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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES VS ASTROS

October 16, 2019

AJ Hinch

New York, New York - Workout Day

Q. How beneficial is this?
AJ HINCH: You know what, it gives everybody a day off and kind of an opportunity to collect ourselves before Game 4. It changes our pitching a little bit.

How beneficial it is is probably easier to answer after I see how guys perform and how the pitching plays out. But like I said, it's kind of a wait and see. But it does solidify who we start in Game 4 and Game 5 without having to go to a bullpen game.

Q. Is that a pretty easy decision, Verlander and Greinke on their normal rest?
AJ HINCH: Yes, very easy for us. It was our plan if this happened. It's Zack's normal day, he was going to pitch on Thursday no matter what it was. JV on regular rest in Game 5. As soon as we can use our best pitchers the better for us. It was an easy decision.

Q. How do you feel about how the series stands right now? Up 2-1, 2 potential games at home, you still have Greinke, Verlander, and Cole all set to start if needed.
AJ HINCH: I see it as an opportunity for the next game. I know there's a lot of what-ifs. Now that our pitching is set for the next couple of nights, we know we're going to have pretty good weather based on the forecast. But I think it's also important for us not to look too far ahead of Game 4. We know we're going to face Tanaka.

It's an important game. Every game is magnified as you get deeper and deeper. Very disciplined, only care about the next game, and that's what we're focusing on.

Q. (INAUDIBLE.)
AJ HINCH: We'll look at it based on how the games play out. But we haven't even played game one of a potential four-game stretch. Right now our goal is to win the next game. But we play four games in a row all the time during the season. From the beginning of this stretch -- we do it all the time. It's something that players are equipped to handle from the very beginning. But it's really a non-topic.

Q. You were talking about Tanaka. What made him so effective against you guys in his last start?
AJ HINCH: He was really good at making his pitches and he stayed with his game plan. He doesn't throw a lot of fastballs. He didn't change his approach. He stayed with his split and his slider. He was really good at locating his pitches. It looked like strikes and ended up barely balls.

Anytime the moment gets really big he is good at slowing the game down himself and maybe taking even a little bit off of his pitches as opposed to powering through it. We'd like to see us have a more disciplined approach, but that's easier said than done with the stuff he has.

That's the cat-and-mouse game when you face Tanaka is to stay disciplined, wait for a pitch to hit or if it's there to hit early in the count, be ready then, too.

Q. Greinke has been a little bit homer prone in the postseason. What do you attribute that to?
AJ HINCH: Well, the first pitch he was on 10 or 11 days' rest. I don't think he had his best secondary pitches. And then the other day against the Yankees that was really the only damage they did were the home runs, which this team -- it's one of their strengths.

I think for him execution is always key. He's one of the best at it when he gets locked in with his mechanics and timing and delivery. He makes his pitches when he makes his pitches and he's really, really difficult to hit. And you can see that just based on how good he is for as long as he's been good.

And I think it will all come down to pitches.

Q. How are you feeling about the series so far, for Joe Smith and for Ryan Pressly, the jobs they've done?
AJ HINCH: They're both pitched in a couple of games. I think Joe Smith was an unsung hero in Game 2 with the multiple innings. And then coming in last night got a big out against Encarnacion. He's very valuable against these right-handed hitters. Given his veteran status and how much he's been around, it's nice to see him contribute, having battled back from a very significant injury.

Pressly has pitched in a couple of games, as well, and we're going to keep giving him the ball and give him the opportunities to pitch in these leverage roles, because he's got some of the best stuff on our staff. He hasn't been back to his All-Star caliber level yet, but that doesn't mean the next time out that he doesn't handle that situation and get the outs that he needed.

It's easy to remember that relievers give up a couple of runs or a couple of hits, there are also some encouraging signs in his first outing with some good stuff.

Q. As you mentioned, not having a concern playing four days in a row, and you guys normally do. Any concern that you might deal differently with that?
AJ HINCH: We've traveled from the West Coast. The trip from Anaheim getting in at 4:00 in the morning, the trip from Seattle getting in at 4:00 in the morning, from Oakland. I'm not saying it's routine for us, but we do it quite a bit. But if it comes to that we'll handle it just fine. The adrenaline helps. The excitement of every game helps. It's not really on my radar to be concerned about it.

We'll look into whatever Game 6 is going to bring, but there's so much baseball that has to be played we haven't begun discussions on if or when or whether or not that would even be important or relevant at this point.

Q. A couple of games in this series Springer looks like he's limped or looked uncomfortable. Last night at third base you went and talked to him a little bit. Is he dealing with anything that is a concern?
AJ HINCH: In Game 2 he had a couple of instances of cramping in his legs and it bothered him in Game 2. Actually, the conversation that I had yesterday had nothing to do with health, it was all about the first iteration with the infield being halfway or being in, and Britton generating some soft contact with Brantley, we wanted to have him fully aware of what we wanted him to do on the bases. I didn't have one conversation with him about his health.

Q. The overall philosophy of the organization of embracing who's the best and never hesitating from the start of spring training. You're the best team in baseball and you're supposed to win and what you're supposed to do, and how that plays out in given situations like this, where there's a change in schedules, playing at Yankee Stadium, that you guys are not intimidated but want to be intimidating.
AJ HINCH: I think when you have expectations you have a couple of ways teams try to play it. Some teams try to play it off and be low key about it. I think the best route for us is to embrace it. We have to do a lot of things to have the team that we have. We need to stay humble and continue to do the work to be a good team in all facets of the game.

And you can't -- you can't just show up and play just because you think you're the best team in the league. You have to go out and prove it day-in and day-out. Our guys embrace it because it's going to be there regardless. People are going to talk about 300-win seasons in a row or a World Series title in '17 or winning your division. They're going to put it all out there for you.

And I've taken the approach with our team to embrace it and note it, and get after it with the preparation to try to continue.

Q. You said before that you guys had played four-game series, but we all know the pressure of the postseason, the intensity of those innings, those outs, that it is a harder task. In terms of the bullpen usage can't be anticipated, but is it fair for us to think that this isn't just the typical four-game series, this is really an intense series for bullpen guys that might be used to stringing together a regular season four-game series?
AJ HINCH: We don't have a choice. It is what it is, the way the schedule is. So we're not going to panic about it until we know what's in front of us. And we're not going to talk about Games 2, 3, and 4 until we get through the next game. It's just not our mentality to worry about the things you're talking about.

We're here to win, and win as fast as we can. If it takes all four games, if our bullpen gets used a lot and our pitching gets used a lot, then that's what it's going to take to get to the World Series. But honestly, it's not something that we're going to talk about internally going into the next game in this playoff series, it's just not.

Q. Sánchez had success against you guys during the regular season. Is it something you guys are doing or something on his side?
AJ HINCH: You know, I don't know. I don't want to give my opinion on anything we're doing until we see what's next. Obviously we're trying to attack guys where we think we can get them out. We're trying to avoid the big swing and big moments, with Sánchez in particular. We've done a pretty good job of making pitches but from a strategic standpoint, we've got too much baseball left to play for me to evaluate his performance.

Q. You guys have seen a good amount of the Yankees bullpen.
AJ HINCH: I think anytime -- the more you see a pitcher the better, whether it's in one game or playing a team over and over. And I get this question all the time is about what is the order for a starter or whether it's a starter seeing the same team in back-to-back starts during the regular season. The more you see them the more beneficial it is. It doesn't make it easier to hit elite, but it does give some comfort to the hitter as you continue to mount at-bats against the guy that you've seen their pitches. You see the sequences and how they're trying to get guys out. For both sides. Two starts for Tanaka and Paxton and for Greinke and JV are all coming in back-to-back against the same team. Same thing applies to them.

Q. Do you buy into the splits for success for pitchers, like for example Tanaka had such a lack of success at Minute Maid Park, had much more success at home, that happens with your pitchers, too? Does that matter in the postseason?
AJ HINCH: I don't think it is an exact science with any of these numbers. These are humans, they're still trying to play the game and they can certainly kind of outperform expectations or even underperform expectations when the numbers are in their favor.

I think the postseason is a completely different set of circumstances and a completely different environment for everybody. So I think -- they're interesting things to look at. They are certainly trends or tendencies or previous behavior but I think you'd be foolish to think that's exactly how it's going to play out every time, otherwise why play the games.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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