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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS v BREWERS

October 6, 2011

Kirk Gibson

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Workout Day

Q. What did it tell you about Ian, I guess he had come in and said he was interested in pitching on short rest, and ready to go. What did that tell you about him?
KIRK GIBSON: It's just that he wanted to pitch. And he thought he could help the team. I think it probably shows you that he's checked out the history of the postseason for a while and noticed that teams have options in many cases.
It's something he was motivated to do if we thought that that was the right thing for our team and he wanted to make sure that we knew that he was in.
Sometimes you come out and you ask a pitcher how he feels and they tell you okay. You try and look in their eyes and get a real feel for it. I think he was trying to let us know that he had a strong feel that he was prepared to do it if it was within consideration.

Q. What can you do as a manager to foster the kind of obvious camaraderie, spirit that your team has?
KIRK GIBSON: Well, it's a combination of things. I think we started out putting our team together, and when you pick up guys like J.J. and Willie Bloomquist, a lot of things we look into is makeup and character. And you try and forecast what they might give on the field and off the field. And you do your homework. We have scouting reports on everybody.
But I think the hardest thing, really, to have a clear understanding of is to understand what their true makeup is and how they can gel together and bring your team together.
I've been on several teams where there were the position players and then there were the pitchers. And you always want to try and not have that separation. You want to make sure they gel together. J.J. has done a great job. Willie has gone a great job in both those aspects. They broke that down right away. You just have to have fun with each other. You have to work hard with each other. You have to be able to jump somebody's tail.
We talked about not being sensitive early on in Spring Training. There's just certain things that you have to say, whether it's teammate to teammate or manager to team, it's not because nobody doesn't like anybody, it's just that we're trying to get through things that we need to change and get better at.
We have a whole team full of guys that have different roles and they approach things differently within their lives and within the game and how they prepare. But ultimately we're trying to develop a culture that it's all for the team. And we're willing to put -- and not be selfish -- to do what's right to help us win ballgames.
I said at the beginning of this series that we were going to win three out of the next five. And that's what they're here for. So if a guy doesn't pitch or a guy doesn't play or if I take Willie out for defense, he understands. The context is we're trying to win this series, and they all understand that. They all possess the will to win. They all possess the will to never give in.
And that's kind of what we talked about and developed together. And we hold each other to it.

Q. How do you kind of reverse this home field stranglehold that both teams have had in this series? We talked about the other series road teams won, but not so much here. But for you to advance together how do you do it?
KIRK GIBSON: We have to play better. We didn't play very well here the first time we were in here. And honestly, coming into this environment, we don't play many games here. It's not like we're playing in San Francisco, we play a lot within our division.
So you come in here, there's a full crowd. The shadows are a factor. How it evolves during the game is different.
I don't know, I haven't asked, but if you're a pitcher, you're seeing different things looking in there at the mound. I know there are some pitches that our pitchers threw and they did not see the ball. Fielders, same way.
So I think it's different. And just the dimensions. I think we will have an understanding more of what to expect this time. But ultimately it all comes down to the execution. All the things that we worked on all year, we went out in Spring Training to ad nauseam, every day, and we stuck with it, and we played poorly in spring to make sure we understood how we were going to progress through the season. And when we execute in all aspects of the game we give ourselves a chance to win.
The big thing is, is are you going to make the plays when it really matters. I think that's one of the strengths of our team is we have the ability to make big plays. Big pitches, big plays in the field, big plays on the bases.
And all any of us can ever ask for is a chance to win the game. When it gets all down to it, we've really concentrated on not getting bogged down in some of the negative things that have happened within any given game. And just with the belief that we keep grinding to the end, that if we do that, that we'll be good enough to move on.

Q. Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder had some success in those first two games, in Phoenix they didn't have as much. Was that a matter of game plan or execution on your pitchers' part?
KIRK GIBSON: I can tell you, I was just watching the game, one of the games on the plane over here, and it was against Ian Kennedy, and Ian threw him great. He followed the pitch off right in on his hands. He threw a ball right on the inside corner, and Braun threw his bat straight down and made a double.
That's good execution. That's good hitting. You've got to tip your hat on that. They hurt us here. Everybody bears down.
These guys, they come up with a game plan, they try to execute it every time. But sometimes that's not good enough. In the first two days it wasn't such. At our place it worked well. And we out-executed them. We out-pitched them. We out-hit them. It was just the reverse of what happened here.
Tomorrow we've got our No. 1 guy against their No. 1 guy. We all feel good. We feel good. They feel good. It's been a good series. And I think everybody respects what everybody does. And somebody is going to lose tomorrow. We're going to be confident that it's not going to be us.

Q. When you're making managerial decisions at key moments in these types of games, can you just compare the feeling of what it's like as a manager to come through in those situations versus playing on that stage and coming through with big moments, too; is there a similar feeling?
KIRK GIBSON: We all aim to succeed, whether we're a player, whether we're a manager. It's a similar process in that you're thinking things out and you're trying to figure out what you're going to go with, whether you're hitting or pitching. We have scouting reports.
Ultimately, though, you have to have the conviction of what you're going to do. And none of us feel good when we fail. That's what baseball is, it's dealing with failure and overcoming it.
So when I was a player I was -- I took it hard. But I was also very motivated and very determined to get them the next time. And it's no different as a manager. I think things out the best I can. I have a great staff. We share information along the way.
Sometimes we get out-executed. Sometimes guys just hit good pitches. Sometimes we get a bad hop. We get a tough call. But we continue to push on. Like you just can't beat yourself up over it. It's part of what we do.

Q. I know we talked a lot about the noise and the atmosphere and all of that. In terms of communication, you talked about that back home. Are you going to do anything differently?
KIRK GIBSON: I just think we'll be better prepared for it, yeah, I do. And I've thought about it and we'll try and make sure that we can -- we'll make sure everybody knows what's going on, definitely.
We've talked around through some of the players, as well. And the other thing is, teams, we've played them now here, this is going to be our fifth game in a row, so there's a familiarity with some of the things that go on. I'm not saying it won't be a factor, but we should be better prepared to deal with it.

Q. Any lineup changes for tomorrow?
KIRK GIBSON: I haven't thought about that obviously. Willie? Legs okay, Wilbur? Usually I check with Johnny McDonald to see -- he follows Willie around all day to make sure he's not hurting (laughter).

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