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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES v PHILLIES

October 11, 2009

Charlie Manuel

DENVER, COLORADO: Game Three

Philadelphia Â– 6
Colorado - 5

THE MODERATOR: We have Charlie Manuel and Brad Lidge. Questions?

Q. Brad, you said at one point before the playoffs began your ERA is back to zero. How good did that feel out there tonight for you to get a fresh start and get going here?
BRAD LIDGE: It felt great. I really feel like maybe the last week or so I had a couple of outings at home and I felt real comfortable, real good. I kind of was starting to get that feeling again that things were going to go right.
And I think it was nice to get out there tonight. I was really happy to get that opportunity. The entire bullpen just did a tremendous job tonight.
Yeah, when the post-season starts it's a completely new slate. And get out there and I feel real good in the post-season and in general right now. So hopefully we'll keep doing the job as a whole that we did with the bullpen tonight.

Q. Charlie, can you talk about your decision to go with Madson in the seventh? I think Durbin had warmed up, Eric gets hurt, Madson came in cold.
CHARLIE MANUEL: The situation there, when I got up on the mound and went over and talked to Dubee, I told him I wanted Madson because he's capable of striking guys out. And I figured that if I put him in the game, he might go about two innings for me.

Q. Brad, you've pitched in a lot of big games before, but what does it mean to you to pitch in a game like this in your hometown? Probably the kind of game you always thought about, home ballpark -- hometown ballpark?
BRAD LIDGE: Yeah, it's definitely a treat to be able to play here right now. Obviously get to pitch in front of some family and friends.
But really just when you get out there on the mound in a situation like that, you're just trying to focus and lock in and execute your pitches. So it's great that it happened here. Hopefully we'll get another chance to get a win tomorrow.
But it is nice to play here. I've always enjoyed pitching here and sleeping in my own bed. So I guess there's something to be said for that.

Q. Brad, I don't know if -- hard to tell from our vantage point, did you end up throwing any cutters today to those left-handers?
BRAD LIDGE: I did. I threw a few cutters, you bet.

Q. The Giambi one that got him out?
BRAD LIDGE: Yeah, that was a cutter.

Q. Can you talk about just your confidence to throw a pitch that you basically just started throwing in the post-season with so much on the line?
BRAD LIDGE: Well, I think for me the good thing about that pitch is that I've actually thrown it quite a bit down the bullpen even over the last couple of years. Just a pitch I've always kind of -- actually all the way back to Houston I threw it a little bit, but back then I didn't really know what I was doing with it, so I just kind of pocketed it for a long time.
It's a pitch that helps me with lefties. Helps me get something into lefties. I think they're pretty used to seeing a fastball slider from me. So fastball sliders, they're my bread and butter and I'm real comfortable and feel confident getting people out with those pitches. But occasionally if you want to mix in another look to some of those good hitters, those lefties, it's a productive pitch.

Q. Charlie, do you know anything about Eyre, what exactly happened, how serious that might be?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Looked to me like when he came off the mound he kind of changed direction with his body and I thought at first he might have even stepped on his foot. But when he turned, I think he did it mostly when he turned, actually looked like he turned to go get the ball and was going to try to backhand it and he lost his footing.
He kind of twisted his leg, of course. And he's had an injury this year with his calf. And that's the first thing that came into my mind.

Q. Hear anything from the trainers?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Not yet. He was in there kind of hobbling around. Said he'd be all right. But he was hobbling.

Q. Charlie, what did you say before the Todd Helton bat in the ninth when you came out to the mound?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Came out, basically told Brad that there was a base open but at the same time Helton was the winning run and he had some room to play with him. And Ruiz spoke up and said like we'll kind of work him the way we want to. We'll work him carefully, kind of work around him. Brad ended up kind of going at him. Threw some high fastballs, which was good, too, but Helton didn't want to swing at them.

Q. Charlie, what did you observe on Utley's checked swing there in the ninth? Did it hit any part of his body, the bat? And then Jim Tracy was wondering, he thought he might have been safe at first --
CHARLIE MANUEL: Looked to me like it hit the bat and the ball hit the tip of the grass where the dirt and the grass -- right there at the edge of the tip of the grass and kind of went a little bit toward the right.
And of course when Street came off the field, he had to lob the ball over Utley. But Utley, I think -- I thought Tracy was probably talking about the baseline there, but he ran straight down the line. I didn't think he was out of the baseline.

Q. Follow-up question. This tied the record for coldest post-season game ever. What was it like playing in these conditions, especially for four-plus hours?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Actually, if you want to know the truth, when the game started I didn't get cold at all. I didn't. I figured the guys on the field didn't if I didn't. I was standing in the dugout, of course there was a heater there, but I was standing behind the heater. That's how smart I am. But I didn't get cold. Got wrapped up into the game.

Q. Brad, you watched this whole game, four hours from out there in the bullpen. There's so many different managerial moves and so many different kind of crucial decisions and it all comes down to one run in the ninth. After all that, after all the bullpens that had been used going into tomorrow's game, how important was it just to get this win? How big of a victory was this for you guys?
BRAD LIDGE: I think it's huge. It's not a must-win in my opinion unless you're facing elimination, but obviously in a five-game series when it's 1-1 you want to be the team that gets the upper hand.
And it was a great game. Great battle. Both teams came out ready to play and ready to hit. I think our bullpen did a tremendous job. We got key hits when we needed to.
Overall, I was real proud of the way everybody pitched. Everybody found a way to stay warm and get people out.

Q. Brad, I'm just wondering if the cold, the extreme cold did impact the way the ball felt in your hand or command or grip or anything? Because it's obviously sort of an extreme situation. I think it would have some effect.
BRAD LIDGE: I think honestly because it wasn't windy and there wasn't any moisture, any rain or snow or whatever here, because it didn't have those elements, it actually felt pretty good, pretty close to normal. Obviously you could tell it was colder than normal. At the same time, if you keep yourself warm and with no wind and no moisture, felt pretty close to normal.

Q. Charlie, you saw firsthand what a lead-off guy can do for the other team. How good was it to see Jimmy get on base, and what can that do for a team?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Jimmy, we always talk about when Jimmy scores a run, our winning percentage is high, and he got a big hit tonight at the right time. And when he gets on, he sets our offense into motion. He's a guy that starts our engine for us. When he's hitting the ball good, we usually go good. And set the stage for Victorino and Utley and Howard and Ibanez and Werth. And we always seem like we have guys in scoring position when Rollins hits or walks or whatever. He's a big part of our team, heck of a player.

Q. Brad, being from Colorado, have you played in anything colder than this?
BRAD LIDGE: Actually, nothing that I can remember. There was probably a game in high school or something. Definitely a couple of games in college in the Big East Conference. This is definitely the coldest I remember playing in the Big Leagues.

Q. Two major at-bats in the ninth, Giambi and Tulowitzki. Could you just take me through the at-bats and what you were able to do to get them to fly out?
BRAD LIDGE: I have a lot of respect for both of them as hitters, and the main goal is to try and get ahead and stay aggressive at the same time, but I threw a couple of sliders to Giambi and got him with a cut fastball there at the end.
And with Tulowitzki, a lot of times we're getting to -- when I've had trouble, I've thrown just tons of sliders over and over and over, and the hitters start getting onto that. We tried to mix it up a little bit tonight.
We ended up getting him out with a fastball in and hopefully I'll have a chance to do something else tomorrow. But I think I'm best when I'm not too predictable out there. So we mixed it up real well tonight.

Q. What do you think was wrong with J.A. tonight and can you talk about bringing Joe kind of the same situation as he did in Game 2?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I felt like J.A. had good stuff. I felt that he was having command problems but every pitch he threw was around the plate. He definitely wasn't wild. He felt like he threw some real good pitches low that he didn't get. And he had a high pitch count.
And also from where he was at, I figured the reason I brought Blanton in the game, we had a chance to score if his at-bat came up -- if his bat doesn't come up, if Shoots doesn't get a hit there, he's going to go back out. I figure he can pitch at least one more inning and at the most two. But once I got Blanton hot and the situation for us go for some runs, I felt I wanted Dobbs to hit. I felt Blanton could give us something anywhere from three to five innings.

Q. You guys both seem kind of wiped out just looking at you. What was between the weather and just it was such an intense game. What's your feeling? You guys look spent, almost, where are you at right now?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Actually didn't seem like it was that long. I like it. I like it. Even when I hate it, I like it (Laughter). If that's a good way to put it.
But it tests you. But you know what, that's a good part about it. That's what the game's all about. And intense moments and everything, in some ways it's exciting but also in some ways it's not too good. But, like I said, I like it.
BRAD LIDGE: I don't mind. 10-hour game, as long as we come out on top in the post-season. The adrenalin will get going and you'll find a way to get rest when you need to.

Q. Charlie, situational offense has been an issue all season for you guys, but in this series seems like you turned the corner. What's been the difference?
CHARLIE MANUEL: We know how to play and a lot of times people like to talk about our offense because we hit a lot of home runs. And that's true, but at the same time, like when we were playing good, we are playing situational baseball and we are moving the runners and we are creating, manufacturing runs by our speed and by executing on offense.
And here lately we've been moving our runners better. We've been getting hits at the right time. And actually when you get in close games like this, that's what really happens. And both teams, when they play close together and they play right on one another, it's the team who gets the big hit at the end and the pitcher that makes the big pitch.
And that's kind of how it goes. That's like the moment. It's like accomplishing the moment or playing in the moment and coming out ahead. And anytime two teams play right with one another, both of them have a chance.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.

End of FastScripts

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