is. I think the coaches and the teammates feel the same way about it when he takes the mound. So he's a guy that we trust. Q. You mentioned how tough Milwaukee's bullpen is. You'll get nine innings of their bullpen today. You saw what the A's did with their starting reliever last night. I wonder how much of this do you think both as a manager and as a former starting pitcher of the direction the game is going, and how much do you think this is almost a fad, if you will? BUD BLACK: Well, again, that's -- this is a conversation probably over a couple beers. I'll buy the first round, and I know you're not one to stand around or buy a round. I know that. You'll take charge. You'll buy one. But as it relates to just today's game, this game here, they're going to start a guy that hasn't been in the pennant, but this guy has been a Minor League starter. Who knows who comes out of there next? Could be Miley, could be Peralta, who knows who will start. I don't know if it's a true bullpen game because there's probably guys that might come to this game who have started whether it is Junior Guerra. We don't know. Philosophically, to answer that question in a couple sentences, I'm not sure whether this is something that we're going to see 10 years from now, 20 years from now, next year, but I know it's starting to happen, which tells us that there's been a lot of thought put into this by a lot of teams and how to run a game or a pitching staff. I also believe, though, that there are -- of the 150 Major League starters out there, 5 times 30, that there are guys like Sale and Verlander and our guys, Freeland, Marquez, Kershaw, Ryu, Buehler. These guys are going to start games, and they're probably -- they expect that they're going to throw way deep into the game. I don't think Clayton Kershaw thinks he's going to go four or five innings. He thinks he's probably going to go nine, and I think that's awesome. So I think that's in there. And I know that our guys think that they're going to pitch deep into the game, and we talk about that. I mean, these are some of the things that we talk about as a team. But I think just the roster makeup or the pitching staff of certain teams, it might make sense to do some of the things that teams are doing, whether this was led by Tampa and other teams are sort of following that model. It all depends on the pitchers that you have. I think that's the biggest thing. Philosophically, again, I think this is one that we talk about over a couple beers. Q. Some unsentimental decisions obviously have to go into a division roster. Can you explain, please, the presence of DJ Johnson and what you've seen from him lately, and then also the absence of Jon Gray and the tough decision there? BUD BLACK: Yeah, well, with DJ, we've liked what we've seen. Granted, it's been a small sample size, but his performance has been pretty solid. We've been watching DJ all year long, and we brought him up late in the year, but we think that the fastball plays, we like the curveball, we like his stuff, and we like what we've seen just as far as the makeup and handling this moment. It was a decision between two or three different relief pitchers, and we settled on DJ because we think that we can help, and there's a little bit of the unknown factor that goes into this. He hasn't faced these guys. There's not a track record. I think that advantage always sort of goes to the pitcher, but that's probably a lesser reason. The bigger reason was we think he's pitching well, is in a good spot to get outs just because of his talent. With Jon, we decided on Senzatela today, Tyler tomorrow, and then whatever order with Kyle and German, and we felt as though these were the four guys that we were going to pitch in this series. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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