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AL WILDCARD GAME: RAYS VS ATHLETICS

October 2, 2019

Kevin Cash

Oakland, California

Q. Kevin, you taught probably a couple of us off guard with some of your lineup decisions, Yandy Diaz and Brosseau, how you put them in the lineup, what was your thinking?
KEVIN CASH: Well, with Yandy, he probably caught us off guard a little bit with how quickly he turned around over the last five, six days. But we're confident that that's a presence, especially a big bat against left-handed pitching. He showed enough taking ground balls that he looks fine at first mobility-wise. And with -- given Sean Manaea good as he is especially against left-handed pitching, we wanted to do everything we could to thicken our lineup with some righties, and Brass kind of fits that same mold. Young player that is probably super excited to be in there with the opportunity right now. But give him some credit for making the most of his opportunities throughout the course of the season.

Q. You've done this as a player, but how is it different coming in here for the first time as a manager in a playoff game?
KEVIN CASH: I did it as a really bad player. I did a lot of cheerleading, which was exciting. There wasn't too much pressure.

It's different, there's no doubt. I mean, obviously we feel like we have a really good team. The guys have performed well all season long. You want everything to go right, and that pressure, that anxiety can creep in a little bit more in this position than maybe as a player that was just high-fiving his teammates.

Q. When it's all in, when it's one game, win or go home, how different does the managing, the matchups, all of that become?
KEVIN CASH: Pretty different. I think it's fair to say it's all different. More aggressive with some of the moves, the pinch-hit, the bullpen, all those things. But really won't know that until the game gets underway. The good thing is that we've got a stabilizer in Charlie Morton on the mound. Their pitcher is really good, also. We are fortunate that Charlie has the "been there done that" experience of so many levels. But I can't sit here and say it's like managing the first game of a three or four-game series.

Q. I remember in the first series the Giants had at home, you had Kolarek on the mound and you moved him to first base for a couple batters, then back to the mound. You moved a couple infielders around. What's the process of getting players to buy into that, especially guys who might come from different organizations who might not have that knowledge from the Minor Leagues? And is that something that you think that even large market clubs could get creative with or should get creative with?
KEVIN CASH: Oh, I wouldn't talk on any other clubs. I know the buy-in that we get on a whole, it's pretty impressive. The only thing that we do in Spring Training is we ask our pitchers during their PFPs to play short, to play first, to play second and just catch the ball. Believe me, though, when we do it during the game, we're sitting there with our eyes closed, fingers crossed that the ball is not going to go in that vicinity.

Q. Is Sogard continuing to make progress in terms of staying ready for a possible next series?
KEVIN CASH: Yeah, look, I think if we had another two days, there's a chance he's on the roster. We just kind of ran out of time a little bit. But the process over the last 72 hours, he really felt much better Sunday, two off-days, but he hasn't had the at-bats, he hasn't had the reps at all. So it was good to see him take ground balls yesterday, take batting practice. He's getting closer. Hopefully we have that opportunity.

Q. What's your take on the fact that you have a 97-win team, 96-win team, playing a one-game playoff after how hard you guys work all year, and then you have the Indians with 93 who didn't even make it?
KEVIN CASH: Tough league.

Q. Is there any other way of doing this?
KEVIN CASH: No, it's a tough league. That's just how we feel. This is the way MLB likes it. This is the way the fans like it. I mean, look, I watched the game last night, that was pretty exciting. You see the fans, and you're creating a Game 7 right here. And for a lot of our players, I feel like we've felt like that over the last 10 days, given who we were playing, whether it's the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Red Sox, and how we needed to win so many of them because of the success that Oakland and Cleveland were having.

Q. The Coliseum can be a pretty sleepy place a lot of times during the year. They're expecting upwards of 50,000 tonight. Did you try to prepare your players at all to let them know this might not be the Oakland experience that they usually get?
KEVIN CASH: No, I didn't, but I would agree with you. These fans are special fans. I said yesterday, you know, the Oakland Raiders play here. We know about those fans on that side. And when Oakland Athletics are playing well, you've seen it on TV in the past, this is a pretty special environment that can be created here. We've got to find a way to just embrace it. We're fortunate that we play in some ballparks in the American League East that have some really great fan bases, and it can get loud at times.

We just got back from LA, which for us, we don't see that very often, playing the Dodgers in September. That was exciting. I would anticipate it's going to be even louder here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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