NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 12, 2023

Trea Turner

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Phillies 3 - Braves 1

Q. Trea, back in April in Chicago, I'm not sure if you remember, but Marsh and Stott did their high jinks after the game. You told them to clean it up. Save that stuff for walk offs, clinches, celebrations. Fair to say tonight qualifies for all the celebrations?

TREA TURNER: Yeah. I hate the cold water or cold whatever they got. They got all sorts of things going on. Yeah, I hate the cold. But this time of year, it's fun. It's a lot of fun. Maybe not in May or April, but in October, it's a blast. So give me all the cold water you can get.

Q. Trea, what are your impressions of Nick Castellanos after a few months of playing with him and what do you think allows him to do what he's done the last couple nights?

TREA TURNER: I think he's unique, man. He's 101. I don't know if I've met anybody like him. And I mean that in a good way. He's different. And he can really, really hit. And we knew that going in to the season, obviously. But in the past, in Chicago, in Detroit, he just doubles machine and he can hit.

It's cool seeing him just do his thing. And regardless of what people think about him, he's just his own person. So I love him and respect him for that. So this series has been really cool just for him individually, but as a season, too. I think he's had a great season, and he's meant a lot to us.

Q. Trea, to kind of build off that question, what did you make of his celebration? He just looked so calm at the plate. He just watched the ball go in the stands, casually flipped the bat and then took off. What did you make of his I guess calm, cool, collected celebration?

TREA TURNER: I think when you're hitting two homers every day, you can do whatever the hell you want. It's hard to hit. It's hard to hit in the postseason. It's hard to hit off good pitching.

So when you're that locked in and you're seeing the ball well and you're driving it to all parts of the field and over the fence, I think you can do whatever you want, and it's pretty cool watching him just be comfortable and be himself.

Q. Trea, Spencer Strider had always done pretty well against you, I think 0 for 17 and then tonight biggest game you ambushed him a couple times. Did you change your approach?

TREA TURNER: I feel like yesterday at my fourth at-bat, I made a little adjustment. It felt better for me personally. As far as him, he's got great stuff. We all know it. I feel like in the past, my bats off him, I missed them, fouled them off, whatever it is. And I think that's tip of the cap to him, because he's got good stuff.

But tonight it was just more don't miss those pitches, and I got those pitches to hit, and I didn't miss them. I don't think I struck out off him very much in the past. It was more just kind of bad swing and a bad count or foul ball or this or that. I felt fine. It was just more of just keep doing the same thing and don't miss those pitches. It's the old round ball, round bat type deal, and I felt good.

Q. You have been having a really good postseason. What made you think you needed to make an adjustment and what was the adjustment?

TREA TURNER: I mean I feel like I know. I know when I'm off. Yesterday my first at-bat chased, struck out. I felt like my two strike approach wasn't the best the first two games really and then going into yesterday. And I just felt like a little off. I know. I know when it's not there.

So I still bat. I'll still compete. You can get hits. You can do different things when you don't feel great, but I knew it was a little off. And then in that fourth at-bat, just kind of made a little adjustment and just felt like I could take pitches. I could see the ball. I could kind of do more things.

Similar to what I'd done the last 50 games or so, just hands and, I don't know, just it's hard to -- I could talk about it forever. It's hard to explain. But just things that I've done for the last 50 games, those adjustments. I can feel them. I can move to them quicker. I can, I don't know, just play baseball and that's how -- I can see it better I guess is a better way to describe my swing.

Q. Being a dad yourself, when you see Nick hit those home runs and Liam come down, how does that resonate with you as a dad?

TREA TURNER: Yeah, it's cool. You don't think about those things early on in your career. And as you get older, you see guys do stuff like that. I remember Jason Wirth would bring his son in who was maybe 14 or 15, and he would hit in the cage. And I would just watch him spend time with each other.

Now Liam and Nick and just having my kids, it's, I think, one of the things I'm looking forward to towards the end of my career in hopefully ten years from now is just spending that time and being able to share those moments and him to understand that we're pretty lucky to play a game for a living and just have some fun. So, yeah, I think it's special, and it's really cool. We saw it all year obviously and then postseason is more magnified.

Q. And you said he is unique or different. How would you describe how he's unique or different?

TREA TURNER: I don't know. It's hard. You gotta talk to him for an hour. You talk to him for one hour, you'll figure it out. But, yeah, he sees the world differently (laughs).

Q. Trea, Nick said after the loss in Game 2, you had a couple errors. Bryce had some base running high jinks. He said that you guys felt like you were punched in the face and you respond. You thrive when you get punched in the face. What was it like, the plane ride home, and what has it been like before the last couple of games? Have you been sort of like wanting to get back out there?

TREA TURNER: Yeah. We're confident. We know when we mess up. Our fans kind of keep us in check and that's sort of the sense. Our fans know. We know. Like we know when we could do things better. And it's move on, you know. It's whatever. You can't change what you did. Obviously I would love to go back and change the errors or Bryce would love to go back and knowing that somebody caught the ball or Harris caught the ball, that he wouldn't do what he did.

But you gotta move on. And I think we've been really good at that. We have the right clubhouse for that. And you're not going to be perfect throughout the season. You're not going to be perfect in the postseason. It's being able to move on and pick each other up and do those sorts of things.

So we got a good group, man. I think that's the only way to put it is someone messes up, so what. We can fix it. We can overcome it. And I think that belief is true. I don't think we're faking it. So I think that's important this time of year.

Q. Trea, talk about in terms of how so many different players, whether it be position players on defense or offense, bullpen, guys coming through. This is a quintessential series team or team series win?

TREA TURNER: I mean we kind of knew we were going to have to do that to beat those guys. They're obviously really good. The pitching is good. The offense is good. They play good defense. So we knew we were going to have to do our part as well. I say it all the time. You want to be the guy that hits the homer, right? But maybe you're the guy that makes a defensive play or maybe you're the guy that moves up a base on a ball in the dirt, or whatever it is. Maybe you're a pitcher who gets out of a jam in the first, second inning and everyone forgets about it. But you played a big part.

So I just think we have a really good team. We got a lot of good players, a lot of good people. And we take pride in everything we do. Like I said, it's not going to be perfect, but we know we can do better, we can move on, and we'll overcome things. So I just think as a team, as a unit, we're in a good spot.

Q. Trea, you had a phenomenal game today hitting and you had a phenomenal second half hitting. You also had a great season stealing bases in the postseason and the regular season. Was there anything that you did in preparation or that you do that you that pick up that made you successful? Was it the rule changes, the bigger bases, anything like that?

TREA TURNER: No. I don't think the bigger bases did much. I do think the pick offs played different part for everybody, not just me. But I think it changes the game a little bit. The pitch clock is kind of whatever. I don't think that really affects base running that much, but the opportunities are there. It's, you know, are you willing to take them type deal.

And throughout the season, for me personally, I feel like early on, I didn't get on base. Towards the end, it was -- I gotta let the guys behind me hit. So you gotta pick your chances, your opportunity. And I think the game is a little more momentum-based now, especially the postseason, too. So those are big swings. You want to be safe just because, you know, if you get onto lead off an inning and get thrown out, that's a big momentum swing.

So base running is important this time of year, not just on bases, but everything. We take pride in it. I think we've been pretty good as a whole for the most part. I think Bryson and Rojas and Marshy and some of these guys have been pretty efficient. And it's been fun to -- I think everyone thinks we hit homers, and we do. But we run the bases pretty well, too.

Q. Trea, obviously coming here was a big life decision for such a long period of time. At this moment your one looks like it's been pretty fun despite the ups and downs. How does this experience compare to what you expected when you signed that deal?

TREA TURNER: I didn't think I would stink for 100 games and I did. I think I said it a little while ago, I thought baseball would have been the easiest thing and usually the life choices are the family and moving and all that is a little harder, in the past, getting traded, stuff like that is a little harder. And this year, it's kind of been the opposite. Baseball was harder and the life stuff was great. I liked living here. I liked showing up to the ballpark. It was just a matter of playing good baseball.

It's been different I would say for sure, but I've enjoyed it. My family has enjoyed it. I don't think I'd have it any other way than how it's turned out. And I trust myself. I trust my family to make the decisions we've made. And it's been awesome. It's been fun. This group is special, and I love it. It's been great.