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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: NATIONALS VS CARDINALSOctober 15, 2019Mike ShildtWashington D.C. - pregame 4 Q. With the addition of Bader to your lineup, are you trying to take advantage of what could be an advantage with your base stealing? MIKE SHILDT: Absolutely. We have a different way of competing with different skill sets. When Harrison's in there, he provides us elite defense and a threat with the bat and also on the bases, as well. Q. Mike, if you get there, how might the approach or the way you look to attack Sanchez be different versus obviously he's sort of had his way in Game 1. MIKE SHILDT: I can't wait to get there, yeah. Clearly, we've got to be able to -- we've got to force him to repeat what he did, which was pretty special, and it will be pretty challenging for him to do. But he's clearly a very competent, longtime professional pitcher in this league. It's really just about continuing to get more balls in the zone and really just not missing pitches that we get. That's going to be really critical is being ready to hit early and be ready to do some damage. Q. Mike, you talked last night about the importance of jumping out to a lead tonight for you all. With Tommy, who's had so much energy here over the last couple of weeks and been successful at the plate and then José right behind him, is that sort of taking guys who have been hot recently here as much as they have been and trying to get them going? MIKE SHILDT: Absolutely. That's the whole genesis of the lineup is getting those guys up to the top who have been taking those kind of at-bats. Tommy's been in that situation. Joséy's been in that situation. Like I said, we got here with another combination and just made an adjustment and feel comfortable that Eddie can spark plug us and Josy and just ride from there. Q. Mike, what was the tipping point for you in that regard? Is it the lefty you're going to face that gives the reason? Is it the lack of runs here you've seen? MIKE SHILDT: Combination. We've got a lefty going. We've got Corbin. This is a lineup that you've seen that we've run out against lefties some. So that was a part of it. The other factor was not being able to do anything or scratch any runs across. Better at-bats last night, I thought, but not good enough. Their guy, again, was really good. Longtime buddy of mine, a scout that I respected, Tom, was like that was a different level change-up. It just got better as the game went. I don't know this to be true, people can say, well, you tipped your hat. Guy is making elite pitches, that's tough, but we also have to recognize that we have to do something different. Give it a different look and see what we can do. So it's a combination of Corbin being from the left side, a combination of the first three games not being able to do much with any consistency. And also, with an opportunity with guys that have done this and been successful for us, for them to get in there and create an opportunity for them. Q. Your players take a great deal of pride in being resilient. They've shown that all season long. How do you think they'll handle the challenge? MIKE SHILDT: No question we'll step up to this challenge. I was asked earlier a similar question. Where's your point of reference for your optimism? Because people are like you seem pretty optimistic. I think you live longer being an optimist and just better. But aside from that, optimism stems from this team's work, and it's not eye wash. We got here for a reason. This has been a team that has always believed in itself. It's a team that will continue to do that. It's more important to do it, obviously, when your back is against the wall, but we come out, and we'll come out getting after it. We have a point of reference also of winning four straight in Chicago. People talk about history. We hadn't done that since 1921 in this storied franchise and did it very recently. So we have points of reference of success, but ultimately, we just have to take care of today and build from there. Q. Mike, what was the conversation like with Dexter, leaving him out of the lineup? MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, like all our guys, a complete pro. Had the conversation with him prior to yesterday's game. Just had a conversation with him, look, we're going to mix it up. We just need to do something a little bit different. Don't ask him to agree, but ask him to understand. Like all our guys, which has been such a phenomenal thing for me is you've got a group of guys that genuinely care about the greater good. So he understood it and said whatever you need. I appreciate the conversation, and I'll be ready for whatever. Q. Is Mikolas your pitcher for tomorrow if you play tomorrow? MIKE SHILDT: Correct. Q. I thought Wacha was throwing well in that simulated game. If you need him, is he able to help you at some point? MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, the roster is set, but Michael threw two 20 on-and-offs today and looked really good. Hitters were even more complimentary, similar hitters, Zoney and Munoz, about how it was coming out, the movement, the crispness. Michael felt good. So he looked like Michael Wacha. So that was a real positive. Q. Mike, I know every game is unique and different, but do you feel like these Nationals starters are, in some ways, building off of each other? It seems like they have almost like a baton passing going on between their starts. Is there a sense of if you can get one of them off track, maybe that could be an opening here? MIKE SHILDT: That's a great question, Ben. I think there's some truth to that. They have a better feel for that. They always say -- whoever they is -- that hitting is contagious. I also feel like pitching can be contagious, too. I know internally, when we started to take off, our starting pitching really started to have that continuity, and I can tell you that that group was pulling for each other and also competing to say I can do this, and I can move this forward, as well. My sense is that's probably happening with that group. My sense is also that probably isn't the first time that's happened with that group either. This is a group that's been together and has some history together and has had success together. So I do feel like they're definitely riding that momentum as a unit, and I also think, to your point, as soon as you knock that momentum off, lights out. Here we go. Q. Mike, you mentioned being an optimist, and you've also mentioned recognizing that you've got to take them one game at a time. How much confidence, if you just see them do it once again today, do you think that could roll into future games in this series? MIKE SHILDT: No question about it. I think that definitely will help spark -- you know, we need to get something going. We have confidence. We know we got here for a reason, but by the same token, we need to experience success to feel good about what that looks like. Like I said, we had a lead. So get a lead, play, play the game, get some outs, shake some heads into the game, that's a whole different environment, ready to go and get after it. That spark can lead to a big fire. Q. Mike, you mentioned the change-up from Strasburg last night. MIKE SHILDT: Yes, sir. Q. Just describe that pitch. It's got to be one of the better pitches you see all year. MIKE SHILDT: It is. It's an elite pitch, it really is. You can argue what's the best pitch in baseball. Having some hitting background and having been in the game a while, I always feel like the change-up is the best pitch in baseball because it's the only pitch that's mimicked from another pitch. We do know that the longer a ball comes out of the hand looking like a similar pitch, the more effective it is, but that's what it is. It's just got great action. The arm action is really good. Nothing deviates from it. Then it just comes in and it's got the -- and it's on the plate, and it's like it's got that sensor with the bat head. As soon as it starts to swing, it knows to start to drop. But it's just got tremendous action. You know, we can talk, and we have, it's not for lack of effort. It is for lack of execution, but that execution is easier said than done to say, hey, just lay off of it. Just lay off of it. When it's on the plate and it's looking like a strike late, that's what guys are trained to swing at. Q. Mike, one of the topics, it seems, back on sports radio, et cetera, in St. Louis today is the fact that Marcell opted to not speak with reporters last night after the game. Where do you stand on that? Obviously, he was probably upset with the way the game went, but do you think it's part of their obligation, part of their job to talk to the fans, talk to media? MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I wasn't really aware of that, Mark. I probably should be. It's a big question. Specific to Marcell, Marcell's a very accountable guy, but he's also a guy that's very sincere about us doing well and is very, very dedicated and a strong desire for us to win this whole thing. So I can't speak to where he was. I can understand that -- you know, you feel like you laid it all out there and something doesn't go your way. It can easily be as simple as he had an obligation, something outside of here. I think sometimes -- I know sometimes we forget these are humans, and we'd like the access all the time. The fact of the matter is I've only been in this league for three years but studied and watched sports my whole life and followed things. There's more access now to me, our staff, our players than ever before. So maybe some consideration can be given for just not being available all the time in this media driven world. There is a responsibility to accountability, so we appreciate that, and I think Marc is open for what that accountability looks like. I don't think he's a guy that's ever going to shy away from saying anything, but I do think he gets the opportunity to have a private moment or to have something personal that he wants to take care of or think about or do that doesn't -- shouldn't reflect on him as a -- or his character, about how he wants to respond or be accountable to something. Q. Mike, last night it looked like Yadi took a rather significant foul ball off the mask, off the head. I wonder how he was, if that passed quickly or if there was some check he had to go through. MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, he's fine. Everything's good thankfully. Q. Over in the ALCS, a topic of conversation has been pitch tipping, and I'm wondering, in general -- MIKE SHILDT: I haven't heard anything about this pitch tipping thing. What's that news? Is there video about something going on about that? Relaying -- I'm being facetious, of course. (Laughter). Q. How much of a concern is that for managers, pitchers, catchers in today's baseball? MIKE SHILDT: You had to go there, didn't you? I like a fair game. I like a straight up game in anything that I play. Now it's to your opinion, to the game's opinion, to people's own clubhouse's opinion as to what that game looks like. I will never do anything to try to -- I've got my own clubhouse to worry about or think about, and I'm no moralist, and I don't know where that line -- what that line looks like. But I will say that if something's being done within competition that you can see or something's been done that's obvious, that's fine, too. I do think that -- again, it depends on how you want to look to compete and how you feel about it and what that line looks like. Like I say, I like pure competition. I think it's important that we -- look, I fail about it. We all fail about it. We're in the public eye. We're human. We're going to have moments of weakness. But I do think we have a responsibility to compete the right way, not only under the guise of what pure competition looks like and fair competition, but also how we represent our game to the public and, most importantly, to the young people that are playing our game and what that looks like. So, again, there's a lot of gray in there. So my hope is that we're doing things within the game that is -- again, everybody's got their own version of ethics, right? But there's a line there, and people can decide what line they want to stay on. I feel really good about how we compete is the way I should probably leave it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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