NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 24, 2023

Rob Thomson

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame 7 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Rob Thomson.

Q. I hate to be the first one, but how often do you listen to the noise, or maybe you don't, on WIP about you not changing the lineup, and do you ever, ever think about what they say could have some merit?

ROB THOMSON: I don't listen of to it. Not this time of year.

Q. You know Bryce does. And you just ignore it?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, I do. Yeah, I don't think there's any reason to listen to it. And it's great. Everybody has opinions, and that's great because it means there's interest in the ball club and there's interest in the game. I appreciate that, but I just would rather not listen.

Q. It's a little along those same lines. I would like to get into your mind of why you commit so much to the same lineup. The team has lost three or four. Is it your experience that this is the way to go? If you could share your thinking on that.

ROB THOMSON: Okay. In the playoffs we're 8-4, and we're plus 31 run differential with this lineup -- basically this lineup.

Stott has the second-best batting average with runners in scoring position in our lineup, and Bohm is third. Marsh is first. He's only had five at-bats with runners in scoring position.

To move people around at this point just doesn't make much sense to me. That's my answer.

Q. On that note, Marsh is hitting the ball really well right now. What do you see from him? We've seen him up and down and kind of disappear, but you are giving him every opportunity now, number one. Number two, you used both Kimbrel and Kerkering yesterday in a game that was still in question. What did you see from them? How do you see their roles going forward, assuming there is forward?

ROB THOMSON: First question, what was it again?

Q. Marsh.

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, he's having good at-bats right now. Everybody goes through good times and bad times, just like Marshy does. But right now he's not chasing much. He's using the entire field, and he's getting the bat head out in front. He's not late. So his timing is good. He's seeing the ball, and he's using the field.

Kerkering and Kimbrel, I thought were better last night. I had mentioned before the game yesterday that I would like to get them into maybe a little lower leverage just to get them through an inning and give them some confidence.

Kerkering gave up a run, but the hits weren't well hit and basically he gave up the run because he didn't hold the runners properly. I think that's natural for a guy who is trying to execute pitches. He was just laser focused on that and not so much on the runners.

So I think I was encouraged by both.

Q. In a Game 7 situation like this with a couple of days off for Wheeler, could he figure in the mix tonight?

ROB THOMSON: Yep, yep. Everybody is available except for Nola tonight.

Q. You've talked before about Castellanos and his hitting style and the importance of his head remaining still. Is that chiefly important on the outside pitch, or do you see that as being relevant when it's the inner half of the plate as well?

ROB THOMSON: Probably both a little bit, because you can get jammed up if you are moving towards a baseball, and especially at the velocities that they have now. Once you start moving forward and leaking, you're really susceptible to the ball away from you.

Q. Do you feel an all Wild Card World Series and then some of the recent Wild Card teams that have been in the World Series kind of made the regular season a poor predictor of postseason success?

ROB THOMSON: I don't know. I can't really answer that. Because I know there was a lot of talk earlier in the postseason about days off for the division winners and things like that.

Yeah, I'm not really sure. Last year we won that series in St. Louis, and we just got on kind of a roll, and we weren't really -- there was a question whether we were going to be there or not. I think that people believe in us a little bit more this year than they did last year, but we have a good club, and Arizona has a good club.

Anything can happen in a playoffs. Short series, guys get hot, pitchers get hot. I'm not sure if any of that being a Wild Card team gives you any type of advantage getting deep in the postseason.

Q. Did a little research last night at the end of the game about elimination games, and Bryce and Kyle have been really, really good in Game 7s, elimination games, or whatever. Excluding them -- you've been around for a long time and seen other dugouts as well, other lineups -- who in your estimation has been in your time as a coach or manager a great big-game, elimination-game type player?

ROB THOMSON: Might have to go back to the Yankee days really and it's probably -- usually when somebody asks me a question like that, the answer is usually Jeter. That's usually what it is.

Yeah, I think people that can calm the game down, slow it down, make the game as normal as you possibly can, those are the people that are going to perform.

Q. Remember, just before the end of the regular season we were talking out there, and you were asked about the number one key for surviving a long playoff series, and I think I recall you saying don't panic. That's the most important thing, that opportunities will come. Is that something that you literally verbalize to the players, or is that something that you just assume that they already have in them?

ROB THOMSON: I've said it enough to them over the course of the year that they get it. If you were in the locker room earlier in the day and listened to them yell and scream and playing around and doing all their stuff, they get it. They're loose, and I think they're ready to go.

Q. Just sort of building on that last question, when you get to the business end of the season like this and you've got players who are struggling and you need to produce, how do you approach that from a communication motivation challenge, knowing that every player needs to have that balance between this is important, but also, like you said, keeping them from panicking?

ROB THOMSON: I think they all understand that it's important. I think the biggest part of it is making sure that people don't panic and they stay relaxed and they stay calm and keep their poise. Our guys do a really good job of that on their own.

There's really not much myself or our coaching staff has to do. I think at times on an individual basis you've got to get guys' confidence level up if they're struggling a little bit. But our guys are really good. They rally around each other, and they pull each other in when they're struggling. I really don't have too much worry about that.

But I think it's more about keeping guys relaxed as opposed to getting them to understand how big this moment is.

Q. To follow up on that theme, Rob, what is the key to balancing remaining calm and poised and also recognizing a sense of urgency, that if it doesn't go your way tonight, that's it?

ROB THOMSON: It's a feel. It's as simple as that. It's a feel. You watch the game, you feel it, you react. You are talking from my perspective, right? Yeah, that's it.

Q. I guess the players too. What's the key for the players to remain loose as you're talking about but also recognize the --

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, they just need to go out and play their game. Put their game on autopilot and be the best they can be, as normal as they can be.