|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MLB WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS VS ASTROSOctober 28, 2019Joe SmithWill HarrisHouston, Texas - Workout Day Q. Joe, could you have expected to play this big a role in the World Series when you were recovering from your injury and pitched as well as you have, as well? JOE SMITH: I don't know. I was just trying to get back. Missing as much time as I did, I wasn't really thinking ahead. I figured I'd have a bigger one against the Yankees, being able to pitch well against them. And then obviously when Washington series and the Nationals, I knew there had a lot of right-handed hitters, I knew there would be an opportunity to pitch. And fortunately, I've been able to throw the ball well, and he keeps calling my name. Q. What's the level of trust the club has in Justin Verlander? And what have you learned from him or taken from him, the thing that impresses you most watching him, being his teammate? WILL HARRIS: For me it's been his preparation is pretty unmatched, I guess you'd say. He takes in, absorbs a lot of information and uses it as much as he can. About himself, he's not afraid to try and always get better. I mean, as good of a career as he's had, he's still critiquing himself on a daily basis. Middle of games making adjustments with grips. You figure a guy that's been doing it as long as him and as much success as him he'd pretty much have one way of doing things, but he's always trying to learn, always trying to get better. I think that's why he's gotten better at such a late stage in his career. I don't see why he won't continue to get better because he kind of has that mentality. JOE SMITH: Will nailed it. The guy is unbelievable. And he works at it to be unbelievable. He has the most confidence in himself and anything -- he challenges people in the clubhouse when we talk about pitching and stuff, but it's challenging to like explain it to me, let me see if I can make this work into what he's doing. The way he's pitching this year, he's pitching better this year than he was last year. It's amazing. Q. AJ said the other day one of the toughest conversations he had as a manager was to tell you that you weren't on the ALCS roster last year. Can you take us through your emotions when that happened. Has that been a driving force for you coming back this year to pitch as well as you have? WILL HARRIS: Not a driving force. I'm pretty motivated to be good all the time. But, yeah, it wasn't something -- really didn't expect. I kind of figured I was a 50/50 shot in the first round, and I ended up making it. And I was probably a 50/50 shot in the second round and didn't make it. It's just kind of the way teams are built now. Like I've said it many times, it's almost as hard to make a playoff bullpen with some teams as it is to make an All-Star Team. Because if you're lacking anything these days, team are going to go out and get it at the deadline. With the guys we added last year and the way they were pitching coming down the stretch, it was very difficult. So I didn't take it as like a shot at me. I just think it was the guys we had in the bullpen were so darn good that, you know, it was just a tough thing to do. But, yeah, it didn't like motivate me any extra this offseason. It was a normal offseason, normal season for me. Just the ball bounced my way more this year than it did last year. Q. Do you wonder, given how dominant both these teams were throughout the season at home, why the series has played out the way it has with only the road teams winning? WILL HARRIS: I don't have an answer for you. It's baseball. Just -- I mean, we scored more runs than they did. That's about it. I don't know what to expect for tomorrow other than I think we expect to play well and we expect for them to play really well also. When you look back on it, when it's all said and done, we're just trying to win each game every day. If it didn't work out that day, focus on the next day. I don't think there's really a rhyme or reason why maybe that's happened. Q. Just thinking about how the team regrouped in DC. On that off day before Game 3, did either of you guys do anything as like a palate cleanser, like watch a movie, get a nice dinner, anything to take your mind off the first two games? WILL HARRIS: I'm trying to remember the off day. I'm trying to remember what day that was. JOE SMITH: We came in early and threw. WILL HARRIS: Me and you. JOE SMITH: We came in early and threw, then we flew. No, the confidence never left us, you know. We didn't play our best baseball in Games 1 and 2. And we had opportunities to win them both, and we didn't, and that was fine. But it was just a matter of time. You could feel it coming. I could feel it coming. I think we all could feel it coming. And just stopping the bleeding, as Breggie said, and getting that first game at their place was just -- that was huge. And Jose Urquidy, obviously with the job he did for us, people are saying it was going to be a bullpen day was unbelievable. And then tying it up with basically a three-game series left where you've got Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, and Zack Greinke, it's a pretty good spot to be in. Q. Joe, often in the playoffs, especially in the World Series, the focus is largely on the top of the lineups and the star starting pitchers. But it often comes down to some of the guys that we're really not paying attention to. Maybe some of the bullpen guys, Chirinos, Maldonado, you've had so many contributions. Just from your perspective how big can those role players play? JOE SMITH: It's unbelievable. Jose Urquidy was in Spring Training with us. He started the season in Double-A, and now this guy is going out there in the World Series on the biggest stage when we need him. Josh James did it last year for us. The addition of Robinson Chirinos, he's been unbelievable throughout the season. But to do this you need everybody. It's been a fun year. And it's even more fun now. And it gets so special when you see everybody coming together to do it. Yeah, we know, we know who the superstars are, and we need them or else we wouldn't be here. But it's pretty cool when you see guys stepping up when they get their opportunity to. Q. Joe, have you had an opportunity to take in the moment for a minute, while you're living in the moment, given how long it took you to get to this point and what you've weathered and now you're here pitching in the World Series in meaningful situations? JOE SMITH: No, not yet. 27 more outs and a W might, that will do it. Q. What about for you, Will, where you were in 2015 and here you are pitching meaningful moments, meaningful innings for this team in this situation? WILL HARRIS: Yeah, I mean, I've done it before. So this postseason is not out of my comfort zone, I guess you'd say, being a part of this team for the last five years. I just think me and Joe are two types of guys that just want to do our job as well as we can for as long as we can. And that's about it. And it kind of ends there. There's not really much more to it than that when it comes to both of us -- JOE SMITH: We just want to be good. I just want to be good. WILL HARRIS: We just want to be good at baseball. That's it. I just want to be good. We just want to be somebody you can count on, and usually for a lot of our careers we have been and we just want to continue to be that. And that's kind of about it. When you play on teams like this, it makes it even more important and even more fun. And so we're looking forward to getting an opportunity to do it again tomorrow. Q. Joe, there's a photo that we see today of you and AJ I think in the dugout after you came out of the game last night. What was being said during that moment and what does his leadership mean to you for this season? JOE SMITH: What was being said? I think he was yelling at me, I think, in a very calm and nice way. No, just putting the ball in the lights with Trea Turner. I probably gave him too good of a pitch to hit 0-2 just like I did with Yan. And he was telling me, Hey, man, let's get that slider out there a little bit better. No, it's been really fun playing for AJ. When I first came over I had obviously talked to Tony Sipp, one of my friends I played with in Cleveland, and Will a little bit I think even that offseason, just figuring out when I was coming here to sign, what it was like. He's a very calm, same guy every day, keeps it light. Keeps it fun. And obviously with this group, how can you not have fun? But I've had a lot of fun playing here over the last two years. Need one more game to close it out and have a really good time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|