	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v PHILLIES

October 4, 2011

Charlie Manuel

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Three

Phillies Â– 3
Cardinals - 2

Q. In terms of all the drama and men on base in the last three innings, where does that rank in post-season heart palpitations for you?
CHARLIE MANUEL: They had base runners every inning. You feel like when you get in situations like that you're dodging bullets. We were dodging most of the game. But things worked out for us.
Hamels threw six innings there pretty good. Really he threw a lot of pitches, walked three guys, but they had runners on, and that was kind of how the game went. We were fortunate we made some -- we caught some hard-hit balls, especially on the infield. The double play Utley turned, that was definitely huge.

Q. Very wrongly or rightly, Cole Hamels gets this rep all the time that if things go bad for him or don't go well for him, he's going to, uh-oh, uh-oh, can you address the grittiness that he's pitched in situations over the years?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I'm going to tell you something: Cole, if he gets upset, he will be it at his self, and he keeps his cool whether some people don't realize it or not, and he's gutty, and he's been gutty ever since I've known him. I've always liked him because of his mental toughness. Even when I saw him in Lakewood, I knew he had that. I like him on the mound. I like him out there in any situation.

Q. Do you get nervous in the dugout?
CHARLIE MANUEL: No, I don't get nervous. I don't think I do. I mean, I get into the game. I get excited. But I don't know if I'd call it nervous or not. I'll get a little butterflies, but that's different than actually being nervous, I think. But I get excited. That's the fun of managing. When you see games like that, that's pretty good. That's the fun of managing.
The game was right there, and we were -- we played good, and we caught the ball and we got them out when we had to and we got a win. They were right there and they were fighting us right to the end.

Q. What goes into your thinking on having Francisco bat in that spot?
CHARLIE MANUEL: What goes into my thinking? To actually let Benny (Francisco) hit there? I sent him up there to hit because I like him on the lefty, and I might have even let him hit on a righty, I don't know, it depends who they put in, because he can hit a fastball, and I definitely liked him on the lefty. He's a good hitter.

Q. You brought in Madson when it got a little dicey in that eighth inning. Can you talk about the job that he did?
CHARLIE MANUEL: He did a super job. Like I said, the ball hit to Utley for a double play was definitely more than likely the biggest play of the game, but that's the first time I've used Madson for four outs or five outs, and I figured that the game was right there on the line, and we had to stop them. He came in and did a super heck of a job.

Q. The Cardinals pinch-hit Punto, Holliday there late and you had Bastardo in there to face Punto. Had the Cardinals gone Holliday there instead of Punto, were you prepared to bring in your righty there immediately to face Holliday?
CHARLIE MANUEL: You know what, I don't know if I would have did that or not because I might have let our righty face Holliday there. Really, I don't know. I might have. More than likely I would have because they would have brought in a left-handed hitter up next, and knowing more than likely I might not have did that.

Q. Ben obviously had the job, the starting job coming out of Spring Training and had it for a couple months to start the season and didn't see much playing time after that. How did he handle that, and what did it show you as a manager that he didn't really complain or anything like that when he wasn't playing?
CHARLIE MANUEL: You could tell he -- I could tell that he was a little disappointed. He was disappointed because he wasn't getting to play, but he carried it well. I mean, he carried it good. He's quiet anyway. I've always said about his hitting, Ben can hit definitely hard stuff, and I don't mind him left-handed or right-handed against hard stuff. He's good at hard stuff. I sent him up there tonight mostly just because the guy was lefty.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297