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NL DIVISION SERIES: NATIONALS VS DODGERSOctober 9, 2019Dave MartinezLos Angeles, California - pregame 5 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. First time you guys faced Buehler, you have Cabrera in the lineup. Tonight you decided and Zim. Can you walk us through the thought process there? DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, I like having, one, I like having Cabrera on the switch hitter coming off the bench. Zim's swung the bat well, he's been swinging the bat well, so I wanted to keep him in there. Q. Was there a question about whether Robles could play tonight? Was that a possibility and how much did Michael's play the last couple games factor into it at all? DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, we watched, Vic worked out yesterday. Watched him, he's better, just quite not there. He's definitely available to pinch hit. But he's one of our young unbelievable players. And the way he plays, if you see him play every day there's no, he can tell you he's going to try to go 80 percent or something, but he can't, he is just not that kind of player. So we want to be smart about this. If we need him to pinch hit later on he's available. And Michael is playing really well. And I said this before, there's really not big of a difference between the way he plays center field and the way Victor plays center field. Q. You came along rather late in Strasburg's evolution, but for what he's done this year, is it just being healthy that has a lot to do with how good a year he's had? DAVE MARTINEZ: I honestly believe the reason why he's healthy is because of what he put himself through over the winter and how he's maintained himself throughout the summer. He's definitely worked really hard to keep himself healthy and that's a testament to just who he is and how he, every day he wants to get better. He's proved that this year. Q. Howie Kendrick plays first base or second base, which position do you like the best because he had a bad foot? DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, for me, Howie, I like him playing second base here in Dodger Stadium. If you guys, the ball here, the grass is really fast in the infield. It gives him a little bit more time to get ready. And Zim's a really good first baseman. I'm comfortable putting Howie either first or second. I definitely like him today at second base. Q. What's your message to the team and how do you approach them before today's Game 5? Do you bring out some music, what do you do? DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, man it's just, hey, it's another day. We have been through this since May 24th. We have been playing playoff games since May 24th. I mean, that's the way we look at it. So I did tell them, I said, look, I packed a lot of clothes in my suitcase, so I don't want to pack for nothing, so let's keep it going. But they're all loose, they're ready, the music's going to be playing before the game like they always do. But they're getting prepared and getting ready to play a game. Q. When you first got Daniel Hudson you talked about he may be coming in with guys on base, be a 7th, 8th inning guy. What did he do to earn your trust and become a closer and one of your most trusted relievers? DAVE MARTINEZ: Since we got him he's been unbelievable. I love the fact that he comes in and throws strikes. He's very aware of the situations when he comes in, he understands how he wants to attack hitters when he comes in, all the time. But he's been really good since we have had him. When I first got him, Doo was our closer. And I've said this before, and Doo's actually been pitching really well, so having both of those guys at the back end it could go either way. You could have Hudson in the 7th, 8th, whatever and you could of Doo 7th, 8th and then the other guy come in. So having them both is definitely awesome. Q. Back on Strasburg, the oddity of the season is that his two worst games were against Diamondbacks. What happened in those games that was different than, what did they do and what didn't he do that made those the anomalies? DAVE MARTINEZ: I think what he did looking back, especially in the one game in Arizona, his fastball was all over the place. He couldn't locate his fastball. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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