NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 19, 2021

Brian Snitker

Dodger Stadium

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Los Angeles Dodgers - 6, Atlanta Braves - 5

Q. When you look at that pitch that Luke threw, do you just look at that as one of the cruelties in the game, something you can't explain?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, I mean, he probably wanted to, if he was going up, go up a little higher. It happens.

Q. What did you think of Charlie after that first inning?

BRIAN SNITKER: I thought it was outstanding the fact that what he went through in the first inning to get through five innings. That was huge for us. He kind of seemed to, I don't know, kind of got a second wind, so to speak, and then threw the ball extremely well.

It was a rough first inning and he was probably a hit or two away from not even getting through that and then to give us five I thought was outstanding.

Q. Are you still planning on a bullpen game for tomorrow?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yup.

Q. Given what your team's experienced throughout the year, does that give you more comfort as to what their mood will be tomorrow?

BRIAN SNITKER: Oh, yeah. No, they will be fine. They will come out. They will be ready to play. They're going prepare as always. We have lost tough games before and bounced back and done really good things. So this is just one of them games that it's like it's, you got to get 27 outs, man. And like I said earlier, you got to make pitches and plays and the whole thing and it just didn't happen today.

Q. How important could it be for these next couple days that you got into the bullpen as early as you did?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah. No, no, there are, these guys are all going to be tired. When the season's going to be over these guys are going to be hanging. There's no doubt about it. They got all winter to rest, and it's, I think they're all going to be fine. We're probably, I don't know, we'll talk about it. It might be a couple guys we want to stay away from, I don't know. But we got to do what we got to do right now.

Q. I know you weren't worried about Freddie Freeman, but for him to have a three-hit game like he did today, what sort of comfort does that give you going forward?

BRIAN SNITKER: Well, no, I just knew that he's the type of player that can do that. He had a rough couple days, and I said I think everybody forgot that three games ago he's the reason we are here right now. So guys go through that. It's just magnified this time of year, I think, or this time of year and beginning of the year it gets magnified also.

If you do this in July or something, nobody even pays any attention to it, and Freddie is the caliber of player that he's going to bounce back and had really good swings today.

Q. Have you decided who will start?

BRIAN SNITKER: No, not yet. We'll talk about that when I leave here probably.

Q. When you go through that discussion, does anything that's happened in the series influence it?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we'll look at the game today and the guys we used and then pair that up with guys we haven't used. We have good options. We have some really good options to start the game for a couple innings or something, and then a lot of guys that are good to go, that are ready to pitch tomorrow. So we're just going to figure out how we're going to line it up.

Q. You guys have managed in three games here to knock out Max Scherzer and now Walker Buehler fairly early from these starts. As you look forward, do you think that bodes well for you guys long-term?

BRIAN SNITKER: Well, you know what, it was, it's two games. I don't know that -- you don't look at that and think we're just going to keep doing that because the next day's starter is a really good pitcher too and it's just, we were fortunate in the last couple of games to do that, but I don't know that it's, once the game starts tomorrow, the starter they have will dictate what goes on.

Q. I know it's a new year, but is there any way you can juxtapose how you might have felt after Game 3 last year versus how you feel now?

BRIAN SNITKER: Hell, I don't even remember how I felt last year (laughing). So I can't remember what I had for breakfast, let alone what happened last year.

No, I mean, we feel good. We're confident. I think our guys, like I said earlier in the day, our guys are, every year are getting more and more battle-tested and we played a really good game out there today. Like I said, a lot of really good things happened and we didn't get one pitch back.

But I think the guys have a lot of confidence in themselves and they will get a good night's sleep and have a nice dinner and be ready to go tomorrow and there's going to be no residual affects after this game here, like there never has been with this group, I don't feel.

Even going through it last year when we had a 3-1 lead we just found out how tough it is to win a game. I mean, when you compartmentalize it and it's kind of like you get your behind the 8-ball -- and you don't have to win three games, all you have to do is win one game in one of these series, that's the only thing you have to do. Because if you look at the big picture like that you'll drive yourself nuts.

Q. Didn't notice in the 8th if Will Smith was up?

BRIAN SNITKER: He was up. Yeah, he was up, but I wasn't going to pitch Will more than four outs. He hasn't done that, we need him the rest of the series, but I did have him up in the right situation, yes.