NL WILD CARD SERIES: PHILLIES VS CARDINALS

October 8, 2022

Oliver Marmol

Busch Stadium

St. Louis Cardinals

Postgame Press Conference

Cardinals, 0 - Phillies, 2

Q. Ollie, your office was driven so much by Goldy and Nolan. They gave you stellar seasons.

OLIVER MARMOL: Yeah. I think you answered the question. Those guys carried us for the entire year. They did a phenomenal job of not taking any at-bats off. And at the end of the day, baseball is tough. They had a tough stretch there at the end. It's part of the game. Obviously the timing of it isn't ideal, but it wasn't the lack of preparation or competing, I'll tell you that. Those are ultra competitors that were giving everything they had. Proud of them.

Q. All the way back to Spring Training, you said that every guy said the goal was to get to the World Series. To have it come up short, especially for Yepez and Albert, how tough is this?

OLIVER MARMOL: Yeah, it's tough. Obviously we're disappointed. Anything short of a World Series is going to be a disappoint for us. So getting bounced out, credit to the Phillies, they beat us today. We didn't beat ourselves. They beat us. And our goal was to win the whole thing. Unfortunately we came up short. That clubhouse is disappointed, but we took our best shot.

Q. Ollie, from a personal standpoint, knowing how bad guys like Goldy and Nolan wanted this and wanted to be able to perform in this moment, what's the emotion and how you feel for those guys right now?

OLIVER MARMOL: Yeah. It's unfortunate. Everybody in that clubhouse is feeling it right now. It's a tough one. When you know it's Yadi's last year and Albert's last year, there's this extra motivation to deliver for them and do something special and allow that story to end with a championship. So it's obviously disappointing, but it's where we're at.

Q. Was there one particular difference in the series that you can cite right now without having the chance to sit back and think about it a little bit?

OLIVER MARMOL: In what way?

Q. What was the difference in why the Phillies won and you didn't?

OLIVER MARMOL: We just couldn't produce offensively outside of a two-run homer from Yepez off the bench. We just didn't put up runs. Need runs to win. So we were in a tough stretch where our offense wasn't producing and ran into this two-game series as well.

Q. How big would it have been to get that run across in the first, get a jump at least on this game?

OLIVER MARMOL: Yeah. I mean, we've seen our club score early, and it just kind of gets the guys going. We saw that several games back. Our offense wasn't producing, and he got everything going there. Broke the ice. At the end of the day, we didn't score. Yeah, it would have been helpful to build off of that in that first inning.

Q. How big did you think those defensive plays you made cut down two runners and the one inning was going to carry it over for you?

OLIVER MARMOL: Yeah. Our hope was that we could build off that and then offensively do something. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get anything going.

Q. Can you share some of what you told the team after the game?

OLIVER MARMOL: Yeah. I'll tell you this, that's a respectful group, one that is full of veterans. I remember I was watching them retire Tim Duncan's number in San Antonio and Popovich's main message during that speech was he wanted to thank Tim for allowing him to coach him.

And when I let that sink in, we have a veteran group that has done this a long time. Some of them have been there a lot longer than me, and the way and the respect they have for me and the staff was meaningful. So I thanked them for that because it allows you to set the culture for the young guys that are coming up. So that was part of it.

Q. What does it continue to say about Albert from the two at-bats he came through in the clutch again, got base hits, tried to keep the thing sparked and get something going for you?

OLIVER MARMOL: That he's one of the best hitters that ever played this game. He continues to deliver big moments. That's what makes him who he is.

Q. Did you get a sense that Goldy was pressing, swinging the ball in the dirt? Was he trying to get you going with his at-bats?

OLIVER MARMOL: Yeah. He wanted to deliver so bad for us. You can see it. Part of his personality just wants to be able to come through in every moment, and he did it all year. So unfortunately it didn't work out today.