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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS v BREWERS

October 1, 2011

Kirk Gibson

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Game One

Q. For those who didn't have the good luck of following you all season long, how would you summarize the Kirk Gibson style baseball?
KIRK GIBSON: Just try and compete. Don't get bogged down in the negative things. We know we're going to make mistakes. And we just try and let those go and deal with the current situation, whatever it may be, good or bad. And we really try and focus on that.
Players, they're here to do well, they have a lot of pride. They all have ego. And play the game for the right reasons and for the fans.
So we have a tendency to get disappointed. But we've got to move beyond that. There's always a chance about this game that gives you another opportunity to do well. So that's kind of who we are. We do play 27 outs, or if it's 36, we'll be willing to do that, as well.

Q. Can you just address Don Baylor and how he's doing and give us an update?
KIRK GIBSON: He's in the clubhouse now. He'll be fine. He'll be in the dugout. They tested him for everything. It seems like he had a reaction, maybe, to some medication. He's probably the toughest guy I know. I think he's worried about me trying to be tougher, I don't know.
But we're trying to make sure he's okay and he's acting like, come on, he's getting ready for his advance meeting right now with his hitters. And we're happy to see him in great spirits today.

Q. What decisions have you made about the back end of your roster with Jarrod [Parker]?
KIRK GIBSON: Jarrod is on the roster. Castillo, Cook and Miley, they're off. Jarrod will be in the bullpen for the series.

Q. Statistically this appears to be really an even matchup. Is that your perception of it?
KIRK GIBSON: Yeah, I think it's two pretty good teams. I think they're both managed well. We have good support in our coaching staffs. Kind of, I guess, not Milwaukee and Arizona aren't the big names, I guess, probably not as much recognition as other teams, but very competitive. Pretty good pitching, back end of the bullpen similar. Both kind of very athletic. They have Braun, and Fielder. I like our lineup all the way through, 1 through 9.
We played close this year. Braun was out most of the time when we played them. We understand what he does. And I think it's a great matchup. It's a great matchup. I know both teams will play the game the right way. We all respect each other, we just want to go out there and get after it, have fun. Have fun playing the game of baseball.

Q. The top of your rotation is fairly young, but with what they did this year, what is it that each of them has that has them performing the way they did?
KIRK GIBSON: Kennedy is starting to come into his prime. He's the guy that's finally been able to stay healthy. He has a great makeup. He's able to throw all of his pitches to all quadrants, I guess, around the plate. He knows how to pitch. He stayed healthy. He's still sneakier than people think. People look at him and think he's not overpowering, but he can throw anything anywhere at any time.
Daniel Hudson is a very young kid. It's really only his second year. Sneaky, he slings the ball a little bit. Last year was pretty much a fastball, change-up guy. This year added a slider to the mix. A very competitive guy.
Joe Saunders, kind of our veteran guy, he's throwing the ball very well for us, a location type guy, fastball, curveball change.
And then Collmenter, he's just deceiving. He throws the ball from way up here (indicating), locates the ball well, elevates it, moves it in and out, he's got a great change-up. And he'll also use his curveball at times to surprise people.
As a whole, the whole staff, they're decently athletic off the mound. They hold runners well. They understand how to control the running game, and they have all great pride swinging the bat.
If you look at the whole picture you don't look at any one aspect of their game is dominating, but when you put it altogether, they're pretty good in what they do. And they take great pride in being a complete pitcher and complete player. We are pretty athletic. We take pride in doing things right and being prepared to make plays. We're not one dimensional, at all.

Q. Do you think that Daniel [Hudson] has done a better job as the years have gone on in managing his emotions on the mound?
KIRK GIBSON: Daniel is Daniel. He has high expectations. I think he wants to go out and shut everybody out every day. And you guys have followed him and you've seen how he's handled certain situations. I think I told you guys there have been times when he's probably handled situations poorly and he's pitched great. And I think when he pitches and the results aren't as good, I think we tend to focus on how he's handling it.
It's just who he is. He's always going to be like that to an extent. He actually does fine. Sometimes you've got to give the opponent credit, they just get you, put it on you. And they score four runs off you, and you're only able to score two and that's baseball.

Q. How has the strategy changed between a five-game series and a seven-game series?
KIRK GIBSON: I think you want to win three out of five. So I think in anything that you're trying to accomplish you think about what your end goal is and then you make decisions based upon that. So our goal will be to win three out of five.
My philosophy all year has been to use my whole roster. I've always changed my lineups around. I've played virtually everybody at any time. I'm probably not going to change much in this series, as well. I'll use anybody at any time. I'll be willing to change my starting lineup. I think that sometimes we think we're smart enough to figure out who can succeed and who can't succeed. And I guess I tend to put them out there and prove who can and who can't.
Having done that all year, I have great comfort in knowing that whoever I call upon in any given situation is better prepared and they'll believe in themselves.

Q. High energy, aggressive base running, you guys manufacture runs. What is your attitude about bunt, that gives one out away? If your runner goes from second to third, trying to stretch it to a triple, but he's gone down, what do you tell him?
KIRK GIBSON: If he gets out?

Q. He tries to stretch it to a triple.
KIRK GIBSON: I would never say anything to my player about running into an out. If you want them to be aggressive and push the envelope, you can't have a negative comment to them for doing what you ask them to do. That's part of it. You're going to run into outs.
We've had several games, I guess, throughout the year where we've run into several outs, but you've just got to deal with it. It is what it is. He's out. There's two outs and you move on. We try and make good decisions, and we try to condition ourselves throughout this whole year to make those decisions at the right time.
Do we want to run into outs? No. Will we? I hope not. But if we do, we're going to pat him on the butt and say good defense.

Q. And about the bunts?
KIRK GIBSON: It's a situational type thing.

Q. You guys don't bunt too much?
KIRK GIBSON: If the situation calls, it's certainly something I would do. But maybe the fact that I haven't bunted means that I will (laughter).

Q. What's your assessment of Parra's development this year?
KIRK GIBSON: Exceptional. He's the guy that sprained his ankle. It was actually a couple of years ago. And last year wasn't able -- wasn't moving as well, went and prepared for this season with a little different mindset. Lost a lot of weight. Worked a lot of movements. Came in, was moving better.
One of the first things that we did is I gave a talk to the team about we would be the -- the coaches would be working out every day at 5:45 in the morning, and we expected them to keep it going. So Henry Blanco grabbed many of the Latino players, and he'd come in at about 6:00 with them. Parra was one of that group.
We believe in working out, becoming more athletic, more agile, more explosive. And Parra bought into that program. He stayed with it, running much better, much faster. He has 15 stolen bases, I think he was caught one time. Very aggressive. He's worked on his leads, his returns. He's always had a great arm. This year he's learned how to be more accurate with it. It's a great weapon for us out there.
And then hitting-wise, I asked Don Baylor the first day of Spring Training, that I'd ask people in prior years Parra always tried to push the ball to the left side of the field, he always tried to go the other way. I said, why can't he work on pulling the ball? Some people didn't think he ever could do it. I disagreed.
And Groove and I talked about it, the first day of Spring Training he took him to the batting tee and he worked on it. He now has the ability to turn on the ball. He now realizes that if there's a guy on first base, there's a hole over there. He's much harder to pitch to. He's got eight or nine home runs. He can stay with the ball as well.
So he's really developing. What is he, 24, 25 years old. He's a very young player. Very athletic. He has a lot of abilities and weapons that are very useful to help his team win. So we're happy to have him, for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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