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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: NATIONALS VS CARDINALS

October 14, 2019

Anthony Rendon

Washington D.C. - postgame 3

Nationals - 8, Cardinals - 1

Q. Anthony, take us through the diving play to get up to throw that. That's obviously a headlong dive, and you get up and make the throw.
ANTHONY RENDON: I don't know, I kind of just reacted to it. He hit it pretty hard. I didn't even think I was going to get to it, but I think I caught it behind my body instead of actually parallel. When I saw that I caught it, I figured I had a lot of time to get back up since he hit it about 200 miles an hour and just tried to make a good throw.

Q. First NLCS game for the Nationals here at Nationals Park, soldout crowd, brought the energy. You talked a lot in the regular season about getting these guys out here, seeing this team. Do you feel like this was the moment you guys were anticipating in a first NLCS game?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, definitely. The fans definitely showed up today. They've been nothing short of amazing during this playoff experience. Hopefully, we can continue to have them show up more and more. So maybe there's standing room only. Just let them in. The more, the merrier.

Q. Obviously, you're a free agent at the end of the year. Is this winning streak and the Nats doing so well, is it going to make it hard for you to even think about signing elsewhere?
ANTHONY RENDON: I'm not even thinking down the road. I'm don't eve know what I did yesterday, and I'm not even thinking about what I will do tomorrow. I live here, in the moment. One day at a time.

Q. You see what Stras did tonight, when you think about the first three games of this series, can you ever imagine this rotation doing what it did in the three games in this series so far?
ANTHONY RENDON: Yeah, definitely. Been around Max for a while. Been around Stras for a while. Watching Sanchy pitch throughout the whole year, I know what they're capable of. They've been nothing short of amazing. They've had their best stuff these last few days, and I know Corbin is going to go out there and try to be just as lights out as they have been. I think he had mentioned that earlier in the year, saying he doesn't want to be left out or something like that, especially after seeing starting pitchers in front of him dominate. So I know he's going to bring it.

Q. Going back to the play, the diving play, you smiled afterwards. Everyone seems to smile after these big plays. You talked a lot about fun and just enjoying this experience, but I wonder, how much has having fun been a part of getting to this point where you're now one win away from going to the World Series?
ANTHONY RENDON: At the end, it's just a game. There are bigger things going on in this world than the 90 feet bases and the 330 foot fences. So I mean, if you don't have fun out here in this game or in anything that you do, you probably shouldn't be doing it. So in the end, just have fun.

Q. In addition to everybody being as healthy as a team ever gets, is there anything in particular clicking these last three weeks? You've had other good streaks, but you're really playing good baseball now.
ANTHONY RENDON: I don't know. I feel like we've been the same team throughout the longevity of the year, even through Spring Training when we had our great times and had our bad times. Now we're just riding a wave of a good time right now. We personally don't want to get too high in our highs and too low in our lows and kind of just ride this wave as long as we can.

Q. You've been playing behind Stephen for a couple of these playoff games where he just kind of went out and has been as dominant as he has. What is it like playing behind him? Is it any different in the playoffs? What's it like watching that guy do that?
ANTHONY RENDON: It's amazing watching him. It can get kind of boring when he's striking everybody out. It's definitely awesome. Like I said, I've been behind him for a long time now. Man, he just continues to go after hitters. He's confident in every one of his pitches. He'll throw to any count. It's just awesome just to be behind him.

Q. What makes Howie Kendrick a good hitter?
ANTHONY RENDON: He's the greatest ever. I mean, you see the man. He's, what, 36 years old, and he's still doing it. He's built like a frickin' cinderblock. He's huge. Man, he stays short. He's strong. So if he puts that barrel to it and stays behind the ball, you see it. He does damage. So he knows how to hit. That's what he does.

Q. What do you think you're going to be doing at 36?
ANTHONY RENDON: Hopefully not playing baseball. Probably sitting on the couch hanging out with my kids. He's probably going to play another 20 years.

Q. What was said in that meeting on the mound in the seventh inning when everybody came out?
ANTHONY RENDON: Davey or the infield?

Q. Davey and the infield.
ANTHONY RENDON: I can't tell you all that good stuff. I think there's a lot of just trying to see where Stras was and just trying to -- I mean, I think as a manager, you try to get a feel. You ask certain questions to see who's going to be responding and what the response is going to be. So I think he was just trying to get a feel how Stras felt personally, and the answer was going to dictate what was going to happen.

Q. Short answer?
ANTHONY RENDON: You guys saw that.

Q. Anthony, going along with the theme of the veteran guys, the old guys, what Ryan Zimmerman's been able to do, with all the injuries he's gone through, to come through these last couple of weeks?
ANTHONY RENDON: He's been amazing as well, especially, like you said, dealing with injuries. Personally knowing about dealing with injuries, knowing that it's definitely a roller coaster ride mentally and you've got to stay on top of it. You're going to have a lot of great days going through your rehab process, but you're going to have a lot of bad days, as well, where you feel like it's the end of the world and you're not ever going to get better because you stay stagnant.

He continued to grind. He shows up each and every day trying to get better, and it's a testament to who he is as a person. It's been great.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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