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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS v BREWERS

October 4, 2011

Ron Roenicke

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Game Three

Diamondbacks Â– 8
Brewers - 1

RON ROENICKE: Before Goldschmidt went deep today, did you guys think that was the wrong move or the right move? (Laughter.)
That's the dilemma that a manager has, and you guys that have been with me, you guys know that I don't like walking people. And there we go again.

Q. What's going on with Shaun Marcum? He's been in a slide now for several weeks, and his velocity has not been what it was earlier in the year, his command has not been the same. Is he battling some kind of health situation?
RON ROENICKE: I don't think he's battling anything. His command isn't where it was early. But I think the first inning he fought to get through that. They get a couple of runs there. We get a call there and they probably don't score.
I thought he threw the ball okay after that. The home run was supposed to be a fastball in and we threw it right down the middle. Big mistake there that hurt him. But a couple of the middle innings he was okay. His command isn't pinpoint like it was early.

Q. You had talked about not liking to intentionally walking people. You said there was a game a couple of weeks ago, was it against the Phillies?
RON ROENICKE: Where I walked somebody and they got a hit?

Q. Yes.
RON ROENICKE: Yes.

Q. Why does it seem to bite you guys?
RON ROENICKE: Well, it bites us because we make bad pitches. That's why it bites us. Sometimes a tough one is -- when you have an open base -- I think that was the right move. I still do. But do I like it? No. I don't like it.
You load the bases sometimes. You have an open base. Sometimes when you load them it puts that pitcher in a position where if he gets behind the count he's in big trouble. I just thought today Montero looked pretty good against Shaun. And I thought it was the right move.

Q. Paul has been successful against you guys three straight games. You guys had some guys on base and he settled down. Why so many difficulties?
RON ROENICKE: That's what the coaching staff is asking ourselves is why is this guy so tough. But, you're right, we haven't hit him three games now. And just two hits off him.
We didn't square up too many other balls. Corey Hart lined out to third. But besides that we didn't square up a lot of balls. It's something about that deception on the fastball. The change-up is very good. The change-up is down in the zone always. And he's got great motion on it. And then he spots his fastball well.
I don't know. I've looked at other games that he's pitched and I've seen some he's pitched well and I've seen some he hasn't done so well. And it comes down to command on the fastball. I can't see corners, but it looked like he commanded the fastball pretty good.

Q. Even though it was the right move, everybody says to do that intentional walk. I'm sure you were aware the kind of big hits this kid has come up with in the little bit of time he's been here. Were you kind of wincing a little bit, saying I know this is a little bigger chance than it might look like on the surface?
RON ROENICKE: No, not really. I know the kid has got big hits. Montero scares me. Montero is a really good hitter. There's not a whole lot of places you can go with him. Even when you make good pitches he's got a chance to hit. That's not to say that Goldschmidt isn't a good hitter, too. What I think he's doing so well is he's not missing mistakes. When he gets a mistake, he kills it.
And that's just -- that's the tough part is trying to figure out what's going to happen there. If I knew he was going to hit a home run we wouldn't have walked him.

Q. Were you surprised at the play today, especially coming in so hot?
RON ROENICKE: No. No, I wasn't surprised. I knew these guys were going to come out and give us a really tough ballgame. I knew we had trouble with Collmenter. I thought we'd be able to score some runs off him. But Corey got -- he got the one home run and that was it. I knew this was going to be a tough game.

Q. The D-backs have just as few intentional walks as you guys this year, and clearly neither manager likes the move. Does it seem strange that it's been kind of key in all three games so far?
RON ROENICKE: Well, yeah, I think that for both managers who don't like to do it and how it's hurt both of us, yeah. I'm surprised it's come out like it has.
Again, sometimes you make -- you think you make the right moves and sometimes it doesn't work out. Sometimes you have a gut feeling, which is why sometimes I don't walk people when it's probably the right situation.
And I think you depend on your pitcher and who's out there and do you trust him to make good pitches when you pitch around people. Pitching around people is difficult. Everybody thinks it's easy to do, but you get out there and you're the pitcher and you try to make a nasty pitch on a breaking ball and you spin it too much and it hangs right in the middle of the plate. It's not easy to pitch around guys.

Q. Given how he feels, did you feel on the comeback, that Marcum would be able to get out of that inning with maybe a double play there?
RON ROENICKE: Yeah, he's a really good fielder. And with him I'm surprised he didn't catch it cleanly. I'm not sure, if we go to second, I'm not sure if we come back and get a double play there or not. It was close. It wasn't hit that hard back at him. It would have been an interesting play.

Q. If the D-backs win tomorrow, they take back the momentum back to Miller Park. Is tomorrow a do or die game?
RON ROENICKE: No, it's not a do or die game. We need to come out and play a solid game, but certainly not do or die.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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