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AL DIVISION SERIES: RANGERS v RAYSSeptember 29, 2011Joe MaddonARLINGTON, TEXAS: Workout Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Joe. Q. Can you tell us who is pitching tomorrow? JOE MADDON: No. Seriously, we have a meeting in a couple of minutes. It has been very difficult to bring this all together from the conclusion of last night until this moment. We celebrated last night, as we should have. Everybody should have celebrated. I hate to disappoint, but that was what it was all about last night. We had some really benign conversations regarding today and how to even shape the roster. We're not even there yet. So I hate to disappoint. We'll probably know -- we will know later tonight because we have to tell the pitcher who's going to be pitching tomorrow, but we are not quite there yet, and I apologize. Q. On the subject of the roster, do you know the 15-10, 14-11 where the tough decisions lie? JOE MADDON: Probably 14-11, I believe. Tough decisions, there are those. Obviously do you want to carry three catchers is a potential question. The outfield situation, with all of the left-handed pitchers that they have, do you want to add or keep an extra right-handed hitting outfielder, as an example? Bullpen-wise, if you're not going to use your starters as starters, who then would fold into the bullpen. Honestly we are still dealing with all of these things. What we normally do is we pass out a little piece of paper, kind of an exercise between the coaches, and everybody filled it out on the plane. So when we go into this meeting, everybody will have some clear thoughts about what they think. And we've been talking about this in the back room and there are different conversations, but we are at the moment now we actually have to do something about it. Honestly, I think you could appreciate this, my focus is on one night at a time, and I really -- I don't try to split my concentration under those moments. I was more concerned about beating the Yankees and having hopefully the Red Sox lose than at this moment. So we'll get it done. We're pretty good at this. Andrew and the boys, we will set up in the coaches' room in the ballpark in a couple of minutes and will go through that exercise. Q. Joe, on the flight out here, did you get any feel for how much your team still has in its tank? JOE MADDON: Not really. I honestly can't -- I mean, everybody got on kind of tired body today. I won't deny that. We've been doing this to this mental level since -- September 9th, is that the first game against the Red Sox when Davis beat Boston at our ballpark. We have been playing with this kind of emotion -- that's almost like three weeks, I guess. But last night really -- that rips everything else apart. That is so unthinkable to do what we did last night. And actually, like I think some people said it, at the moment it happens, what are you supposed to do? What do you react to this? How do you actually celebrate? You eventually figure that out. But it really draws a lot out of you. I have a lot of faith in our guys. I mean, a part of it, a big part of it for me, is to, from my perspective -- what I do on our coaching staff is to get them ready, but don't overprepare them right now. Let them go out and play baseball without a lot of different thoughts. That's what's gotten us to this point. My point there is that when you start dealing with the mind and start getting in there too heavily, that's going to wear you out even before your body does. So I'd like to give them some nuggets for tomorrow. We played these guys, what, nine times this year already. They haven't changed a whole lot. We're hoping to just draw out a couple of ideas or thoughts that might help us in a short series like this. But I really believe our Rays will show up tomorrow. It's a young group. Everybody's played, everybody's participated, every has ownership in this particular moment, so I anticipate good. Q. Joe, obviously you played these guys last year. How much difference do you see in the two teams between this year and last year? And how much difference will them not having Lee make? JOE MADDON: Yeah, they don't have Lee, but they are still very formidable with their pitching. And they also now have Beltre on the other side of the ball, too. And Michael Young having the season he did and the cast of thousands. They are really a formidable offensive ballclub. And then you look at their pitching. Wilson has really become kind of a Lee. After that, the other young left-handers that they have are really good too. Their bullpen is spectacular. They provide so many different problems as the game is in progress. Theoretically you have to get on them and stay on top. That's where you want to be, because it's a really tough group to come from behind on. We're just going to have to pitch extremely well, like we can. We're going to have to catch line drives. We have to be in the right spots. Regardless with Lee not being here, there additions, the other guy, Napoli, how about the year Naps had? This guy I have known for a long time with the Angels. He and I go back. His year has been incredible. So there are all these new offensive forces to deal with also. And then you combine that with this, I think -- like I talked about last time we played these guys, I thought Adams was like the bullpen version of Cliff Lee this year for the Rangers. He's that good. Q. Is there such a thing you think as capturing a moment, like Evan might have done last night? If so, what is there to that that certain players have that some others might not? JOE MADDON: I think it really comes down to this one thought, and it's hard to describe, maybe people would understand it, unless you've actually have been there, but he is able to slow the moment down. He is able to slow these situations down. I think the better guys do. Talking about Cliff Lee, just watch him pitch. He's never in trouble. I don't care what's going on, he's never in trouble. He never sweats, he doesn't change his demeanor, his look. He is able to slow the game down when it's necessary. I think a guy like Longo, even though he is long, is able to do that at the right time. I think the common denominator among those players that are able to rise to those particular moments is the fact that they are able to slow the game down. Q. Joe, if you can take us back, what were your thoughts as Longo was circling the bases after the winning home run? And as a guy that keeps up a little bit with baseball history, where do you put that on the memorable home runs this game has seen? JOE MADDON: Honestly, I don't even remember what I thought. I just kept saying to Davey, Do you believe this? Do you believe this? I don't how many times I said that. I might have even included a word I can't utilize right now (laughter). But it was truly astonishing. But believable that he would do it right there. You hear the cheer, you see the number go up on the board, Baltimore beats Boston. And why not hit a home run right there. It's definitely believable that he can do it. So it's just one of those things you just react to the moment. Again, there's not a whole lot of thought process going on. It's one of those surreal moments that this game can create for you at this time of the year. I have been a part of it in the past, and there is another one right there. Home runs, immediately I thought of the Thompson home run when I was a kid growing up, my dad talking about that with the Giants in the playoffs. The one I really neglected to talk about yesterday was even the Bucky Dent home run. That's pretty significant what he was able to do for the Yankees several years ago. And then my next thought was a former teammate, Joe Carter, and what he did. And then even a little bit more the Kirk Gibson arm pump. There have been some really significant home runs over the course of baseball history. My personal history goes back to the '64 Cardinals who were very near and dear to me at that time. I was 10. I was a big fan. That was when I really -- I was always a baseball fan. I really turned on to it that year. I became an absolute fan in '63 of the Cardinals. And you saw what they did that year. And I remember coming back on the Phillies and having to beat the Yankees in seven games in the World Series. But I am 10 years old. I could really still recapture the feelings of that time. And then to be kind of thrust into that same moment, I don't know, I am pretty good at digesting things, but this one's going to take a bit. This definitely requires off-season bike ride, good dinner somewhere, sleeping in several days, going on a trip somewhere. It requires all of that to really understand exactly what happened yesterday. And a couple glasses of wine. Thanks, Marc. Q. Just from a pure baseball standpoint, traditionally in the postseason teams that have dominant starting pitching and play really good defense, that's usually a formula for success. How dangerous going forward can you guys be given those are your strengths? JOE MADDON: I think right now there's nothing that we don't think that we can't do. Does that make sense? We believe. If anybody in the locker room doesn't believe anything is possible right now, I want to meet them one-on-one in my office. So we definitely have a strong belief system going on right now, regardless of how we can look at these other teams that we have to play, and maybe there's areas that they appear to be stronger than we, and probably are. But it's about what you believe and what you feel on a daily basis. It's how your guys show up. It's that, it's that group mentality, that team. A lot of the things that some people find corny. A lot of times it is hard to sell an entire group in that regard. But when you do, when you get everybody really pulling in the same direction, you can do some really tremendous things. So I think I believe our group has that within our make-up. Q. Specifically pitching and defense? JOE MADDON: That's who we are. You watched us all year. Every night we take the field, we believe we have a chance. Based on the starting pitching, there is nothing worse than taking the field, knowing that you have a great disadvantage on the mound. That's really a bad feeling and that's when you are really in trouble. So every night that we play, we feel like we have a solid chance to win a baseball game based on our starting pitching, period. I mean, that lesson was learned in this state with me many years ago, in Midland, Texas, when I had teams that had a really tremendous disadvantage based on what was going to the mound. It starts right there. And after that, and we talk about this a lot, we have to have an above-average defender at each position, and we do. And then we have to put them in the right spots. When guys hit baseballs hard, like this team will, we have to be in the right spots. So we have to take our chances. We can't be conservative. We can't all of a sudden try to do things differently because we're here. Right now it's time to press it even more. So I know our guys buy into that philosophy, but it really -- Dodgers back in the day, pitching and defense and timely hitting. I'll take it. Q. Joe, talk about Dan Johnson, how he delivered last night and your decision to using him. JOE MADDON: Well, the decision there was if we had gotten runners on base, Sam was going to hit and I was going to save Danny for a later moment. That was my first thought. Once it got to two outs and nobody on, it was like one out or might have been zero outs, I said to Davey, Get D.J. ready in case there are zero outs -- excuse me, two outs and nobody on, and he was going to hit for Sam. That was it. That was it. So that's what he was there for, the home run in the ninth inning to tie a ballgame and send us into extra innings. That's why we brought him out. If you don't believe that, just ask Andrew. Q. Joe, your pitcher tomorrow, is it down to between Niemann and Davis, or is Moore even in the conversation at this point? JOE MADDON: Yes. He's in that conversation at this point. There are several guys in this conversation. It's more than just one or two guys. Q. You have no qualms about potentially throwing a rookie with 10 innings of experience in the first game of the playoffs? JOE MADDON: I don't think we have qualms about doing anything. I think that is one thing that people have learned about us. You look at how we have gotten this point, nobody has talked about Jake McGee and Brandon Gomes. How about these guys? These are two rookies that came up and for a while took a little bit of a beating and for a while couldn't throw -- Gome had a little bit harder time with the strike, but Jake was throwing strikes in the wrong part of the plate. And all of a sudden they get to this point and Gomer is throwing harder than he has all season, and all of a sudden Jake is making pitches. If we don't utilize everybody within our rosters here, or within the organization, we're missing out because that's who we are. We're not going to go out and attempt to buy anybody in the last moment because we can't. And so we have to develop that on our own. And we have to make sure that there are spare parts available. And when these guys get here, they know they are going to play. I don't like the idea of people showing up and sitting on the bench. I just talked about those that have -- everybody feels ownership. And I really believe that is important. When you celebrate -- at the end of that game I gave Russ Canzler a little bit of a hard time for his partcipation in the game yesterday, took like five pitches and struck out, but I said, Hey, you are a part of it. So everybody here gets involved, and I think that's a part of our success, a reason for -- part of the reason for our success. Q. Joe, you guys take great pride in your home-grown rotation, which is a rarity. I am wondering why are they such a rarity? Is it a matter of the economics of keeping them together? JOE MADDON: Such a rarity among other organizations? Q. In baseball in general. JOE MADDON: And, again, I don't -- we, for us, I believe it has a lot to do with great scouting. I really truly do. That's where it begins. I have done all that. I understand what the scout goes through. I know what it's like to be in draft meetings and I know what it's like during those conversations. It's not just about hitting on the number one guy; it's about hitting on the other guys that come in latter rounds, and we have done that. For me, a lot of what you are seeing here with us begins with excellent scouting, period. And then you turn it over to development. And a lot of times we in the Major League level get credit for things that have really been ironed out a long time before we ever got here. But I am definitely aware of that. So when you talk about "us" in general, you have got to give a lot of credit to the scouts and to the Minor League developmental people. And then when they get here, they come to graduate school and it is up to us to take them to the next level hopefully. The undergrad work is very, very important, and it starts there. I just think we do a really good job with that, and I also believe to a certain extent when a guy comes here, I think the way we deal with him, this young pitcher, I think that aids him. Meaning that I think we're very supportive. If a guy doesn't shine immediately, we don't really come down on him. So I think a guy has a chance to really get his feet on the ground regarding how we do things. Q. Just to follow up on that, is part of the reason we don't see it elsewhere just lack of patience because it takes time a lot of times to develop a young pitcher? JOE MADDON: Yeah, it does. And the other thing about us that really truly is remarkable, I think I am patting on the back, is having our guys do well in our division. When you pitch in our division, you don't get a lot of chasers on the other side. In other words, a lot of expanders of strike zones. So the young pitchers have to get hitters out primarily within the strike zone and then hopefully have a pitch they may chase with two strikes. And, furthermore, just to have the make-up, again, to stand out there and challenge these really good hitters in those moments. So that's even a more difficult item for us, is to develop not only starting pitching but to do it within our division under these circumstances. All of that stuff to me is remarkable for us to have these many -- this many games started consecutively by home-grown talent. I didn't realize it until R.V. started posting that in our notes this year. It is pretty remarkable. Why do other teams not do it? First of all, it is hard to do. There is a lot of patience required. And some teams have more money so they will go out and buy these guys. When you start buying these guys, then you may hold back or retard the development of somebody else within your organization that may have got this opportunity otherwise. I mean, I am just reaching. I am just trying to think it all the way through. We will not go out and buy that big guy. We will not spend all that dough. We can't. So we have to do this the way we are doing it. Necessity is the reason. Q. At the trade deadline a lot of people are thinking for you guys to make any kind of run you would need to maybe add a bat. The emergence of Longoria and Upton, could that have been getting the bat that you guys needed? JOE MADDON: Yeah. You know, that's really strange how that always works out. A lot of times you'll have guys that are maybe underperforming at that moment and all of a sudden, you know, they are better than that, they have more in the tank, and then they do it. And I agree with you, they all of a sudden become that acquisition, that deadline acquisition. B.J. is the guy that really for me has put this thing all together. Longo hitting No. 2. Yeah. Longo, he started showing signs of that I think even prior. He is really coming on. He is obviously a little bit torrid right now. But B.J., by hitting him in the 2-hole, all of a sudden better at-bats, more patient at the plate, accepting of his walks, driving the ball to all fields. All these things started to happen in the 2-hole. Probably because he may be seeing a more consistent or better pitch hitting in front of Longo. That may have something to do with it too. And B.J. likes playing at this time of year. He is very comfortable with it, and I really believe we have seen in the past and you will see it again this year, the best of him, offensively, defensively, everything. So you're right, those two guys, but I'd say the essention of B.J. at that moment in the 2-hole has really benefitted us. Q. Do you have any lineup decisions to make for what you use against C.J. tomorrow? JOE MADDON: A little bit. We have some things to think about. Obviously we are not prepared. I haven't talked to my players yet. There are a couple of things to consider. He has been really good against us. He's not as deft on lefties this year as he had been last year, but he is still semi-deft on lefties. There are things we have to consider on that. Looking at the performance of guys recently, trying to consider everything, and I have ideas. I have ideas, but I am not ready to throw them out there because I want to be able to talk to our players first. Q. Joe, we know what your team had to go through just to get here, and obviously the Rangers won 14-16 to get home-field advantage for a rematch of a series when nobody wanted home last year. Your team is a little bit different. Talk about that and how it plays into things. JOE MADDON: Last year was strange, because we played hard to get home-field advantage and I keep reading the different stories about it doesn't really matter anymore. You look at us this year, we're pretty even, based record at home and on the road. We've just become a better road team. I don't know what it is about, but I know this: If you look at the Rangers' offensive numbers at home, they are quite different than they are on the road. And I don't think it is because they are cheating, I just think that -- again, using my background as manager in the state of Texas, the ball flies here and I think a lot of it speaks to confidence. It's a warm situation. The wind's going to be kicking off the stands blowing back out. Immediately the hitter has this psychological advantage where the pitcher maybe does not have the same kind of an attitude. So all of those things in consideration. And last year they beat us at our place and we beat them here. I have no idea. I really don't. I really try to not pay attention to that as much anymore. I do know that I am very pleased with the fact that we are a much better road team. That was vital. And that really carried us in the first part of the year because we were not a good home team. We were like around .500 for most of this season. All of a sudden we have taken off at the Trop more recently. But being a good road team has really benefitted us this year. Q. How much consideration is there for James Shields for Game 1? JOE MADDON: Not a lot for Game 1. Not a lot. He even warmed up yesterday. I don't want to mislead you. He does not have a lot of consideration for tomorrow. He pitched -- what was that? Monday? Monday. He warmed up on Wednesday. I don't -- I don't think so. I know he's not going to pitch the first game. We will have to make other adjustments after that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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