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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS v BREWERS

October 4, 2011

Kirk Gibson

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Game Three

Diamondbacks Â– 8
Brewers - 1

Q. Can you talk about just what Collmenter has done against Milwaukee both regular season and tonight. What you saw of him, two hits in 7 innings?
KIRK GIBSON: It's been incredible. He gave up one run three times, walked three, struck out 16. I think he had one ground ball out, struck out 6 tonight and I think everything else was in the air.
We talked about it before, he obviously has great deception. He obviously has great character. He was very composed tonight and threw strikes. He kept them off-balance, and it's what we needed. He deserves a lot of credit for the way he threw and the way he was composed tonight.

Q. It was the kids' night, I guess, to come through for you. You weren't surprised when they walked Montero ahead of him. How did you feel about that at-bat when you saw Goldy going up there?
KIRK GIBSON: When you're standing there, and you see Goldy standing right there, you know they're going to walk him. And you know, when you're making lineup, how you want to decide where you put people, and you guys know how I feel about Goldy, you know the big hits he's had this year. So that's why he's up on top right behind Miggy. And I had a good feel in who I had up there.
He's been outstanding for us this year. Hit his first time up, great approach on Marcum, and then of course the grand slam. Got down in the count, stayed on the ball. You see opposite field approach. When you have a guy that can leave the yard over there, it allows him to have that approach and allows him to do a lot of damage. That's 5 RBIs for a kid that was in Double-A this year. That's pretty impressive.
It shows what he did in Spring Training against the Rockies early on when he hit a ball up on the berm, in a situation like that. It wasn't a fluke.

Q. Another must win tomorrow. Any thought at all to Kennedy going on three days rest or was it always going to be Saunders?
KIRK GIBSON: It's going to be Joe. Joe's been good for us all year. I've stayed in turn all year pretty much. Giving guys extra days.
We're a team. Joe, he's ready to throw tomorrow. And if Joe wins tomorrow, like we expect him to, Ian will go in Game 5 against Gallardo. We've played as a team all year, and we've had total contribution. If he ends up over 228 innings, I'm not going to shorten him up, I'm not going to do that to him.

Q. Can you talk about how important it was for Montero to get going tonight after struggling in Milwaukee. And for Parra, what he needs to do, maybe just relax?
KIRK GIBSON: You guys know we have meetings a lot on how we let go of things that happen to us that aren't what we expect or like or negative things.
And Miggy did a great job, actually his last two at-bats in Milwaukee he had a good bat off of Hawkins, one that he caught, went off his glove. And then he had a good bat off Axford. We saw that as a good sign. He had a great approach tonight. He stayed up the middle his first two at-bats, and drove in some runs.
And G, we talked to him tonight, he's getting up there, he's overanxious, he trying too hard. He's young, he's never experienced this. He's just got to go up there and he's got to let go of what's going on so far. It doesn't matter. He doesn't have any hits. He may win the game for us tomorrow. That's what you have to hold on to.
He's been great for us all year. He's hit in the mid 290s all year for us. He played exceptional defenses, he did again tonight. We're just looking for a way to win tomorrow. And you've got to believe that you can contribute.

Q. Your young guys, especially Josh and Paul stepping up when you needed them most. Talk about the confidence you have in them and the team has in them going forward.
KIRK GIBSON: They were in there tonight. One was starting pitcher, one was hitting 5th.
The way we started out in this spring, with those guys in our camp, they didn't break camp with us, but we tried to lay it out how we were going to approach this and expose them to as much as we could. And then when they both came up we put them right in the fire.
And I think organizationally with KT, if you look around, the good ones come fast. And I give Kevin Towers all the credit in the world. He told me about Josh Collmenter last year in the Arizona fall league and like not many scouts would be on this guy. And then this year when he watched him pitch in Spring Training. We have this thing, he says, I'm on him.
And when we discussed who's going to start Game 3, KT had a lot of input in it and he was on him. And he was right.
So they bought into it and they have great character and they have great composure. It allows them to compete.
When you come into the game early in your career you have a lot of ability and maybe not as much knowledge. And as you're here for a while it kind of switches over where you use more knowledge.
But those guys have shown a ton of composure and a ton of ability almost against maybe some of the odds that some of the people thought what they could do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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