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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES v PHILLIES

October 11, 2009

Jim Tracy

DENVER, COLORADO: Game Three

Philadelphia Â– 6
Colorado - 5

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jim.

Q. It looked like Chase's hit there in the ninth, hit off his leg or his shoulder or his knee but it was still in the box, the throw that Huston made over to Todd that was off the bag, did you get a look at it? What was your take?
JIM TRACY: I saw the ball come out from home plate. I did not see it. I immediately started looking towards the part of the field where the ball was rolling to see if in fact obviously we're going to make a play. You know, I thought he was out at first base, but that's neither here nor there. He called him safe.
I think there were other elements involved that are much more glaring as far as the outcome of the game. I did not see the ball hit his leg coming out. But I wasn't sure whether he was safe or out at first base.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Hammel's outing and seemed to go well until that third or fourth inning and then the way you used your bullpen after that?
JIM TRACY: You know, I said in here this afternoon that if Jason loses it, it happens very quickly. What's intriguing is obviously he got retired. I believe nine out of the first ten hitters, the only guy that obviously did anything, and it was big, but it was Utley's home run.
But I believe there were three walks in the three-run fourth inning, there were three base on balls, one of which we ended up walking a runner in. And from that point we had to piece it together with our bullpen who did a tremendous job. All of them.
When you have a guy that retires nine out of the first ten hitters, one of the last things you think is that you'd be removing him from the game after three and two-thirds innings, but that's exactly what we had to do in order to stay in the game.
And we got beat, but what I'm proud of as far as the club is concerned is we left it all out there. You know, when you consider the fact that we walked eight guys and really there was a point in time from the seventh inning on where we kind of had the upper hand once we tied the game back up at 5, or I should say we were trailing 5-4, we were in the seventh inning, we had first and third, nobody out, three, four, five hitters coming to the plate. Tulowitzki just missed the changeup that he hit off of Ryan Madson on the sacrifice fly.
Give him credit. He struck out a great hitter in Todd Helton. That was a huge out. Especially, as I mentioned, you had first and third, nobody out. You get a base hit there with the guy we had at first base, we're probably going to be on first and third again with a base hit, have tied the game, still nobody out. Tulowitzki up.
You know, as I said, this club here, it's difficult enough to hold them down because of how good they are offensively. They can hit the ball out of the park. They can create runs with speed, with Jimmy and Shane Victorino up there at the top of the order.
When you consider the fact, like I said, that you walk eight guys in the game and you're in a position to win in the ninth inning and having to piece your bullpen together as much as we had to do it from the fourth inning on, you can't fault the effort. But you walk that many people against an offensive team like that, you're putting yourself in harm's way.

Q. With the ninth inning, except for Rollins' lead-off hit there wasn't a ball hit very hard. How tough is that, because it's tough to defend. It's tough to try and get going. What was that like for you getting dinged like that?
JIM TRACY: You know, the situation in the ninth inning obviously starts with Jimmy Rollins, and we got him to two strikes very quickly. The count went from there to 3-2. He got the lead-off base hit. You're now in a position where they could have done a lot of things. They bunted and got Rollins to second base, you can understand why they would do that with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez coming behind them. They're looking for a run there obviously.
But give credit, like I said, to Jimmy Rollins. He could have mis-hit the ball too. He didn't. He squared it up, didn't try to do too much with it, grounded a base hit up the middle and set the stage for them to put themselves in the position where once Utley reached and you have first and third and one out, Ryan Howard hits the sacrifice fly.
If we ended up with a base to play with at first base, if we could have gotten to the two-out situation, which we didn't, and then Howard shows up, you can walk him. And obviously then Huston has a match-up with Jayson Werth. But we weren't able to get to that point.

Q. This tied a post-season record for the coldest temperatures played in. Was it difficult at all in these conditions, especially with this being a four-hour-plus game?
JIM TRACY: We had a lot of heat in the dugouts, but I really think that you have to give credit to both clubs, like you're mentioning. That's not the easiest conditions in the world to play baseball. But both clubs in my opinion did an admirable job.
It was a tremendous baseball game, let's face it. It went down to the last pitch of the game. We're in a position in the ninth inning even if Tulowitzki hits something towards the gap, with a guy that we pinch ran for Todd Helton in Eric Young, Jr., if Tulowitzki lines a ball that even heads towards the gap but doesn't get into the gap, there's a chance that Young could have scored from first base.
But I think Tulowitzki would tell you he got a pitch to hit. He really did. He popped it up. But he definitely took a very, very good swing, might have been a little bit too big. However, he definitely saw the ball well and took a tremendous swing at it and just missed it. That's all. Just barely missed it.

Q. With the Utley play, when you went out to discuss it with the umps, what did they tell you? And it's hard -- can you even ask for clarification on what happened in the box since it became a play down at first base?
JIM TRACY: I was questioning the safe or out call at first base. And the response I got, I wanted to know if he thought -- if in fact Todd had come off the base. Because I saw Todd reach up and use the base as leverage to get himself up there to catch the ball and stay on the base, but the response I got was that he came off the base and he was safe anyway. That was the answer I got.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Jim.

End of FastScripts

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