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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS v BREWERS

October 4, 2011

Ron Roenicke

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Game Three

Q. What is the atmosphere like in there today knowing what could be at stake tonight?
RON ROENICKE: I don't think it's that much different than it usually is. They're loose. They're confident. But we know we've got a tough game to play. I didn't see much different than it usually is.

Q. You spoke about the club being loose. Some managers worry about the club not being loose enough. This is not an issue with you, is it?
RON ROENICKE: Well, it hasn't been. I think it's important that they are. I think it's more important, maybe, for certain makeups of teams. And I think the makeup of our team, I think we need to be loose. I think when we're loose we're confident and we play better. So when I see that it's a nice thing.

Q. Do you think it's an ideal situation when you have a real diversity of personalities like you appear to have?
RON ROENICKE: Yeah, we do. I think that helps to keep it loose. I think when you have a lot of different personality it stirs things up a lot easier. The comments that come out, it's easy for the other type personality, I think, to banter back and forth. But it's been real healthy.

Q. In retrospect since you finished so close, how important was that home field advantage situation?
RON ROENICKE: Well, I think it's always important. With our team all season we've played great at home. The second half we played really well on the road, also.
Probably not as important coming into this series as maybe if we would have ended at the first half. At the first half I would have said we better be playing at home.
Right now we've been good everywhere.

Q. So much attention has been put on pitching to Prince or not pitching to Prince. How much of an effect is it having Weeks back in that five hole where if they put Prince on, they're forced with facing him?
RON ROENICKE: Yeah, it's always important to have that guy behind a player that's potentially going to be intentionally walked a lot. I saw it with have Vladimir Guerrero in Anaheim for quite a few years.
And coming here, Casey McGehee did a great job last year, half the year before. And I think with Casey not being that locked in, like he was last year, we tried to go a little different route with Corey for a little bit.
And then Rickie had in his mind that he would like to do it. And we had a discussion with him, and Corey was willing to go to lead off spot because he had been successful there.
So I think when we did that, I think it put guys in areas where they were comfortable, where they know they've succeeded before. And the nice thing about Corey and Rickie, because of what they do, they can be versatile in your lineup. They can be first, second, third, fifth, depending on your personnel, sixth. Because they not only drive the ball, they get on base well. They're both 350, 360 on base.
Corey has walked a little bit more this year than he has in the past. So it's been pretty ideal for us.

Q. Back to the looseness of your club. What adjustments did that force you to make as manager, not knowing the personalities before you came in and how they would interact with each other? Did you have to adjust more towards them and away from any way you might have been otherwise?
RON ROENICKE: Well, coming in not knowing exactly what it was going to be like, I knew how I wanted it to be. And I think right off in Spring Training with the conversation we had as a group every day meeting in the clubhouse, I saw the personality come out and what I thought it was going to be. And it's continued to go really the way that I want it to go.
I like when different players are involved in conversations. I like when Zack Greinke and Marcum and Yo are getting into it back and forth about whatever, who's the best hitter or who's the best bunter.
It's a good atmosphere. And your personnel, I mean, you have to adjust to it, I think, as a manager to what your personnel is. I didn't really have to -- I think it was more just bringing them out and letting them be involved in things. I didn't certainly have to egg anybody on. I think this is the way they want to be. And I think it's working out well.

Q. If I could just follow-up on that one. We were asking various players what their best memories of the year was. Saito said it was the entertaining and lively team meetings, which we've never heard a player compliment a team meeting. And you told us that you pulled some stuff from Scioscia and the Angels. Could you tell us about one of your more lively team meetings and what it is that made it that way this year?
RON ROENICKE: You know, I didn't necessarily -- this started way back. When I came up with the Dodgers, Lasorda, the meetings in Spring Training was kind of geared this way. Mike Scioscia grabbed that and turned it into his own, not comedy show, but I can't remember a meeting where everybody wasn't rolling on the ground laughing.
So I saw how that worked. I liked it. I tried to do it here. And again, if you don't have the personalities to do that -- I can't carry on, you guys know me, I can't carry that. Mike Scioscia can. Mike's got a great sense of humor, very witty. I can't do that by myself. So fortunately, I had a lot of players that jumped in and made it really fun.

Q. Can you give us just one example?
RON ROENICKE: We have Dillard on our team, which he's -- does great impersonations, does a great Harry Carey. So he came in and interviewed Zach Braddock, who Zach Braddock was Arnold Schwarzenegger. So the conversation and that, it really was funny.
But that type of stuff. You know, we had some dancing going on, we had a little singing going on. Our PR director had a nice little a cappella there, that was fun. Not Steiny [John Steinmiller] (laughter). The one with the scraped up forehead today (laughter).
So we had a lot of different things going on that were fun.

Q. In these best of five sometimes managers will go with the three-man rotation. What is it about Wolf, should you get to Game 4, that gives you that confidence in him?
RON ROENICKE: Well, watching him pitch over the year, when we needed some big games from him, and he had some huge games for us when we really needed him to win. Wolfy has experience. When his command is on, he's got his rhythm going, he can really throw a great ballgame.
Everybody kept asking me who's your No. 1, who's your No. 2, who's your No. 3. This really went on from Spring Training. I can't tell you that. I really can't.
At times through the season I think you could say all five of the guys we had at one time or the other were probably our best pitcher.
So going with Wolf in the fourth game isn't necessarily saying that he's in that line. It's just the way things lined up at the end of the season this made the most sense in how we're going on with it. Also wanting Yo to pitch that first game. We kind of knew we wanted that. But after that it lined up this way.

Q. I know this is probably a question you don't want to think about it, but if it went back to a fifth game would it be Gallardo again?
RON ROENICKE: Yes.

Q. Out of curiosity, all the fun and singing and dancing, how does that correlate to what you have done on the field and what effect has that had, if any?
RON ROENICKE: I think the effects it has is they know that there's a separation when we have fun and there's a time when we need to get after it. So even though we had fun in the clubhouse, I still want them to have fun on the field, but they know when we need to bare down and get after it. And that separation has really happened well.
And it doesn't mean that you're not going to see guys laughing and having fun out on the field, because they do. But they get after it. We play hard. I'm really impressed by the way some of our guys go at it every single day.
So I think just that confidence they have that they know that I still want them to have fun. It's still a game. Play it hard, but enjoy what you're doing. Hopefully that carried on from clubhouse out on to the field.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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