NL WILD CARD SERIES: PADRES VS METS

October 7, 2022

Buck Showalter

Citi Field

New York Mets

Postgame Press Conference

San Diego - 7, New York - 1

Q. Max talked about his fastball just not being there today and felt like he didn't have the normal ride on it. At times it was almost sinking. When did it look to you like he was off with that pitch?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Well, he's got such good command of all his pitches. He was having trouble getting the ball away from his glove. He was trying to throw the ball in, for instance, to Bell, and he can't get it there.

He had a lot of pitches that were leaking on him, but with Max that's happened before early in the outing and he's made the adjustments. Tonight he wasn't able to.

But we didn't score any runs regardless of what -- obviously the expectations for Max are always high because of his track record, but we just didn't score any runs. We knew Darvish was going to be a challenge, and he was.

Q. How much does a stunning night like that from a guy who's pitched in such huge games throughout the course of his career, how much of an effect does that have on the group itself?

BUCK SHOWALTER: It's your word stunning. We know how hard -- it's not. We know how hard it is to do what Max does and how much we appreciate it and how good other pitchers are. That's why you're playing this time of year.

So it's happened some. We've had guys that have fought their way through it. It just tells you how good Darvish is because our guys obviously had a lot of want to. We had a man on third and one out twice and a chance to hit back early and gain some momentum getting back into it. Usually we answer there, and we had a chance to, but Darvish wouldn't let us.

Q. You kind of mentioned it right there, Buck, but what do you think allowed Darvish to settle in there? Because you did have the opportunity to get to him early.

BUCK SHOWALTER: He's got two breaking balls -- he really throws so many pitches, and he commands them, but I think he threw -- I know there were a number of times -- behind the count there are no-hitter counts with him as far as everything's -- there's two shapes of breaking balls, really three with the cutter, the slider, and the curveball. When he wants to, he makes pitches with that even to the left-handed hitters.

Obviously Max, with the expectations that he has for himself and what he's done for us and throughout baseball, but Darvish is on top of his game. We knew that was going to be a challenge. He's just got so many things you have to defend.

I don't think -- I think he ended up -- did he walk anybody? I know he had one hit by a pitch, and that's the difference.

Our bullpen pitched real well tonight out of there, but we just couldn't figure out a way to get some runs, some offense going. That was the story for me, the job that they did in the pitching department for a starter.

Q. Can you also confirm that it's going to be Jacob tomorrow?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Yeah, Jake will pitch tomorrow.

Q. Buck, just to that point, when you made the decision to pull Max, please take me through your thinking about bullpen order, and was there any thought to maybe Peterson first or just how you came about the order you did out of the rest of this one?

BUCK SHOWALTER: I like to keep Pete real short so he's available the next two days, something he hasn't done a whole lot of, and we were able to by picking the inning. Whatever order we did, they certainly pitched real well out there. So wanted to get Mychal out there too.

All of those guys, I felt confident with them. Lugo's pitched real well through left-handed hitters, through that rip we had there. May is a guy that can get ready quick and get in the game. We've actually been able to pitch him the last couple times, finish up an inning, and go back out there. That wasn't something he was able to do earlier in the year.

Q. So Max said he was feeling fine, but he really didn't have an answer to what kind of a cumulative effect the injuries, the side injuries have had on him and missing time for much of the year. Do you think when you don't have an answer for why something is happening, that that could be part of the reason?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Always. Nobody looks in a mirror harder than Max. He's always trying to figure it out. I'm hoping that we can play well and give him a chance to get back out there.

But it's going to be up to us starting tomorrow.

You know, he's a guy that doesn't chase excuses. He wouldn't even bring it up unless you ask him the question. I know you do. It's normal because you've got a guy that pitches most of the time so well, and when it's not there for him against a good team, those questions get asked.

I'm sure it's something we'll look at at the right time. We always do. I'm like you. You see it, and you go is there something going on there? If you've been around Max as much as we have, he doesn't chase anything other than the mirror.

We'll look at it though. Obviously when you see something that's a break from what your expectations are, you do look at things like that.

Q. Comparatively, it reminds me of what happened to him coming out of the NLDS last year into the Championship Series, where he struggled and then could never even get back into the series.

BUCK SHOWALTER: He doesn't live in -- he learns from things, and he moves on. There's nothing -- he'll be in the dugout tomorrow pulling for Jake and our club and hoping he gets another chance to pitch for us.

It's just the competitive nature. If you can imagine how he must -- how frustrating it is for him, but his command is the thing that's frustrating for him. He's got good stuff, but usually when he can command three pitches and sometimes four, it's fun to watch.

He had a pitch on Bell in the home run, and he's trying to throw the ball a certain place and it leaked completely away from where he wanted it to. That's where it's frustrating for him.

Q. Buck, do you sense any surprise from the team to go from leading the division for most of the season to all of a sudden now you're facing elimination probably sooner than a lot of guys expected? Is that a feeling that you sense and something that you have to help them with?

BUCK SHOWALTER: No, it's reality, and our guys have stayed in that the whole time. We ended up the same record as somebody else in our division, and we're getting an opportunity now, and we'll get one tomorrow to right the ship.

I know our guys will come out and present themselves well. I've got a lot of confidence in them.

Q. Just to be clear, if you're going to get to where you want to go, you're going to lean on Max pretty hard this month. Do you have concern that he's physically compromised?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Not necessarily. Lean on him, Max and Jake have fought through some things to get to this point, and we've had other people pitch well, holding the fort down, because we played 162 games, 163 now. Max and Jake will be the first to tell you it takes a large group.

But as far as riding -- no. We're going to try to win tomorrow night's game and see where we are. We'll talk and see where we are with Jake -- I'm sorry. With Max. And if there's an adjustment to be made, we'll make it. I hope not.

Guys are human beings. Sometimes we expect them to be sometimes exactly what they've done in the past. It doesn't happen every time. The other team's good too. This is hard to do. My money's on Max and on figuring it out, and Jake and hopefully Bass if we can get there.