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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES v PHILLIESOctober 6, 2007Charlie ManuelJimmy RollinsDENVER, COLORADO: Game Three Q. Jimmy, I know it's been two games into the series. I was wondering if you could tell me how different of a team the Rockies are than the team you saw earlier this season. JIMMY ROLLINS: They're no different, they're the same team, stepping up in the clutch; Holliday, destroying the ball. And they're finding a way to win, especially the last 18 or so games, they've been doing it better than anybody and that's why they're here and that's why they have a 2-0 lead. Q. You guys were joking around up there, is that the mood of the team? Is everything pretty relaxed? JIMMY ROLLINS: Definitely. This man right here doesn't have a panic button and when a manager doesn't have a panic button no one else in the clubhouse does. We go out and we have fun with each other, enjoy the moment. We've done it all year long. It's nothing new, maybe get a little more attention now but I'm still going to talk about your mom if you mess up and I'm still going to try to make everybody laugh. But it's true (Chuckles.) Q. Jimmy, when you were in the Babe Ruth League in Pueblo you won the series, you were M.V.P. and the whole thing; can you talk about that? JIMMY ROLLINS: It was kind of like this situation. We came out, I pitched the first game, we lost 1-0, and we had to win everything the rest of the way and we came out and did that. If I can compare teams, we're very similar, a whole bunch of guys that like to have fun, we're professional now as opposed to then amateurs, but our backs are up against the wall and teams always seem to play a little better with their backs up against the wall when they're losing. In Pueblo I won M.V.P., had a lot of fun doing it, and I just wanted to win the batting title. They had a big, pretty trophy and I wanted to win that thing, so the M.V.P. was extra, I was just wanting to get the batting title. Q. Charlie, is it Lohse and not Kendrick for pitchers, will Kendrick be in the bullpen? CHARLIE MANUEL: Lohse will pitch Game 4. Tonight, basically right now, my thinking is we will use Myers, Romero and Gordon. Probably use Brett for two innings, Romero for two, Gordon for one probably, and I figure Jamie is going to get us somewhere toward the sixth inning. I think he's going to do pretty good tonight and I think at the same time Jamie has been around, he's a veteran, a guy that we've had a lot of faith in and if they score early in the game I still feel like I've got to give him room to take us through five or six innings. Q. Are there any circumstances where Hamels would pitch in game four or -- CHARLIE MANUEL: Lohse would definitely pitch Game 4, but if we ever thought of bringing Hamels out of the bullpen we've got to give him time to get loose and everything, that would be the thing. Right now he's scheduled to pitch Game 5. The fact that he had an arm problem weighs into it and I feel like we want to keep him on because of the workload. Q. Jimmy, you said that Charlie doesn't have a panic button and that helps keeps things loose for y'all. That hasn't always been the case since you've been with the Phillies. We've written about the changes in the locker room since last year. Has Charlie been as big of a change for you all in the way that you are able to approach the game? JIMMY ROLLINS: I would have to say, yes, a lot of ways. Charlie preaches to go out there and have fun but he does say the only way you can have fun is to win. And it's a different approach than win or nothing else matters. And it's the same thing, it's just a different angle. You approach it his way, go out there, have fun but you can only have fun by winning. Or saying if you don't win walk around the clubhouse with your head down and don't say anything to anybody until tomorrow. Both of my managers want to win but Charlie goes about it differently. I think it's easier on the pitchers, they don't have to come in and feel like they're "walking on needles" as was quoted. Charlie doesn't bring that environment. For me personally it doesn't matter who is the manager, I'm going to go out there and play for the manager, and play for this uniform as a team, the manager does have a big effect, though. Q. Jimmy, everyone knows about the tarp incident last time you guys were here. There is a chance it might rain in the next few days; are you still on tarp duty? JIMMY ROLLINS: No, tarp duty is off, you know. Few days to take off before the last tarp incident. Not this time. CHARLIE MANUEL: I look at that like this: We're 0-2, we win tonight we are 1-2, if there is any kinda tarp duty, hell no! Let him get his own crew. JIMMY ROLLINS: Where were you at, Charlie? CHARLIE MANUEL: I was on the bridge (Laughter). I was supervising. JIMMY ROLLINS: As usual! (Laughter.) Q. Charlie, everybody figures at some point the Rockies have to cool down at some point, meeting a team like you guys were, especially. Why haven't they and have you seen a run like theirs this late in the season before? CHARLIE MANUEL: The run they got this late in the season, I can't think of a better run this late in the season. I have seen teams jump off and come out of the gate and do good at the start of the season and also you'll see them run off a winning streak in the middle of the season. To me this might be the longest one I've seen at the end of the season. They're playing great; basically what Jimmy said, they're playing great, things are going their way. How we can change that is if we can jump out and get ahead of them and kinda make them kinda think about catching up and I think that's -- I think that's how we can off-set them. Like we can do something in the game that actually changes the momentum or kinda changes their outlook. I mean, baseball -- that's how baseball goes sometimes. When you get on a roll, things are going good and at the same time you make a lot of those breaks, too, and they've been doing that. JIMMY ROLLINS: Might need to tarp for this tent. Q. Charlie, are you going to be more apt to put things on, maybe more hit-and-run, small ball? Got big outfields here and so forth. JIMMY ROLLINS: No (Laughter.) CHARLIE MANUEL: Actually, Bob, the top of our lineup was J-Ro (Jimmy Rollins), Shane Victorino, Utley, those guys, they steal because they pick a pitch and go on it and they -- and we know the pitchers and the catchers and things like that that we can run on and a lot of our offense is built around the point that Davey Lopes, like he's outstanding at studying moves and getting times on the pitchers and things and he can more or less direct our base runners and actually really coach them during the game. I think with Shane Victorino, Jimmy, Utley, we can steal bases, and we want to. Now, if we're going to do hit-and-run that would come to the bottom of our order. We can do some things from the sixth man down now that we've got Shane Victorino at sixth, Carlos Ruiz seventh, Nunez at eighth, we can do things like hitting and stealing bags, that's where we can -- the top of our order, they get a good jump or a good read, they know when to go, they're free to go. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. End of FastScripts |
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