NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 16, 2023

Corbin Carroll

Evan Longoria

Citizens Bank Park

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pregame 1 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. We'll get started with Corbin Carroll and Evan Longoria.

Q. Hey, Evan. I'm wondering what you remember about playing here in the 2008 World Series and if it's kind of a crazy full-circle moment to be back here this many years later?

EVAN LONGORIA: Yeah, definitely an interesting dynamic. Thankfully, I don't remember a whole lot about the '08 World Series other than we lost, and it wasn't -- we didn't play good baseball, and the weather was crappy.

You know, a lot of things went wrong, but yeah, other than that, on the flip side, obviously very happy to be back, the opportunity that we have here. There's no better place to come and experience a postseason environment. I think that the team is looking forward to embracing that.

Q. Just to follow up on that, Corbin, what have you made of the Philadelphia crowds from seeing them from afar, and how much are you looking forward to playing in this environment?

CORBIN CARROLL: Yeah, for sure. At the end of the day there's all sorts of opinions on it, but I think it's good for baseball. To see fans in a city that excited and united behind their team, I think that's all I can say is I just think it's good for baseball in general.

Q. To continue on that theme for both of you, Evan, you've been through many moments where the crowd is hostile. Is there advice? Is there tricks to turn it in your favor? Corbin, as a young player, do you have any sort of tricks to block it out or use it in your favor?

EVAN LONGORIA: I mean, for me I think the best thing is to just block out as much as you can, but also use the collective energy of the crowd however you can in your favor, understanding that it's going to be a pro-Philly crowd clearly. There's going to be a home field advantage for them in a sense that everybody in here will be pulling for them.

I think there's a way for us to kind of extract some energy from that as well, you know, in a positive sense.

CORBIN CARROLL: Yeah, for me trying to just not listen to them. Some positive self-talk never hurt. It is what it is.

Q. How have you guys dealt with the layoff? You are used to playing every day, and it feels like it's been a while since you guys played a game.

EVAN LONGORIA: Yeah, I mean, I know a lot has been made this postseason about teams having layoffs and the potential for, I guess, kind of a fall-off in performance or whatever. It hasn't even been something that we've talked about as a group.

I think we've been as focused as we can be on showing up to the ballpark every day and going through our routine the same way we would on a game day. I think we've had one or two more days off than them. They've had some days off too, so I don't think that there's a big difference between two and three days or three and four days off.

I think it gave some guys a much-needed blow, a much-needed rest, off the feet, kind of out of the grind of preparing and playing a game every day. So I think that that will be of some benefit for us.

CORBIN CARROLL: I think something else that speaks to is just, like, the difficulty of being a role player at this level. It's obviously being talked about because it's four teams now. But on each one of these teams, on every team in the Big Leagues, there's someone asked to have an at-bat -- a quality at-bat after not having an at-bat for five days.

I think that that's -- it's interesting that it's getting some attention now, but I think we've got a team full of professionals. Everyone knows what they need to do to stay ready. For me maybe it's like seeing some shave-off machine and seeing some velo every day. Then, obviously, we face some pitchers as well.

Q. How would you kind of say the camaraderie in the clubhouse has grown throughout this season with sort of a younger core and group of veterans too, and do you think that kind of bond has led you guys to get to this point?

EVAN LONGORIA: I'll let you speak to it first.

CORBIN CARROLL: Obviously we've got -- there's a baseline of talent in that clubhouse that has allowed us to get to this point, but I think the camaraderie in this clubhouse has furthered that talent.

I feel like we've played pretty selfless baseball most of this year. I was talking about it yesterday with guys behind me willing to take a pitch to let me get a base for them, stuff like that. It's a group of guys that likes being around each other, and I think that's reflected out on the field with stuff like that.

EVAN LONGORIA: I just think it's pretty easy to see how talented teams can only be taken so far by talent alone. There's something else there. I don't know. It's not an easy thing to put your finger on. You know, I've been asked that question thousands of times over the course of my career. What is the X factor to a team? What makes good teams great? How do you build camaraderie within the clubhouse?

I don't really know the answer. I just know that this group -- we are where we are because of those relationships in the clubhouse and because there's 26 guys in there who are ready to sacrifice whatever it takes for the guy behind them or the guy in front of them.

So I think it's pretty easy to see that we not have been the most talented group, but we are where we are because of that belief, you know.

Q. Corbin, I think there's an expectation that the Phillies are going to be using Alvarado against you as often as possible, and I think you have maybe faced him once. I'm curious, these could be big at-bats. How do you prepare for a guy that you haven't faced a whole lot?

CORBIN CARROLL: Sure, you can talk about Alvarado, you can talk about a lot of those guys back there. They've got -- I would say something that stands out is how hard a lot of those guys throw back there. But at the end of the day, I think you try to group those guys into buckets and take some experiences from at-bats off guys that you might feel are similar to him, any trends that you noticed or things that you worked or cues that worked for you and try and take those and kind of apply them.

Q. Kind of building off that question, you are probably more likely to see, Corbin, left-handed pitchers, left-handed relievers at this point in the season more so than during the regular season. Does that alter your pregame process at all knowing that you are going to see more same-sided guys?

CORBIN CARROLL: No. I mean, I'll go through my preparation the same way.