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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES v PHILLIESOctober 11, 2009Jim TracyDENVER, COLORADO: Game Three THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jim Tracy. Q. Does the cold weather and the fact you guys didn't play yesterday change this series for you one way or the other? JIM TRACY: No. I said the other day in here that we knew that, you know, it was more than likely going to be here with us. And it can't be an excuse. You know, it is what it is. I give credit to Major League Baseball for making the decision that they made yesterday. That would have been -- that might have been difficult for the Broncos to play in that yesterday, much less a baseball game. But the conditions are dry. It's cold. These are things that -- conditions and circumstances that you deal with in April in different cities in the league. So we're going to go out there and do what we have to do. Q. With their switch to Happ, what did you do with your lineup in response? JIM TRACY: Well, we tweaked it just a little bit. We have moved Yorvit Torrealba to the 5 spot in the lineup and Garrett Atkins will hit sixth. And Ryan Spilborghs will hit seventh, with Clint Barmes and Jason Hammel. And the first four guys are the same: Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki. And the reason that I arrived at that decision was simply this: I don't really feel like Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki have been heard from just yet offensively in this series, and yet we sit here at 1-1. With that being said, I know at some point in time they're going to be heard from. If in fact we get, as a result of that, an at-bat or at-bats with traffic, asking myself the question: Who would be the guy right now that you would want to see take that at-bat when you go back and look at what we've seen from Yorvit Torrealba going back to the early part of September, you know, that would be the guy right now versus a left-handed pitcher that you would want to see take the at-bat with a lot of traffic out there. He's done a terrific job. He's taken huge at-bats to help us get into the playoffs, and he had some good at-bats in the first two games of the series against Philadelphia. Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow, if we could, a lot at stake, would you prefer to have a little more experienced and mature pitcher than Jimenez? JIM TRACY: Well, I think he's battle-tested enough. I also think you have to consider the fact that you would be bringing the first two guys that pitched in this series back on normal rest. The fact that Aaron Cook had to leave us for a period of time with a shoulder issue, cold weather, shoulder issue, bringing him back on short rest, that's, in my mind, not a very wise decision to make. You've got an opportunity with Ubaldo Jimenez and Aaron Cook, if we're forced to a fifth game, to bring both back on their normal rest. I think that's the most feasible way to go about it. Q. You were talking about weather when I walked in. In a practical manner, what does weather do to baseball players? How does that potentially affect the way a game is played, and what do you guys do in terms of heaters, clothing, whatever else? JIM TRACY: Plenty of clothing. But not so much to where it inhibits you from doing what you have to do on the field. Obviously it may not play itself out this way, but I personally feel obviously that a pitcher and/or pitchers slightly have the advantage due to the fact of the cold and hitting in very, very cold weather, that's not the easiest thing in the world to do; and, yet, if the ball is not located properly, whether it's warm, cold or otherwise, it can still be hit. You make pitches on either side of the field in given situations. In this type of weather, it makes it a little more difficult to hit, believe me. Q. Knowing that you have to do what's best for the entire team, not the individual, is it still hard to sit down Hawpe who was an All-Star in the first half for you? JIM TRACY: There have been a lot of things that have been difficult for me to do with regard to Brad Hawpe, and he knows that. There were a couple of different situations during the course of the month of September that I pinch hit for him. And maybe two of the more difficult decisions that I had to make during the course of our run to the playoffs. It's not easy, believe me. And it would be not even a question to be asking and/or one to have to answer if Brad Hawpe at this point in time were performing offensively, or I should say was performing offensively in the manner in which he did for much of the first two-thirds of the season. But he's been struggling here as of late. And as you just mentioned, when I sit down to write a lineup, it's with the best interests of every guy in that clubhouse in mind, and not one specific individual. I can't do that. Q. With two games in the books, any surprises? Or is this series going pretty much the way you thought it might go? JIM TRACY: No, I think it really has. You know, we won a terrific ball game on Thursday. And I really think that when you look at some of the young kids that we have on the field and not so much in the case of Gonzalez, because he's performed very, very well in both games. But more notably in Dexter's case a little bit different guy showed up on Thursday than was out there playing on Wednesday, that's for sure. That's an experience factor. You know, I mentioned to some of you guys about the conversation that Jason Giambi had with some of our young kids, basically huddled all those up that had participated in their first post-season game on Wednesday and told them that you've participated in the post-season now, now get back to being who you are. So personally I feel very good about where our club's at. We won a terrific game on Thursday in a very pressure-packed environment, very tough environment. The Philadelphia Phillies fans are 1,000 percent behind the ball club, just like I think 47,000-plus people will be tonight for us. As I mentioned with regard to the first question, you know, we win a game on Thursday. We've got two pretty significant guys in our lineup offensively that I personally feel, as I mentioned, the best of them is yet to come. And if we're fortunate to get to that, maybe we won't. But you know they're capable of it. And if they do, then I think we put ourselves in a better position to score runs. Q. Is it your experience that in cold weather hitters are more patient because they're not going to expand the zone until two strikes so that they don't get the stingers in the hand? JIM TRACY: They think about it. However, sometimes there's some attractive pitches that show up that have that late movement and still run in there and you end up with those stingers. You know, in weather like this when you do get something like that, it has a tendency to hang with you for a period of time. And that's why I answered the earlier question about the fact of, you know, in weather like this, if pitchers are making their pitches, they do have a slight advantage over the hitters. That's not to say that they're going to swing and miss every single time. So then I think what comes into play is both clubs' capability of making the plays and not creating unnecessary opportunity to give either club the opportunity to take the extra at-bat that they otherwise wouldn't get. Handling the ball. Handling the ball is something that definitely comes into play. Ball field's harder. You know, maintaining feeling with your fingers and things like that on the ball, all that stuff factors in. Q. You had considerable success here at Coors Field. Knowing the makeup of your team, what do you think is your greatest advantage of playing here at home? JIM TRACY: Well, we were not having a lot of success early in the season anyplace, but we definitely turned the tables on that. I think we're something like 44-17 here since the latter part of May. I think it goes without saying that any club is more familiar in their own ballpark. You know, you have the tenth man behind you, so to speak. You're very, very familiar with the surroundings. You sleep in your own bed. Your family's very close to you. I think all that comes into play. It really does. But something that I think has haunted this club over the years that we cleared that hurdle this year, too, is that we won on the road this year. We won more games than we lost on the road. Something I said to the club back in late May, we talked about winning series. We talked about righting the ship at home. For me you can't play poor baseball at home and think about an opportunity being there for you in the month of October if you're not a good club at home. I think we righted that ship. Our fans have gotten behind us and they're a very integral part of what goes on here. They raise our level, so to speak, just like the Philly fans have done the same thing with their players. We weathered that storm. We battled that situation at Philly, and now we have an opportunity to do some things for ourselves here in our own ballpark. We're really looking forward to that, believe me. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Jim. End of FastScripts |
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