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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RANGERSOctober 9, 2011Alex AvilaARLINGTON, TEXAS: Game Two (Postponed) THE MODERATOR: A few questions for Alex. Q. Hello, Alex. We've seen this team come back from one thing after another all year. Now both Delmon and Magglio are out. Can you talk about how the rest of the team will respond to this, please? ALEX AVILA: Well, just guys have to step up. That's one thing throughout an entire season, and in the playoffs you're going to have guys go down or just different circumstances you have to deal with as a team, just another obstacle. Q. Alex, does this postponement kind of like act as a blessing in disguise with Magglio -- finding out that Magglio is out, give the team more time to regroup in some way? ALEX AVILA: Well, I think it maybe helped as far as figuring some things out, but I think either way skip and the rest of the coaching staff had an idea what was going to happen regardless. It's just a shame that the rain happened and we can't really do anything about it. Q. Alex, how much has the knee been affecting you at the plate? ALEX AVILA: Well, I mean, at this point in the year I don't think there will be anybody that will tell you they're not aching or they got something bothering them. So, I mean, there's always been something, an issue as far as whether it's my knee or back or anything like that throughout the entire season. So as of right now, nothing has changed as far as my health. That's something that shouldn't be an excuse for my performance or anybody else's for that matter at this point. In the playoffs you go out there with what you've got and you give your best. Sometimes you come out on top, sometimes you don't. Q. Alex, can you just talk please about what you saw from Justin last night? ALEX AVILA: Well, early on in the game he was a little out of rhythm, falling behind some hitters early on. I think the first inning -- first couple of innings he was trying to find -- make the adjustment like he normally does throughout a game. There's always a time in a game where a starting pitcher is going to get out of rhythm. I has to be able to make that adjustment quickly. I think he found that, and then we had the rain delays. That was obviously something that was out of our control. But I thought he pitched well, not only him and Rick coming in and Perry and Coke came in. To hold them to three runs, that's more than you can ask. Gave us a shot. Yesterday was particularly frustrating because we had an opportunity to win and we just couldn't come up with the big hit. Q. Alex, all season long it seemed like you guys have had a lot of run production from the bottom third of the lineup. How important is that going to be going forward knowing that Magglio and Delmon aren't in the lineup anymore? ALEX AVILA: Well, I mean, like you said, all year 1 through 9 we've been very productive. A lot of quality at-bats, a lot of two-out RBI's, a lot of getting the runners over, sacrifice flies, things like that. The good thing is not only the starters have done that, all the guys like Donnie Kelly, Santiago, Raburn, all the guys coming off the bench and the utility guys have done the job as well. That's just something that has to continue for us to win games and win this series. Q. Alex, as someone who predicted in Spring Training that Justin would win the Cy Young Award and saw it firsthand, what do you feel about both Game 1s in the playoffs the rain cuts him short? Here he had this magnificent year and now he's on the biggest stage and something nobody can control takes it away from him? ALEX AVILA: It's hard to get mad about that. It is what it is. The thing is he'll be preparing for his next start and hopefully we won't have any rain delays then and we'll get to see what he can do to help our team win. He has had a tremendous year. It is a shame that the two games that he's tried to go out there have been postponed by rain or kind of forced him out because of the rain. Like you said, it's something you can't control, so it's kind of hard to be upset about it. At the same time, I'm pretty sure everybody was kind of bummed out not getting to see him finish out a couple of games. THE MODERATOR: Good of you to come in. Thank you very much. ALEX AVILA: You're welcome. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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