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NL DIVISION SERIES: NATIONALS VS DODGERS

October 2, 2019

Anthony Rendon

Los Angeles, California - Workout Day

Q. You just yawned. You got a little more famous last night for also yawning during the game in the dugout. Were you alerted to that fact and how are you feeling after the quick turnaround?
ANTHONY RENDON: I was not alerted about it. But I think Charlie did make a mention of it when we were actually walking out together from the field. But, yeah a little tired. Long road trip this morning, but it's part of the gig.

Q. Beats the alternative?
ANTHONY RENDON: Of what? Flying last night.

Q. Of not coming here?
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

(Laughter.) I thought you meant we could have flown last night.

(Laughter.)

Q. You in general kind of like keeping your demeanor the same way every day. And your manager has kind of done that, even when you guys didn't start the way you would like to. What does that do for you as a player, to have a manager that is kind of like that and what do you like about that, having a guy like that leading you guys?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, it's good. Especially if, it's a long season so you know not everything is going to go your way. That's not going to be a perfect 162-game season. He's at the helm, he's the kind of like the guy that drives our bus for us. And if he's calmest, collected, then it kind brings our vibe down because if he's not stressing about it, then I think he knows that is we'll be okay as well, if that makes sense.

Q. This has been your best season statistically at the plate in your career. Just wondering if you did anything in the off-season coming into this year where you knew, even before Game 1, that this is the type of year that you could have, 2019?
ANTHONY RENDON: Launch angle. No. Yeah, I really don't know. I've been getting a lot of those questions lately or at least this season. And I think if I actually knew, if I changed anything or if I knew if I was going to have this type of season, I actually would have done it a long time ago and I wouldn't have waited six or seven years into it. But I think that, man, I say all the time, I think I'm partly, I'm getting lucky. A lot of my balls are falling and, obviously, putting up good at-bats or whatever you want to call it. But I'm getting broken bat hits, I'm getting flares, I'm trying to pull the ball to left field, and I'll hit it off the end and it will trickle down the right field line, stuff like that. We talk about it in the clubhouse or in the dugout it's like, of course, he has another one that falls. And there's always that one player, those couple guys on the team that it happens to all the time. And when Murph went on his run and he was hitting, like .350 the whole year, that was what he was doing. You're like, that's how you hit .350, you get infield hits or the outfielder falls down trying to run down a baseball. So Trea's been getting on me a lot this year about that. So it's been kind of fun to be on that end of it.

Q. What was your cheapest hit this season?
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, man, let's see. I've had a lot.

(Laughter.)

I'm not going to lie. Oh, man. What did I do? I think it was, as far as a home run, there you go, the home run against the Brewers, where I bat flipped, where I thought I popped up. Perfect example. Like I was pissed off. Threw my bat. Ended up being a homer.

Q. What have you learned about Patrick Corbin in the time that he's been with you guys?
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, man, he throws a lot of sliders. But I love his tempo. I didn't realize that being on the other side of him, playing against him, but actually playing defense behind him, he's a dog, he goes after you. He's not going to change up his approach toward anybody, any type of hitter. He has a plan and he goes after it. He's not going to give in to anybody. So he grabs that ball and he throws it every single time and he's not waiting for anybody. As a defender, playing behind him, I love that. I personally don't like just sitting there waiting for someone to get the sign or have that slow tempo. So as a pitcher to have that kind of go-hard mentality, it's awesome.

Q. What about the guy off the field, the human part as opposed to the pitcher part?
ANTHONY RENDON: He's a little quiet. So kind of like reserved, a little stay-to-himself. But I think once you get him on a one-to-one setting or a smaller group, like when we go out to dinner, he opens up a little bit more. He's been hanging around with the pitchers a lot more. So he hangs out with Scherzer and Stras and himself. I'm not on that bandwagon. I don't get invited to those dinners.

Q. The game last night if, obviously, you guys didn't come back it could have been your last game with the Nats, in your contract. Is that something that you have been thinking about at all just as this final week or so has been coming to the end or how have your thoughts been this last week of the season?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, of course. As the human aspect of it, you want to think about your future and you want to wonder what's going to happen because nothing's set in stone. But we have bigger fish to Friday right now, so I can't worry about that and I'll just kind of let the cards play out how they fall.

Q. Is that easy to do?
ANTHONY RENDON: No.

(Laughter.)

To be honest with you, it's like anything else. It's a big decision in our life, in my life and my wife and my daughters and my family. But you can't worry about the future. We can only worry about what's happening right now. And we might have bigger plans for ourselves but when does that ever come to fruition? If it was up to us every single day, then we would all have a perfect life, but stuff happens, but, it's an imperfect world. We can't worry about the future, just try to be the best person we can today.

Q. When you see the Dodgers that you're facing, do you try to block out any memories of 2016? Is that a loss that sort of sticks out to you like throughout your career?
ANTHONY RENDON: No. That's in the past. It happens, it happens. You think about your girlfriend that broke up with you like 20 years ago? Probably not. So, no.

Q. How do you guard against trying to do too much in games like this that matter more because of what the stakes are?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, I think just trying to calm yourself down and trying to take it as it's just another baseball game. And try not to let too many other variables, playoff variables, the crowd, or the noise, or anything get into you, or the adrenaline. Just knowing it's playoff baseball your heart gets ready more and more and more and you're more excited. So just trying to calm yourself down and realize the bases are still 90 feet, the fences are still relatively 320 down the left field line. 400 to center. Just go out there and try to play baseball.

Q. Do you feel for pressure?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, it's playoffs. It's more important games and everyone wants to win and taking it serious, so you would be lying if you said no.

Q. I imagine certain things are harder to tune out than others. What's it like when you start hearing 43,000 chanting MVP?
ANTHONY RENDON: I don't know what they're yelling at or yelling for. It's definitely a little crazy. I don't know. I'm definitely not a fan of the attention. But it's good to get recognized for, I guess, the hard work that you put in over the years. So it's definitely humbling and appreciative.

Q. You do hear it, though?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, for sure.

Q. Dodgers announced Walker Buehler for Game 1. Presumably, Game 5, if necessary. You've hit him pretty well. What's the trick?
ANTHONY RENDON: Did I? I really don't know. Oh, man, see ball, hit ball. I'm going to give you the same boring answer. That ball still has to go over the plate, depending upon which umpire is behind there (smiling). And you got to try to hit it before it hits the catcher's glove. I try to keep it simple. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

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