MLB WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES VS ASTROS

November 5, 2022

Josh Miller

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 6 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions for Josh.

Q. Would Cristian Javier be available for you to pitch today?

JOSH MILLER: Probably not. 96, 97 pitches a couple days ago, it would be his normal bullpen day. He could potentially give an inning, but it's probably not in our best interest to throw him today.

Q. You've obviously worked with this entire staff all season and been singing their praises all along, but is there anything this postseason that has surprised you about any one guy or about your staff as a whole?

JOSH MILLER: No. Everybody's handled the work well, just the few hiccups during the postseason. I would say Bryan Abreu has really rose to the occasion and continued what he did towards the back half of the regular season and been a tremendous weapon for us.

Q. Could you give us an idea -- it's a collective thinking when you make certain moves, of course Dusty, it's on his head. He has to answer for everything, right or wrong. But give us an idea of how that goes through and the appreciation you have for the manager's spot as a former pitcher making those decisions?

JOSH MILLER: Yeah, Dusty ultimately makes the end call on any moves we make in game. Being blessed with a lot of really good options in the bullpen all year has made it easy. Whoever's name the wheel ends on it's ended up pretty good, for the most part.

There's a lot of stuff that goes into it, a lot of prep, a lot of matchup-based things where one guy might play well against a certain hitter versus not as much against a different one, and that goes into our decision on who to bring in.

Q. How big has Framber's, I guess, improvement on the mental side of the game, keeping his emotions in check, how big has that been? Was there a certain moment where you realized maybe he turned a corner? And to what extent has, I guess, what he does rubbed off on some of his teammates down there?

JOSH MILLER: It's been huge for him. I've talked about this a few times in the last couple of weeks. In 2018, when he made his debut, he was kind of a volatile starting pitcher. In 2019, he kind of didn't have a role, started in the bullpen, made a few starts for us and was up-and-down. He really turned the corner during the 2020 COVID season, became a reliable, trusted starter for us. He then last year after coming back from his finger injury he suffered during spring training was a force, he just built on that each time out.

The mental side of things have worked wonders for him. He's pitching with confidence. He tries to, as best he can, control his emotions when things might go awry and it's allowed him to stay in games deeper. We saw the 25-game consecutive quality start streak and that plays a lot into that, for sure.

Q. What has it been like having Justin Verlander back with you all this year, being able to have a future Hall of Famer talk to some of the younger pitchers and help them as far as their preparation, game preparation, and things like that?

JOSH MILLER: Having JV back has been huge for us, having that rock at the top of the rotation that we can count on for a quality start. Also to be a mentor to the young guys and be a presence in the dugout, in the clubhouse, for in between start work. Maybe in the middle of a game give them some of his perspective and it's paid dividends for sure.

Q. You mentioned Abreu earlier. You may have talked about this earlier in the season, but what came together for him specifically this year and where have you seen the growth with Bryan Abreu?

JOSH MILLER: Sure. Last year he pitched in some pretty big spots in the season, was in the 7th inning in some tight games for us, and things didn't really go well all the time, not as consistent as he's been this year.

I feel like he's commanding his pitches a little bit better. We saw the quality of the fastball velocity tick up a little bit this year, and he's, like I had mentioned about Framber, just pitching with a ton of confidence and it shows.

Q. Dusty, I believe, in Philadelphia had mentioned by one of the reporters in Philadelphia asking about José Urquidy that he was going to be placed in particular situations and he was placed when the game was practically already resolved to the opposing team. Is that the only situation that José Urquidy is useful for the Astros or what is the situation with him to be used in other more game-defining situations?

JOSH MILLER: Yeah, Urquidy was not just used as the last guy, a down game, only option. He's certainly a weapon, has pitched in very big spots for this time before and he'll be ready to go today in case we need him. He matches up against this lineup pretty well. We have a lot of good options in the bullpen and him to be called on in a tight situation late will mean we probably have to roll through a few other options before him.

Q. What was it like for you seeing Justin being able to get his first World Series win and it seemed when he came into the dugout there was a lot of emotions from his teammates.

JOSH MILLER: A lot of emotions from all of us. I would say him probably more than anybody. But it was big. It was huge. I know that it's been a story in his career, he's pitched a bunch of times and not gotten a win as a starting pitcher in the World Series. His first start in Game 1 this year started like, okay, we got the win in the bag and then kind of let it get away from us.

A couple days ago started off bad with the lead-off homer, kind of scattered first time through the order and he kind of reined it in and got things going and able to get through 5 and hold on to the win. It was really big for him. It was cool to be a part of.