NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 12, 2022

Manny Machado

Dodger Stadium

San Diego Padres

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Padres - 5, Dodgers - 3

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Manny.

Q. How much did that change the series versus had it gone the other way?

MANNY MACHADO: Going 1-1, going back home, so that's huge.

Q. What's it like to be in a game like that? That's as intense as it gets.

MANNY MACHADO: I mean, it's playoff baseball. Playing a good team out there. Got to try to get quickest to 27 outs. You've got to be locked in. And exciting. This is what we play for all year.

Q. How has your guys' approach at the plate -- I mean, be it there's times when you are patient and there's times when you are attacking. There hasn't been a game lately where you guys haven't been locked in on what you need to do offensively.

MANNY MACHADO: Quickest to 27 outs and try to get as many runs across the board that we can to help our team win and get to our bullpen as quick as we can. Today we got Darvish on the mound giving up some runs early on. It was definitely going to benefit.

So ultimately it's about playing good defense and getting runs on the board. As a group, we've been doing that.

Q. What felt like the biggest moment or the biggest play of the game to you?

MANNY MACHADO: I think when Suarez came in. He got out of two big jams there. He came in with Yu first and third. Got out of that jam, which was huge.

Then another one created the next inning as well, and he got out of it, and that was -- I think that was a big difference of the game right there.

I think they come across or even score one, I think the game changes big-time. He was able to put that stop to it. Not only did he do it once, but he did it twice.

Q. I know that you noticed that no one picked you against the Mets and that a Hall of Famer said the Dodgers were picked to win on national TV last night. What did you guys show tonight?

MANNY MACHADO: We're going to compete. Ultimately at the end of the day we know that they're the Division Champs. They own the best record in baseball. They've played very well against us all year, but at the end of the day we're going to go out there and compete, and we're going to go out there and leave it on the field. We're going to try to do everything possible to help our team win every single day.

That's what we started in New York, and we're going to continue to do that until we're not.

Q. If you could talk about Jake a little bit. Obviously, the home run, but he hustled to second, Turner kind of bobbled that ball maybe trying to -- he made sure that he put the ball in play to score Soto. Just talk about Jake contributing.

MANNY MACHADO: I mean, that was huge. He was a big part of our game today. Obviously, the homer was the icing on the cake. But that play right there, getting the guy in when I think we struggled all year offensively with runners in scoring position, especially off of this team, that we can't get those runs on, today we did a good job with it, and look how it pays out.

Q. I noticed you had an extra fan in the stadium, that goose that landed in the outfield. What did you think when you saw that landing? Is that a good omen now to have a goose land in the outfield?

MANNY MACHADO: I guess. That was pretty gnarly there, huh? He didn't want to go anywhere. I think he was hurt when he landed, so I kind of didn't like seeing that. I guess it was good luck for us.

Q. What is it about this team or just the makeup of it that you seem to be playing your best brand of baseball now in the playoffs? Has any part of that surprised you I guess?

MANNY MACHADO: I've seen it all year. I think we've played good baseball. Obviously, we've had good stretches. We've had bad stretches. It's just the beauty of 162 games.

Just postseason baseball, you go out there and you just give it your all 24/7. It's all it takes is just 27 outs as well as you can. You just have to try to perform and try to play your best baseball every single night and then the next day go out there and do it again the next day.

Ultimately, I think we all believe in each other. We believed in each other all year. We've been doing it all year as well. It's just clicking for us now as a group. It's just a matter of wanting it.

We want to get to World Series, we want to bring a championship to San Diego. Ultimately, the group is just getting together and just grinding this out.

Q. I'm not sure if Claudia asked you this in Español, but the Dodgers fans were really giving it to you, and you come out and get that home run. What's going through your mind quieting that crowd like that?

MANNY MACHADO: Just going out there trying to just help my team out to win whatever way we can. Any time you come to Dodger Stadium, you know the fans are going to be on you. Any time you go to any stadium, the fans are going to be on you.

That's the beauty of postseason baseball. That's why you want home field advantage. Coming here, taking one from them at their place and going back home now 1-1, being able to maybe even win it at home will be fun in front of our fans that deserve it.

Just a matter of going out there and playing baseball.

Q. Extra satisfaction in a moment like that?

MANNY MACHADO: Satisfaction is getting a W. I think ultimately any time you get that W and you come here and your team wins and your team performs and your team gets some more runs across the board than the other team, you know, that's always the most satisfaction you can get.