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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES v PHILLIESOctober 4, 2007Kyle KendrickCharlie ManuelPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Two Q. Charlie, can you talk about the decision when you pulled Kyle and do you think it was a mistake in retrospect? CHARLIE MANUEL: I don't think it was a mistake. I did it. But at the same time, I looked at it as basically what it was, I liked Lohse against Matsui, I liked him going against Matsui and one reason I liked him is because of his stuff, breaking ball, changeup and fastball. And Kyle, with the bases loaded there, and also it's the second time I got him up and when I put him in, he was going to go to the sixth inning. I made the decision and I was the guy that made it. Q. Was there any level of concern with bringing him in with guys on base considering he's not a reliever by trade? CHARLIE MANUEL: He's been pitching real good out of the bullpen and like I said, he's got good stuff, he's got experience and he's got -- he can give us powerful innings and that's one reason why I had him in there. I felt like he was the right guy to put in. Q. Are your hands tied a little there by having only one lefty in the bullpen? CHARLIE MANUEL: It would be nice to have two lefties but at the same time, I wouldn't necessarily say my hands are tied. But mostly that's kind of how we've had it mostly all year. Q. Your reaction when Charlie came out and pulled you at that point in the game; shock, surprise? KYLE KENDRICK: No, you know, it's his call. I felt okay. But you know, I'm just out there to pitch when I'm called on to pitch and that's his call and that was that. Q. Earlier in that inning, you got Matt Holliday out with a great pitch, and then you appeared to be on the verge of wriggling out, you got burned by a 60-foot single by a rookie; how confident were you at that point that you were going to be able to get Matsui out? KYLE KENDRICK: You know, I was pretty confident. You know, I just basically throw two outs, one pitch and I'm out of it. I felt pretty good. CHARLIE MANUEL: First of all he did not get Holliday out. He got Holliday out the inning before that. Q. Okay, but after he had hit a home run, he came back and handled him in his next at-bat, that's the point. CHARLIE MANUEL: In the inning where I made the move, you know, Holliday didn't hit. Q. Charlie, you had such an emotional ride the last six weeks, expended an awful lot of energy getting here; is there anything left in the tank? Is that possibly -- is that a phenomena we might be seeing the last couple of days? CHARLIE MANUEL: We have another game to play. We've lost two in a row. We've played those games before this year quite a bit. We've got another one to play, and like we win, we go on. You know, I expect us to come out Saturday and play just like always before. Q. Kyle, could you talk about how you felt when you were out there and gave up back-to-back homers in the first; were you comfortable, nervous? KYLE KENDRICK: The pitch to Tulowitzki, it was up and he put a pretty good swing on it. The pitch to Holliday, it was down and in and he's a first pitch, fastball swinger and he also put a good swing on it. You know, you've just got to battle through and try to keep the team in the game at that point. Q. In retrospect, how big of a play was it when Howard got picked off first; do you feel like it changed momentum in the game? CHARLIE MANUEL: Any time you get picked off, I mean, that's an out. The guy -- actually the guy threw a heckuva move on him. I knew the guy had a real quick move like that but I'm sure it's in there. I remember seeing that before, he made a good pick-off move and that was an out and took a runner off a base. Q. In the fourth inning, was the decision to put Torrealba on with a 3-1 count, was that based on letting Kyle start over against the next hitter rather than pitching from behind in the count? CHARLIE MANUEL: Exactly. Q. That situation with the bases loaded, you've seen before, Jeff Geary come in in situations like that, bases loaded, and handle it pretty well. If he had been available, would he have been maybe the selection there, or were you intent in going with Kyle Lohse? CHARLIE MANUEL: Kyle Lohse would have pitched that. Kyle Lohse, like I said before, I liked his breaking ball and fastball and changeup and he got a hit on 1-2 and threw him a low fastball. A ball up and in or higher would have been a much better pitch but at the same time, it didn't happen that way. He hit a grand slam. Q. You guys came back from seven down, now you're down 0-2; is there shock or disbelief that you're suddenly in this position after what you did to get here? KYLE KENDRICK: You know, we've done it before. We have one more game. We just got to take it game by game, start on Saturday and get a win and move on from there. Q. You were a coach on a team that actually was victimized by a team that came back from a 2-0 deficit and best-of-five series I think in 1999, the Indians were up 2-0 and ended up losing. Do you have recollections of that, and do you feel like you can remember any specifics about how, I think it was the Red Sox, managed to come back there? CHARLIE MANUEL: We won the first two games and they were big games for us and we didn't have any problems. The third game, we were leading in the game two or three times and at one point we took a big lead and Boston came back and caught us. We ended up losing the series. But also, I think the fourth game, we had a lead and they beat us. But they scored a lot of runs on us and they came back and beat us three straight. Q. In the last week or so, a lot has been said about how the crowd can really rally you guys and to hear all of the boos today, how tough is it to come back when they are really on you in a big game when there's so much of the game left? CHARLIE MANUEL: I think the crowd is outstanding, especially the last two days. They were great, they were great at the end when we clinched our division. They have been outstanding all year long. When anything happens in the game and somebody -- when the guy hits a grand slam and takes the lead, of course, more than likely the fans are going to boo. I think they paid their money and that's all part of it. That's kind of how I look at it. Q. You guys have had 48 comeback wins this year. How significant was it that Jose Mesa and Clay Condrey couldn't hold them after the grand slam? CHARLIE MANUEL: Like I said, we've had those kind of games all year long and basically, you hope that like when you make a pitching change and things like that, that the pitcher holds the run and holds the score right there where you can catch up and try to win. Today is one of those days where it didn't happen. Q. Charlie, did you go into this game with the mind-set to manage aggressively because of the fact that you're down 0-1? CHARLIE MANUEL: Not necessarily. I manage every day to win the game. 0-1, yes; it's tough in the playoffs if you're going to go down and be 0-2 in a five-game series. But at the same time, I managed to win the game today. Q. You had Kyle Lohse up in the third inning before he came in; did that mean you saw something and that you thought you might have to go get Kyle early? CHARLIE MANUEL: Actually when we got him up, the swing -- hit the leadoff double and where he had him in that lineup, we just kind of were bridging between if Kyle got him and had more problems. Q. Did you go in, having a short leash with Kyle today? CHARLIE MANUEL: I was not necessarily thinking about his short leash but also at the same time I was thinking I had Kyle Lohse down in the bullpen and how long I could use him. Q. With Kyle pitching today, if you guys win Saturday, can he start Sunday or does that mean Cole would be pushed up a day? CHARLIE MANUEL: That would give him probably Saturday, two days -- how many pitches did he throw, 65, something like that? KYLE KENDRICK: Mm-hmm. CHARLIE MANUEL: It's possible. End of FastScripts |
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