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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DODGERS

October 8, 2009

Ryan Ludwick

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Two

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Ryan Ludwick.

Q. I guess about that ball that you hit down the line. When you hit it, did you think it was going to be, that it was going to fall in?
RYAN LUDWICK: No, actually when I hit it, I came out of the box fairly slowly, kind of watching it. I knew Manny wasn't going to get there.
But when I hit it it was one of those balls kind of where I knew I had gotten around the ball a little bit. I was out in front. It seemed to be hooking quite a bit. I thought it was going to be a lot further foul than it was.
It ended up straightening up. That's when I started taking off running a little bit more. But like Tony said, it is what it is. You keep hearing that phrase it's a game of inches, and it was an inch that didn't go our way last night.
But you move on. We've got today, and I believe we're focused, ready to go.

Q. St. Louis historically is a team that usually leads the National League in wins once they get to the playoffs. They like to start at home. After what you saw yesterday the reaction of the fans in Los Angeles how important was it not to have home field advantage for the first two games and then how important is it going to be for you guys to go back to St. Louis?
RYAN LUDWICK: I think having the fans on your side is obviously a huge advantage. From my standpoint, however, whether you're at home or on the road you'll be hearing the same type of noise, whether they're cheering for you or against you.
I had a buddy of mine in town actually last night after my first at-bat, I got down 0-2, he said, "Could you believe how loud the crowd was during your at-bat?" To be 100 percent honest with you, I didn't hear a thing.
I think athletes on this stage, when it gets to a certain point, I think the good ones are able to tune things like that out. And kind of breathe deeper and take the whole game in and just focus on what you need to focus on.
So from the standpoint of obviously when you're on the bench or in the dugout, you're not hitting at the time, you hear the crowd.
On field during defense you obviously hear the crowd a little bit more. But I think it's an advantage. I know we're looking forward to trying to win this game today and get back home and get the St. Louis fans on our side.

Q. For as long as you waited for last night, the end, the result maybe aside, what was that just overall experience of being there like for you?
RYAN LUDWICK: Took me a long time. Getting to the Big Leagues. It's been a wild ride since I came here to St. Louis. A lot of things have happened in a positive direction. And getting to the post-season I always said it's going to be the icing on the cake.
Well, obviously we're here now and no one wants to go home. I think the icing on the cake obviously now would be getting to the World Series. But it was an unbelievable atmosphere. I was extremely excited. I think if you're not a little bit nervous there's something wrong.
But I think you can obviously take that nervousness and turn it into a positive and there's no doubt I was ready to play and there's no doubt in my mind that everyone on our team was ready to play.
Obviously, the end result wasn't what we wanted, but here we are Game 2 with a chance to even things up, like I said, and go back to St. Louis.

Q. Obviously everybody has seen what Adam and Chris have been able to do. Regardless of the outcome of the first two games, how important is it to have such a great No. 3 starter as Joel Pineiro on your side?
RYAN LUDWICK: It's really -- I agree with Tony 100 percent, he kind of gets lost in the shuffle at times. He's been extremely consistent this year. He's really stuck with that sinker, and he's been pinpoint. He hasn't been making a lot of mistakes.
I feel like when he's out there we have just as much a shot out there to win as when we have Carpenter or Wainwright out there.
He's a focused individual. Comes to the ballpark ready to compete. He believes in what he's doing and he's a lot of fun to play behind, especially in the outfield because he's throwing that sinker so much. You don't get a ton of plays out there. Gets a lot of ground balls.
So it's fun to play behind him.

Q. Can you talk about the impact Brendan Ryan has had in keeping guys loose in the clubhouse and what he's done on the field?
RYAN LUDWICK: I had an opportunity to play with Brendan before I got to the Big Leagues. We played in Memphis for a little while. He's a tremendous athlete. Not only baseball. I mean, I know he played soccer in the past. He can juggle a baseball with his legs for ten minutes straight.
Defensively I saw in Memphis, when he first came up here last year, there was at times where he looked a little shaky. But I think there's that confidence process that comes through playing through the Big Leagues. You build it with time.
And I think you're seeing the real Brendan Ryan right now. Extremely steady with the glove. I think he's turned it up a notch offensively. He really puts together at-bats. I think he's starting to figure it out. He's a great player to have on your team. He jokes around. Like I said, he's loose in the clubhouse. And he's done a tremendous job for us this year.

Q. If there was one thing you could change, if you think anything would need to be changed in the last month about opportunities and production that you've been able to achieve offensively, how would you kind of couch that or how would you reconcile the number of opportunities you all had in the last month offensively with the number of runs you've actually scored? Last night was kind of a same pew in the same church we've seen in the last month or so. How would you explain what's been going on, because you've had a lot of chances and for whatever reason you've been stopped in a lot of these opportunities like last night?
RYAN LUDWICK: You know, that's a tough question. This year offensively for our team it's been -- it's been extremely up and down. We've had times where obviously in the first month of the season we were one of the best offenses of baseball, and then we went through a rut and everyone was asking what was wrong with our offense, and then we caught fire again and we went through a rut and went through a period where we'd score one run for two games and all of a sudden we'd have a 10-run outburst.
The one thing I do know is I believe in every guy we have in that lineup. I know everyone's focused. At times it doesn't work out. It's baseball. Last night we had a lot of opportunities, and you know just didn't work out. They had a lot of opportunities. They scored two more than us, and I believe they left two runners on more than us.
So we both had a tremendous amount of opportunities. They did a little bit better job staying out of the big inning, and they got the win.
But back to your question. I believe today if we had those same opportunities, you know, I have that confident attitude that we're going to get the job done. You've got to come to the ballpark every day confident in what you're going to do. And sometimes it doesn't work out. But I think over the majority of the time I believe our offense has done a pretty good job this year.

Q. Could you talk about the strategy of walking Albert to get to Holliday and the dangers therein? And also can you juggle a baseball with your legs for ten minutes?
RYAN LUDWICK: Oh, man. You know, anytime you walk Albert with Matt following, it's a risk factor. Matty is a great hitter, career .300 hitter in the Big Leagues. He's good at what he does. Obviously Albert right now is seen by many as the best hitter in the game. You're going to see that happen.
You tend to see it with a guy like Barry Bonds, when he was playing. People would rather take a chance with the guy behind him. But Matty scares me just as much as Albert. I think both of them are really good at what they do. They both have tremendous power. They both put together good at-bats, and they both have great line drive strokes for when they do put the ball in play. A lot of times it falls in because they have such a good bat path.
As for the juggling question, I think I can possibly juggle a baseball for seven minutes and 20 seconds.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Ryan.

End of FastScripts

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