MLB WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES VS ASTROS

October 28, 2022

J.T. Realmuto

Minute Maid Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Philadelphia Phillies - 6, Houston Astros - 5

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for J.T.

Q. I guess just describe your emotions hitting that home run. I think it was the first extra inning home run in the World Series by a catcher since Carlton Fisk in '75.

J.T. REALMUTO: Cool. I didn't know that. Yeah, honestly, just ecstatic to put a good swing on that pitch, be able to give our team the lead. We did such a good job fighting back there. We had the momentum on our side after that 4th, 5th inning, and it was just a big win for us tonight to be able to cap that off after being down 5-nothing.

Q. Couple things: One is, the foul ball to the face mask. It looked like that rung you pretty good.

J.T. REALMUTO: Yes.

Q. How good did it get you?

J.T. REALMUTO: Pretty good. Honestly, my head wasn't the problem. It just smoked my jaw pretty good. It's probably not going to be very easy for me to eat dinner tonight, but as long as my head's okay, I'll be good to go.

Q. How have you been, how are you holding up, I guess? You've caught so many innings so far this season, every inning in the postseason. Are you kind of impressed with the way your body's responding in general, how you're performing?

J.T. REALMUTO: I'm honestly not sure how my body is going to respond until the season is over because right now I'm running on so much adrenaline that I feel pretty great every night. The training staff and the strength coaches have done such a great job with me all season long, having a program and keeping my body ready to play every day that, honestly, my body feels probably the best it has this time of year in a long time.

Q. Did you know it was gone? I don't think anybody else -- if you did, I don't think anybody else in the park was sure. Did you know it was gone?

J.T. REALMUTO: No. Honestly, I thought I got enough of it, but I kind of had flashbacks of the play that Tucker made on Judge's ball that last series, and once I saw him running back to the wall, I was thinking in my head, oh, please just don't catch it, just don't catch it. I knew it was going to be close. I thought originally I had enough, but once I saw him running back to the wall, I wasn't so sure.

Q. In two of the Game 1 wins that you guys have had you've had the lead for three outs, just the bottom of the last inning. Does this feel at all like St. Louis to you?

J.T. REALMUTO: Yeah, honestly, it feels like that game against the Padres as well. Anytime we get down early in the game, when we have outs left, we feel pretty confident in ourselves. Obviously you never want to get down early. It's not a fun way to play baseball. But when we do get down, we feel pretty confident in ourselves that if we continue to just put good at-bats together and pass the baton to the next man, that we'll have a good chance of coming back in those games.

Q. What was your view of Nick's catch? And did you think he had it or not?

J.T. REALMUTO: No, honestly. When the ball was first hit, I thought it was hit so softly that I didn't think he was going to get there. I thought the game was over. But then I saw him charging in, coming in hot, and I thought, oh, man, he might have a chance to catch that. And that was the second or third really, really clutch play he's made for us in the outfield this postseason already that have both won us baseball games. So that play was huge. You can't say enough about it.

Q. On a daily basis, what does your routine look like after a game like today to get yourself ready for tomorrow?

J.T. REALMUTO: Well, right after the game, I went in and did a workout with our strength staff. It's just like a little, it's three sets of three different exercises that we have planned out for the whole season. So after every game, I go in, it's like a 15, 20 minute workout, try to get the blood flowing, keep my, keep from losing too much strength throughout the season, and then I'll do some ice tubs, some therapy, stuff like that. But really it's just ice and working out and that's pretty much it.

Q. You seem like a pretty straightforward, even-keeled guy. In the moment of the hit off Verlander, the home run, do you give yourself a moment to relish it and be a little more emotional outwardly about it, either on the bases or with the teammates?

J.T. REALMUTO: Yeah, absolutely. At second base after that double off Verlander when we kind of completed the comeback that was probably the most emotion I've showed on a baseball field in a long time.

It's honestly not something that I plan or that I even expected to do. But there's just such so much emotion in these games, we're having so much fun together that we can feel the comeback building when we score a run, score two runs. And in the dugout we're talking, like, Guys we got this. Just keep putting good at-bats, keep putting good at-bats.

So once I hit that double and scored the tying run there was just so much emotion it was just hard for me to keep in.

Q. Rob pushed a lot of buttons today. Bullpen went through that lineup nearly three full times. It's a very good lineup. What did you think of that bullpen effort tonight?

J.T. REALMUTO: It was huge. From top to bottom the bullpen did phenomenal for us. I thought when Rob brought -- when he brought Alvarado in that early in the game in that big of a spot, I thought that was kind of the key in the game. Because we had just scored those runs. We had come back, tied the ball game. And he even said on the mound, he's like, This is the earliest I've ever brought him in. But these outs are huge right here. Like we have the momentum on our side, we need to get these outs against three of their toughest hitters. And I thought that was huge. Not all managers would bring one of their best guys in that early in the game. And he just pulled all the right buttons from there and the guys responded. Everybody that we brought in threw the ball well.

Q. And then Ranger's just bouncing from role to role. Starting, closing, relieving. What enables him to just find success when he comes into a unique spot like that?

J.T. REALMUTO: I just think no moment's too big for him. Every time he gets the ball he's just pitching. He's playing baseball, he's having fun. It doesn't matter what role he's in. He's been successful for us wherever we've thrown him. He's a guy that when he's coming into the game the whole team has confidence that that moment's not going to be too big for him.

Q. I'm sure you grew up watching World Series. And you are the hero tonight. I know it's a team effort, but that was the spotlight moment. What's that like?

J.T. REALMUTO: It's pretty incredible, honestly. But for me it's so cool to see the way this team is playing. It's been a different hero every single night. It's been that way all postseason long.

Basically every hitter in our lineup has had their moment where they have come through huge for the team and they're one of the main reasons we won that game today.

Tonight, I guess tonight was my turn where I came up big in the spots. But it's been like that all postseason long. It's been a different hitter every single night coming up for us.

Q. Did you have dreams growing up of being in this moment?

J.T. REALMUTO: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean whiffle ball games in the backyard, the whole 3-2 bases loaded two-out situation. I probably had 7,000 at-bats in that situation growing up.

Q. Did you always do well?

J.T. REALMUTO: Every time, yes. (Laughing.)

Q. What does it say about just the bullpen as a whole that they were able to kind of keep it a tie game and hold the line for you to have your moment?

J.T. REALMUTO: Yeah, the bullpen is the reason we won this game today. Once we came back there's a lot of pressure on those guys. That's a really good offense over there that they're facing. They're really deep.

And our guys came in and responded. They threw the ball well, they threw strikes, they attacked 'em. We got the strikeouts when we needed them, we got the ground balls when we needed them. You just can't say enough about how good they were for us tonight. And it's been that way all postseason long. They have carried us.