NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES VS PADRES

October 20, 2022

Rob Thomson

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Two questions. First, the mood of the team having evened up now as you head to the weekend series. Two, how much of a challenge will Joe Musgrove be against your lineup?

ROB THOMSON: What was the first question?

Q. The mood of the team.

ROB THOMSON: Good. I think really good. We had a nice flight back last night. Talked to a lot of guys on the plane. Everybody was in good spirits. They're really looking forward to getting home in front of our own fans.

Yeah, they're excited. Musgrove -- look, Padres have got a good rotation. Musgrove has got good stuff. Good secondary pitches. We had a little success against him this year, but he can always be tough. He's been throwing the ball pretty well.

Q. Is there any thought to any kind of flexibility or change in your lineup for tomorrow night?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, so Vierling and Sosa won't play. We'll play Marsh and Stott, but no. As far as the way we're lined up.

Q. Rob, is there any chance, depending how the game goes tomorrow, that Zack Wheeler comes back for Game 4?

ROB THOMSON: No chance, no.

Q. Do you know who your Game 4 starter is going to be yet?

ROB THOMSON: Not really. It depends on tomorrow. You can figure it out. It's either going to be Syndergaard, Gibson, or Falter, I would think.

Q. Rob, with Ranger, obviously, we're getting to a point in the year that guys are getting into inning totals they've never had before. But Ranger specifically, a reliever turned starter. Is there any concern there? Have you noticed anything? Obviously you've been monitoring him all year, but have you seen anything with him innings-wise?

ROB THOMSON: No, not really. I thought he was really good coming down the stretch. The start against Atlanta was not Ranger-esque, but I think he was a little bit amped up because of the playoff game. I think he'll be better tomorrow, especially in front of our own fans.

Yeah, I haven't really noticed anything with him that would say he's getting tired. He's got too many innings on him.

I think the crowd and just the adrenaline of the situation will get him through right now.

Q. Obviously there's a lot to figure out between now and then, but the added wrinkle this year of no off day. Typically a Game 3 starter can start Game 7 or Game 4 on short rest. Is Ranger an option on short rest as a guy to use there? Or is that just going to be a figure it out if the time comes?

ROB THOMSON: I think we figure it out at the time, but I think he is a possibility. Doesn't mean we're going to throw a hundred pitches on him. Might be a short start, a couple innings. Yeah, most definitely.

If we get to a Game 7, it will be all in.

Q. With Alvarado, obviously we talked a lot about the ups and downs, but at what point did you realize he could be that high leverage guy again, or what have you seen from him that's made him so successful in high leverage situations?

ROB THOMSON: He's been pitching so well for a long time, that I can't really put a date on it. Coming down the stretch, there were a couple of boxes we wanted to check with Alvarado, and one was he could go up and down. Finish an inning and go back out. He did that.

The other one was pitching in the ninth inning, and he did that. He's been the same guy, whether he's pitching the seventh or the ninth. So complete trust in him wherever we put him.

Q. Rob, there's been two completely different Josh Haders since he arrived in San Diego, really struggled after the trade deadline, and last month into the playoffs he's been completely dominant. What do you see with this version? His velocity is up. There's just a lot of things that make him incredibly difficult to face lately.

ROB THOMSON: You know, I didn't really see him when he was bad, so I can't really compare anything to it. All I can say is that we've had some of the our own relievers that have had struggles during the course of the season. I think that's not out of the ordinary.

He's had success in the past, and he's really throwing the ball right now very well with a lot of velocity. His secondary pitch is good, and he's throwing it for strikes. So that's probably the biggest difference is he's throwing more strikes now than he was before with higher velocity.

Q. Rob, you got Gibson in for an inning yesterday. Falter hasn't pitched in like two weeks or so. Are they all possibilities for longer amounts? Not having Falter pitch, does that concern you?

ROB THOMSON: Not really. To answer the first question, yes. They can give us all multiple innings. Not sure if I do Eflin the third inning, but possibly. He would be maybe be a one or two inning guy.

It's difficult with relievers in the playoffs to get them, one, into a game and, two, to get them any kind of work against hitters because you have the off day today. We could take the guys that are taxi squad guys and have them face hitters if we wanted to. We can't really do that with the guys that are on the roster because you might need them tomorrow.

What we do is heavy bullpens, that type of thing, where hitters are standing in. At least those guys can see hitters in the box against them.

Q. Having been in these kind of series before, does that give you any advantage of how to use your pitchers, how things can work in a long series?

ROB THOMSON: It all depends on how they're pitching. I don't know. We've been through it before. I've been through it before. It's just they've got to go up there and pitch.

Q. Rob, you mentioned that obviously your taxi squad guys getting some work in and, of course, your long relievers who haven't been in so far this series. What's the plan for the rest of the squad? Are you requiring everyone to come here? Are you allowing guys just to do their own thing?

ROB THOMSON: Today you mean?

Q. Yes.

ROB THOMSON: So today, because we got in late last night, we gave everybody the day off, but they do have the option to come in between 3:00 and 5:00, get a treatment, get in the weight room, go out and play catch if they need to, get in the cages if they need to, do some soft toss or some tee work or some machine work. If they need to move around, they can be in here.

Q. But if they want to stay home, they can as well?

ROB THOMSON: Yes.

Q. You're getting asked a lot about on a big picture scale we're seeing this postseason starters are throwing more innings than they did the past couple of years. It's a reversal of the trend where bullpens factor more heavily into the postseason. The Phillies with Nola and Wheeler are sort of an extreme example of that. I'm curious how you think that factors into your success, and also what that lack of off day will look like? Will it benefit the bullpens more or will it be back to the starters, I guess?

ROB THOMSON: I think without the off day, it possibly taxes you a little bit more because you've got to go five days in a row potentially. So you really have to be diligent about how you use those guys and make sure you're not overworking them where their stuff or their production goes down, and you put them at injury risk. So you've got to be careful about that.

I think Nolan and Wheeler have pitched so many innings just because they've pitched well, and as long as they're pitching well, they're going to stay out there because they're two aces really.

Q. Do you think we've hit the point of diminishing returns with having bullpens cover so many innings in the postseason, or is there like a philosophical reversal in baseball?

ROB THOMSON: I don't know. I can just base it on us, and that is that our starters have pitched pretty well, and that's why they're going deep. If they're not pitching well, they're going to be out. That's all I can base it on.

Q. When Bryce came back after his injury, I don't know if there was any kind of ille effect in terms of his swing. After all the games he's played, is he starting to get comfortable, like he was toward the end last year when he made that run and kind of get him to swing back that way?

ROB THOMSON: I think so. I think a lot of guys, when you see them come off the IL and they don't get many at-bats in the Minor Leagues on a rehab assignment, I think that you'll see them possibly be very good early in their return. And then you'll see a decline because they're not in the same type of game shape as they were and they didn't get many at-bats or innings on defense in the rehab assignment.

So there's time. There's technique and then changes in mechanics that could possibly happen. Then after a while, after they get back into game shape, you'll see them take off, and I think that's where Bryce is at right now.

Q. Rob, is there any advantage to having Games 3 through 5 at home as opposed to 1, 2, 6, 7?

ROB THOMSON: I guess, yeah. We went into San Diego and split. Especially in Game 2, we were looking to sweep, but they did a nice job coming back. I think for the most part we did our job in San Diego, and now we feel pretty good being home here for the next three games in front of our own fans, and it's going to be a lot of fun.

Q. Rob, with regards to the managing style with five games in a row versus what you might have done the first two games, how much does it change now in terms of handling your bullpen and your lineup and getting some of your bench in for a four or five-game stretch potentially?

ROB THOMSON: Position players, not so much. I think all these guys have gone at least five in a row, and even J.T. has gone five in a row over the course of a year. As far as bullpen, I think you have to manage that a little bit. Like I said, you don't want to overwork guys so their production goes down, and you don't want to put them in harm's way as far as injury. So I think you do have to be cognizant of that.