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MLB WORLD SERIES: RANGERS v GIANTS

October 29, 2010

Ron Washington

ARLINGTON, TEXAS: Workout Day

Q. At this point is it just better to forget about the last two games rather than focusing on what happened?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, that's what you would like to do. You know, what you do is you just try to analyze what went wrong and just try to correct it. But you know, you just try to stay relaxed and try to get out there and try to get back to playing your game. Now that we're home, we feel comfortable back in this place. Not taking anything away from the Giants; they beat us soundly. But no, we've just got to come back here, get focused and win a game. We win a game, everything will be fine.

Q. Is there any thought of pitching Cliff Lee on three days' rest?
RON WASHINGTON: The only thing I'm thinking about is Colby tomorrow. I can't answer that.

Q. How important is it to get back to an AL park, having the DH, having your regular lineup?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, it's important for us simply because we get to get all our offensive weapons in that lineup. You know, it's just comfortable to be back home in front of our fans. We can draw energy from them, and that's what we need. Other than that, you know, we've still got to go out there and we have to execute. We've got to execute pitches, we've got to execute our plan at the plate. We'll get an opportunity, we've got to execute on the basepaths. We've just got to get back to playing our game.
It is comfortable to be back here, and we do play good baseball in this park.

Q. Last night did you get a chance to talk to Derek Holland and reaffirm your confidence in him? And would you have any reluctance to use him if the same situation arose last night?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, I didn't get a chance to talk to him last night, but my guys know how much confidence I have in them, and they know when an opportunity presents itself again that I will not hesitate to give them the ball. That's the way we've done things all year, and I won't hesitate to do it again.
It was one of those nights where Derek just didn't get it done, and I don't think anybody knows more about that than Derek does. But I have confidence in every one of our guys. We just didn't get it done, and we certainly have to get it done out of that bullpen.

Q. How well did you know Mitch Moreland when you guys brought him up here in July? And what did you expect from him after going through a couple of first basemen?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, the first time I seen Mitch, he played an intrasquad game against us, and I was told by my Minor League people that this is a guy that grinds. At the time he was just in A-Ball. He ended up coming to camp last year, and he got a chance to play a little bit, and he swung the bat well in Spring Training. So we knew that this kid is a grinder, and we knew he had a good baseball background.
You know, when things went bad as far as first base with Chris and then the trade with Smoak, he was the next one in line. He was doing very well in Triple-A, and we brought him up, and he fit in well ever since. He goes up there, he gives you a good at-bat. He's certainly getting better at first base. And now he's a part of our organization and our team.

Q. What's been the key to this team coming together and being resilient during other tough stretches this year, and also Colby's ability to kind of get you guys to bounce back in some of these outings?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, I think that what's made us so resilient is these guys have been good at dealing with what is presented to them day to day. You know, as I said, in any sport you learn from the things that may not have went right, and you try to correct them. But the key is to make sure that you stay in the moment and just continue to try to do what you're capable of doing. And each individual has to do what they do best. You can't be someone else; you've got to be who you are.
Colby Lewis, he has swing-and-miss stuff. When he's commanding the strike zone, he's as tough as any pitcher in the game. We've needed him twice so far in this post-season, and he's come through, and that's why we're so confident with Colby tomorrow.

Q. Any thoughts on coming back home here and the change in parks and how that might impact things? There were several balls last night that may have been out in other parks.
RON WASHINGTON: Well, you know, you play the park for the conditions that are there. This park for the most part this year to me has played as evenly as any park we've been in. Yeah, there's some balls that may have gotten hit that would have kept going, but at that time we were in AT&T Park.
Hopefully we can get some balls in the air and hopefully they go out the ballpark, and hopefully we've got some runners on base when they go out the ballpark. But I think more than anything else, we have to make sure that we handle the pitcher that we are facing for what he has to offer, and continue to understand that we have to rely on each and every one of the other guys in that lineup and not try to do too much. If we start to try to do too much, we'll just continue to spin our wheels.
It's great to be back here. We know our ballpark. Everything is familiar. You know, we're only down 2-0. We can win tomorrow. It could make a big difference in this thing.

Q. Why has your lineup for the most part been unable to execute its plan?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, you know, I think the San Francisco Giants' pitchers have done a good job, they really have. Pitching usually stops hitting, but we have to figure out a way. We do have the ability to figure out a way, and we will. But when you're facing Lincecum and then their bullpen has been solid, and when Bochy brought them in they've done the job. We faced Matt Cain yesterday, and obviously I think everyone knows what he did yesterday. We had opportunities on him. This guy made pitches when he had to, and more than anything else, it's their pitching. We've just got to figure out a way to get to them.

Q. You've talked about being comfortable coming back here and having to win tomorrow night. Tomorrow is a must-win in your eyes as far as everyone is available, pull out all the stops for tomorrow?
RON WASHINGTON: It is a must-win. We certainly don't want to go down 3-0. But I don't think you can go into the game thinking it's a must-win. I think you've got to go into the game under control, knowing what you're capable of doing, execute that, play to what the game asks you to do, and I think everything else will fall into place. But if you go into it talking about a must-win, then you're going to miss a lot that's happening on that field, and we can't afford to miss anything.

Q. Do you have any lineup changes for Game 3, or could you talk at least about what you're considering if you haven't?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, my lineup will be the same as I've always done it against left-handers. Of course Francoeur will be up in there, Molina will be in there, Vlad will be back in there. Probably we'll leave Moreland at first base, and that's about it.

Q. When the inning was getting out of hand last night, any thought of going to Feliz to try to arrest it at that point?
RON WASHINGTON: No, I didn't, because if I would have went to Feliz right there, he would have had to do something he's never done before, and I wasn't going to challenge him like that.
Nope, we had other guys down there that I have a lot of confidence in getting us out of that inning. It just didn't happen.

Q. Given the season you had, are you at all surprised or disappointed with not just the outcome but the energy level of your team or the performance level of your team the first two games?
RON WASHINGTON: Well, you know, the first game I thought our energy level was high. We made some mistakes out there, but I thought our energy level was high. The fifth inning killed us, when they put those six runs on the board. But yesterday, you know, Matt Cain will make any lineup flat, and he made us flat. That's all I can say about that one.

Q. On kind of a light note, it sounds like an eight-year-old boy, his dad let him shave his head and dress up like you. After everything you've been through, what does that mean? Is that a flattering thing to see?
RON WASHINGTON: It's very flattering. You know, the kid must love baseball, and he must love energy. He must love caring. And that's my personality. And it's nice that there could be someone that wants to imitate Ron Washington. I never in all my wildest dreams thought that. He might want to imitate some other star. I certainly don't consider myself a star, I'm just a baseball man. But it's nice that that young kid could watch a baseball game and want to be Ron Washington. That means a lot.

Q. As you sat there last night, and I know you have confidence in your guys, but when you look at that lineup and you don't have Vlad hitting cleanup, does it just look really different to you?
RON WASHINGTON: Of course, when you miss Vlad's bat. But we've played games all year where Vlad wasn't in there, and we won. The way Matt Cain was throwing last night, it wouldn't have mattered who was in that lineup. We didn't score any runs. And if I knew beforehand that if I put Vlad up in there that he would drive in three or four runs, I would have did it.
You know, throughout the year, every guy on this team has stepped up in every situation that we've been presented with. We didn't get it done, and more than anything else, it was Matt Cain.
I'm not looking back on that. That was my lineup, and I expected that lineup to go out there and win, and for a while we hung in that ballgame until they blew it open late.

Q. Could we get a final determination on the issue of jitters, because you've been remarkably consistent in all your other fcomments, but the word on jitters the first night and then last night you said there might have been some nerves.
RON WASHINGTON: Say that again.

Q. In terms of your team's performance in the first two games.
RON WASHINGTON: Well, as I said, I thought the first night we played with energy. We made some mistakes. Last night I said that Matt Cain can make anybody look like they've got jitters. That's what I said.

Q. So those are consistent comments?
RON WASHINGTON: That's what I said.

End of FastScripts

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