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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES v PHILLIES

October 4, 2007

Matt Holliday

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Two

Q. What do you think it's going to take for the country to discover your team?
MATT HOLLIDAY: I'm not worried about it. If we keep winning, I think people might take a little more notice. I don't know, I don't really worry about it to be honest with you whether they know who we are or not. It's fun to be playing. It's better than being at home watching it on TV.

Q. Are you pretty confident that you will not be coming back to Philadelphia this season?
MATT HOLLIDAY: I'm not going to say that. Philadelphia has an excellent team. This game is funny and things have a way of not working out like you think they are going to. We definitely still have our work cut out for us. They have some of the best hitters in the League and should really good pitchers, and this is a funny game, like I said. So I would never say that.

Q. Tulo, his first pitch, then you, your first pitch; what was that, and could you describe it, and secondly, what did that do for you?
MATT HOLLIDAY: It was a sinker, two-seam fastball inside and basically my approach was looking for a good pitch to hit.
I was lucky enough to get the barrel on it. As far as what I do for our dugout, it's two runs and it gives our pitchers a little bit of a cushion. But their offense, you knew it was going to score some runs. And so it wasn't that big of a deal.
It was just another run and so I don't know how much of a huge thing it was in the dugout.

Q. Matt, it seems like we keep asking you this after each win throughout the stretch, but 16-out-of-17 is mind-blowing, isn't it, even as one of the players who's a part of it?
MATT HOLLIDAY: Yeah, I figure after the season's over at some point you can reflect back and it will be hard to believe.
In the midst of it, we're trying to be focused on the next day and the current game and doing what we can to win the current game. We are not too focused on what we have done because now we're in the playoffs, it doesn't matter. We have to keep going and winning games and playing the right way and see where it takes us.

Q. On September 17, you had a day off, lost two-out-of-three in the Marlins series. Back then could you have even imagined coming back? I know you believe in yourselves and you have confidence, but would this have seemed probable back then and what do you remember about that day?
MATT HOLLIDAY: I don't know that we sat there and thought, oh, man, our only chance is to win the rest of the games.
Like I said, this team has done such a great job, as many up-and-downs we've had throughout the season, staying focused on the next day's game, and really focusing on just winning one game at a time and playing the game the right way. So I don't think that we actually sat there and made ourselves the old, back-against-the-wall speech or anything. We just kept running out there and seeing what we can do.
I don't ever remember thinking we have to win every game for the rest of the season at that point. But at that point we had to start winning games to get to where we had set our goals to be.

Q. At what point during the season did your own fans get the pennant fever? Did it come late or in the middle? How long did it take them to get it?
MATT HOLLIDAY: I don't know as a group. We have some loyal fans that are there the whole season that had faith in us.
I think the last couple of weeks, the sellouts and the crowds going crazy, I think that's probably been the last couple, two, three weeks that we've really -- that the crowds have really been picking up.
And you know, after we got off that road trip where we were able to beat San Diego and L.A., they really felt like we could do it and they have been great.

Q. What will it be like to go back?
MATT HOLLIDAY: I think it will be fun and exciting. It's better than getting yelled at here.
But it's not going to be easy but it would be nice to have our own fans and not be told how bad you are for three and a half hours.

Q. Kaz isn't known as your team's home run hitter and he gets a slam today and you guys needle each other all the time; what did you say to him after that?
MATT HOLLIDAY: Nothing really. I haven't said anything to him. I know maybe some of the other guys did. It was huge. He's been great for us all season. He's a really good player. I mean, he just does a lot of things. His defense is underrated and, you know, he's come up with some very clutch hits for us throughout the season.

Q. They say the toughest one is the clincher, but you guys have been playing pretty much pressure games for a month now. Is this next sequence Saturday and Sunday going to be any different for you guys?
MATT HOLLIDAY: Well, I don't think it's any different in the fact that we have to go out and play well. The Phillies are going to come and play their best and that's what we have to do is just go out there and keep playing well and playing hard and not think about getting ahead of ourselves, just focus on Saturday's game and then Sunday's game and then, you know, just keep playing hard, playing well and you know, sometimes even when you play well and play hard, you don't win.
So there's no guarantees in the sport.

Q. Thinking how close these two teams were coming into the series, are you surprised to be up two games to none?
MATT HOLLIDAY: Like I said, I didn't come in with any expectations of what was going to happen, because this game, just about the time you think you know something about this game, you're wrong.
So, you know, as a team, we just came in and keep playing. You know, just keep playing, and we don't really talk about what we have to do; we need to get one; we need to get two; we need to get whatever. Just every day, go out there, play hard, play the game the right way. Do the best you can and keep it simple. If you start thinking about too many things, you get your mind on too many things and you're not able to perform.

Q. Has anybody on this team changed any ritual in the last two and a half weeks?
MATT HOLLIDAY: I don't know. I don't know of any ritual that I could tell you.
I don't particularly have any that I do. I think, you know, all baseball players have a routine to a point, you know, where you come in and you get dressed and you do your thing, whatever you do, you go to the training room or you go to the weight room or whatever you do.
But I don't know of any, you know, sort of crazy, everyday occurrences that otherwise may not be going on.

End of FastScripts

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