	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

NL DIVISION SERIES: NATIONALS VS DODGERS

October 9, 2019

Anthony Rendon

Los Angeles - postgame 5

Nationals - 7, Dodgers - 3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You had a pretty good series overall at the plate, but your home run against Kershaw really kind of got the rally going there. First of all, were you surprised to see Kershaw out there to start that inning?
ANTHONY RENDON: No, I think that was the rumbling after Game 4, everyone was talking about how Buehler was going to go as long as he could and then for the possibility of Kershaw coming in. So we weren't surprised about it.

Q. You've batted against Kershaw in his career. Obviously he's been doing this a long time, nobody's going to be the same pitcher for 10 straight years, but is he just easier to bat against now than he was five years ago?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, tell him that, see what he says. No, definitely not. Like you say, he's been doing this for so long, he's been great for so long, but I think we just maybe want to say we got lucky tonight or we just wanted to be aggressive. We knew that -- well I personally knew that he's always going to be around the zone, he's always going to be a strike thrower and we wanted to be aggressive and just try to put the barrel on it and we just happened to get him tonight.

Q. Howie Kendrick had had some bad moments in this series. To see him come through the way he did with the grand slam how did you feel for him in that moment?
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, man, Howie's been doing this all year so personally it was no surprise. He's the epitome of a professional hitter. He's what, he's like 45 years old and still doing this. But, man, I mean we're all going to make mistakes, we're all going to make errors, we're human, we're not perfect people, that's a part of the game. He's not going to give up, he's just going to continue to keep on trucking and that man can hit. So he did what he needed to do.

Q. Was there a turning point in this game where you felt like you guys were going to take this?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, I think it had to be in the 8th inning once we tied the ball game. I'm not sure if it was the crowd or the energy in the dugout, whatever it might have been, but I tried to stay right here (Indicating) the whole time, you guys know, so I kind of just can see the energy get a little bit higher in our dugout and you could see the Dodgers and their morale and even the crowd, people started trickling out and so, man, we just tried to up-and-downs on that and tried to take advantage of it.

Q. You were watching the crowd in the 8th inning a little bit?
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, a hundred percent. There's not too many people that can experience moments like this where you have 40,000 people cheering against you. I'm looking in the crowd, I'm enjoying it.

Q. Your bullpen had been criticized, sometimes fairly. Where did the confidence come from that you had to where in the 8th inning you felt like even though the game was tied that you guys could take it.
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, man, Hudson and Doolittle, they have been shut down or lights out for the majority of the year. They have been awesome, they really carried us through the later half of the year and man you try to face a six-six guy, Daniel Hudson, throwing 98 miles-an-hour fast balls and an 88 mile-an-hour slider sand see if you can like it. So tell me, I'm confident in those guys.

Q. Howie admittedly had had a difficult series and he was 0-4 when he stepped up to bat in the 10th. When you saw the ball clear the fence what was your reaction?
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, man, I was trying to push it out. I was on second base and there had been a couple balls hit pretty well in the beginning of the game or earlier in the game and they got caught at the wall. And Howie hit his dead center, so I was like, all right, go, go, go. And I knew he had squared it up real well and it was loud and I was just trying to tag up in case that Bellinger caught it, but I was really ecstatic that it went out.

Q. To follow-up, when Walker left the game and he turns the ball over to Clayton with a 3-1 lead the Dodgers they all to a man said they felt quite good about their prospects. How did you feel when you still have to face Kershaw now?
ANTHONY RENDON: I think anybody that they bring out of their bullpen or anybody on their pitching staff, I mean there's a reason why they won over a hundred games, they're a great ball club, they can hit and they can pitch as well. So we wanted to continue to stay aggressive and try to be confident. We're not going to just sit there and take it and roll over and die, so we wanted to continue to fight like we have been doing all year.

Q. Can you talk about embracing this moment and then what a wonderful opportunity to play in a game like this was for the fans and the players.
ANTHONY RENDON: Not many people get to experience this or a moment like this. So obviously there's going to be nerves and there's going to be some emotions that are wild, but that's what's fun about it, that's what's awesome. You got to try to just contain yourself and just realize that at the end it's just a game. I mean we got soldiers fighting for the freedom of this country on the other side of the world, I think that's more important than this game that we're playing right now. So I would rather be playing baseball than getting shot at.

Q. This team, it's been documented, they have had some struggles along the way, particularly back in May when you were floundering a bit. From where you were to where you are now put it into words.
ANTHONY RENDON: Oh, man, keep fighting. I think that's the story of maybe this organization. We have always either done really, really well and then came up short or we had been plagued with injuries and had to continue to fight out of a hole that we dug ourselves in the beginning of the year. So we just wanted to keep believing in ourselves and not worry about what people outside of our locker room were saying and saying that maybe we might not make it or maybe we need to trade everybody away and we kept on believing in ourselves and just kept on playing ball.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297