	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v ANGELS

October 10, 2009

Mike Scioscia

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Workout Day

THE MODERATOR: Take the first question from Mike.

Q. Mike, the workout this morning. Did you get done what you wanted and did everything go smoothly?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: It was fine. Really just a walk-through. Let the guys play some catch. Stretch it out a little bit. Took some batting practice.
You know, I think it's important for the guys to keep their edge. They wanted to workout. It was good we got a chance to do it this morning.

Q. Mike, Kazmir's numbers since he came over are pretty good. He said he has really clicked with Butcher and made a few adjustments. Can you just -- what has changed? What has he done to allow him to be so successful?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think, first of all, as the season has gone on, he's become healthier. I think that early in Tampa Bay looking at some scout video on him, didn't look like his arm speed was quite the same. His mechanics were a little bit off. But we tracked him the whole season. And definitely the last three or four starts that he had, you could see that life back on the ball. And Mike Butcher knows Scott very well. They worked together a couple of years ago when Mike was in Tampa Bay.
As far as numbers and Scott pitching against Boston or pitching here, you can throw those away. He's going to have to go out there and start momentum pitch by pitch. Scott knows that. He'll be ready tomorrow.

Q. Mike, I read something you said recently about Abreu going beyond the stats he's put up. Can you talk about how he's impacted your offense in ways that people may not fully appreciate just by the numbers?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: When we signed Bobby the real tangible thing we were looking for was the on-base percentage he was going to bring. The ability to drive in runs and score runs. Those numbers were going to be important to us because we were a team that needed that balance. We needed to get that on-base percentage. We needed to set the table better. What we saw as the season evolved was something very, very dynamic with our whole lineup. Bobby has been a mentor to a lot of our younger players. I think not by only his example, but in talking to them about situations and tendencies and what a pitcher might or might not be doing and hitting with runners in scoring position, which Bobby had a terrific year doing. And all of us as a team, we did also. So it's gone beyond just his hard numbers as to how he's influenced our whole team. He's been as responsible for our offense resurgence as anything you can talk about.

Q. Mike, will Napoli catch tomorrow and I assume that Izturis will be at second again?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Yes. It will be the same lineup we just had for Game 2.

Q. Another Kazmir question. Some people have actually said that they think the reason you guys traded for him was to pitch in the postseason. I assume that was just part of it? Was that a large part of it, 25-year-old left-hander?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: There's a lot of reasons why a lot of teams are interested in Scott. We're very fortunate we landed him. He's a young guy who has experience pitching in the Major Leagues and winning in the Major Leagues. And that's even before you talk about postseason experience. We acquired Scott because we had a need. We had two youngsters in our rotation that weren't quite ready to -- where we felt weren't quite evolved enough for the pennant race and what we needed. And we felt that Scott Kazmir was. And I think he came over and gave us a big boost. Looking into the future, we hope to have him for a long time.

Q. It looked like guys were pretty comfortable Vlad took that walk in the seventh inning. Was that the most patience you've seen out of him in a while? What was your reaction?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think Vlad, if you look at Vlad when he's going well, he has a method to the pitches he'll swing at. I think those pitches were just too far out of the zone that he was going to swing at. He worked a walk. He's still a very dangerous hitter.
I know that Josh Beckett is trying to make pitches and got a little too fine and we ended up -- he ended up drawing a walk. You know, Vlad maybe isn't driving the ball -- hasn't driven the ball his last 15 or 20 at-bats like he can. He can turn it around like a heartbeat. He got a key hit to give us second and third and he drew a walk so he's contributing.

Q. How did your team's chances go deep in the playoffs change when the starting rotation was settled late August on?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, we're not deep in the playoffs yet.

Q. Chances.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We've got to keep going, stay focused on what we need to do tomorrow and move forward from there.
Our rotation -- we feel the way our organization is set up and how our team is set up, our rotation we lean very, very heavily on it. It's a heartbeat of our club. And I think when they're performing, all of a sudden the bullpen gets in the rolls, you get to a certain point of the game and there's match-ups that you can try to take advantage of. And conversely when they were struggling in the beginning of the season, it was like we were just doing it on the fly because we couldn't establish roles. We couldn't get deep enough in the games and we pounded the ball offensively to keep ourselves in any kind of -- in contention.
Yeah, for us, our season really started I think to gel and we became the team I think we're very comfortable with probably from the -- I would say the middle of August on, and we hope to keep it going.

Q. There's probably no good way to do this but with the late night game last night and early game tomorrow, did you guys consult a lot of scientific experts on the way you chose this travel? Or was this kind of your hunch? How did you come up with this plan?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: No, there wasn't any scientific analysis to biorhythms and all that. We were going to play baseball. If they wanted to play midnight tonight, we would have flown in here and been ready to go. We'll be ready tomorrow.

Q. I guess why a flight today and not overnight?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: A number of reasons. We were not going to be comfortable with landing 8:00 in the morning and then trying to get a workout in and throwing I think a little more -- some more variables into it.
Everyone got a good night sleep. We were up early this morning. Got a good crisp workout in. Got in here, landed at a reasonable time and our guys will be ready to go.

Q. You haven't faced Clay Buchholz this season. 25 years old. He said at a press conference earlier today he's going to be nervous for at least a couple of innings. He started, as you know, in the Minor Leagues, first postseason game. How does that affect how you guys approach him?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: He's pitched some terrific games against us. In fact, I think it was last year, I want to say he shut us out here. Terry, you would know that. Didn't he pitch terrific ball against us? Was it last year or the year before.

Q. Two years ago.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Might be two years ago. Yes. He's a very, very talented pitcher. And we know how much he's improved and especially these last handful of starts he's pitching well. There's not a guy on that field that's not going to be a little nervous as the game begins. Some butterflies. That includes everybody on our team and everybody on the Red Sox' team. Until you get in the flow of the game, get that first swing, get that first ball hit to you, there's just some anxiousness of you want to get into the flow of the game. So I know it's going to be a test for us tomorrow. And hopefully we'll get enough going offensively and pitch well to get it done. I don't really think that youth necessarily makes somebody nervous or there's anything we're going to approach differently.
He's a talented pitcher. We're facing talented pitchers every time out there. You certainly try to feel out to see how he's throwing, what he's trying to do. But outside of that, you want to play baseball and get settled into your own game.

Q. The health and play of your middle infielders. Is that the biggest difference than in the past two seasons, actually, when both -- all those guys were nicked up and now they're all better?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We talked about this a lot. '07 we just -- I don't think we had the continuity to really give -- put the game on the field we needed to beat Boston. Last year I think we did a lot of things right. And didn't execute at the end. And obviously Boston did. And they beat us. They played well. If you look at this year and a lot of things that are going positive for us, definitely I think my -- series choice is a guy that we were talking about before this series and he was a factor that was important to us and he was a factor in Game 2, Erick Aybar is much more comfortable in shortstop. And I think just his all-around play, he just has that different look about him. And Howie Kendrick also.
These guys are playing at a high level. We need them. It's not always going to be Torii or Bobby or some of the guys in the middle of the lineup that are going to carry you through these tough games. You need everybody in your lineup to play and play at a certain level.
If you look at what Erick Aybar has done, what Maicer Izturis has done and certainly Howie Kendrick, these guys are playing at a high level and that needs to continue.

Q. Both of your pitchers in the next few games, if it goes to Game 4, have had success here. Left-handers in a park that's been known to be really difficult on lefties. What is it about them that has allowed them to do that?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think you just can't say generic left-handers because there have been left-handers who have had success in any park they pitch in. I think it comes down to stuff. You have to evaluate I think what a guy's pitches, how they'll play or how they'll potentially play in a ballpark. Those two guys I think when Scott is on and when Joe Saunders or when those guys are on, they can pitch -- they can pitch anywhere.
This is not a forgiving ballpark, especially like you're talking about for lefties, if you miss inner half and don't quite get a ball in the zone, they can hook a 295-foot fly ball and all of a sudden it's off the wall. That's obviously something to consider. These guys are hitting their spots, Joe with the sinker, Kazmir with that fastball around, changing of speeds, they can be successful anywhere. And I think they've proven it. They've pitched well in this ballpark before. And you know, we expect them to pitch well as we move forward in the series.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming over, Mike.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297