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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RANGERS

October 12, 2011

Brandon Inge

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four

THE MODERATOR: We are about to get started with Brandon Inge in the interview room.

Q. Brandon, you went through some problems with your knees a couple of years ago. You had to have surgery. When you look at what Alex is going through this stretch run and what's got to be bothering him and still catching every day. Are you surprised by how well he's been able to hold up? Do you kind of have an idea of what he's been going through?
BRANDON INGE: Yeah, I have a great idea of what he's going through. Especially from catching and also just being locker mates with him. He's next to me all the time.
I've been checking up with him all the time. He's one of those guys he's not going to tell the coaching staff and those guys how bad he's probably really hurting. But he's toughened through it.
So I'm trying to make sure he knows not to hurt himself. Make sure he's going to still be able to perform and produce for his team. Even though the outcome is not what -- I don't want to get out there and catch.
He's been toughening through it. I'm proud of him. He's doing a great job.

Q. Jim Leyland has been pretty emotional on occasion when you guys clinched the division and then the Division Series. Do you have any sense of how rewarding the season has been for him?
BRANDON INGE: It should be. That's one of the reasons I love that guy. When he gets emotional, I know he cares. I know he -- he's wanting to win for us. He's wanting to put the best team out there he can and have a great season. But I love that fact that he's emotional. That shows that he cares.
I don't think he would probably put this season on top of any other one. He just wants to win all the time.
When he gets attached to a group of guys which he calls his own team, he wants to win. He wants to do really well for them. That's probably why he gets emotional. We appreciate him. We don't want to see him cry all the time.

Q. Brandon, with the injuries, is there conversation in the room about overcoming this or is that just something that ballplayers, athletes know they have to do and it's unspoken?
BRANDON INGE: Actually, no one has talked about it. I'm pretty sure everyone knows the situation that we're under right now. It's something that doesn't need to be said. It's more of a business sense right now.
Like, okay, fine, these guys have been working for us all year. They've been taking care of us all year, putting up numbers. Now it's our turn to pick them up. When you have 25 guys on a ballclub, it's everyone's responsibility.
Even though it's not on the shoulders of one or two guys. Even though they're having a great year for us, it's our responsibility to pick them up. And make sure that it's not detrimental to our team. We have to pick them up.

Q. You may or may not know, but you're second all-time in postseason games played for the Tigers, a couple behind Hank Greenberg. Does that mean anything speaking about the longevity of your career here?
BRANDON INGE: It means a lot. Actually, it means more to me than people know simply because of the fact that when I was first coming up in '01, we weren't looked at as a team that might even come close to making postseason.
So I'm very proud of being able to have that many games in the postseason now having turned the season like '01, '02 or '03, having those seasons, having turned them around.
I'm proud to be a part of that. Anytime you speak of legendary names in Detroit history and my name gets thrown in there in the same sentence, I'm very proud of that as well.

Q. Sometimes teams mirror a town's disposition or psychology. And this town was flat after Sunday. I don't know if you picked up on that or after Monday, whatever day that -- the second game was played in Texas. Did you guys frankly feel the same thing?
BRANDON INGE: Yeah, we definitely did. I remember at one point I think it was me, Miggy, a couple of other guys, we looked over and we were like man, these guys are dead tonight. A lot of people in the house too.
But just a different atmosphere. I almost felt like it was a sense of maybe panic a little bit. I didn't feel like that they were disrespecting us whatsoever. It was just more a feeling of panic.
Obviously, if we come into the stadium here up 2-0 instead of down 2-0, obviously it would have been a more active, upbeat crowd. But that's where it's our job to not worry about the crowd anyway.

Q. Did that change?
BRANDON INGE: Throughout the game, yes, it definitely changed. They scored one run, and obviously then it really got dead. That's why I just assumed it was probably from panic.
But then after we started scoring a couple more, it started to get back to what regular Detroit is all about and it started to get loud again.
We can dictate how that crowd goes. If we perform well, we're probably going to have a good, loud crowd. If we don't, probably going to be crickets.

Q. You've been in town a long time. This is probably the first time you've been here where both you have and the Lions are having this much success. What is it like to be a part of all this?
BRANDON INGE: First of all, I'm proud as anyone that the Lions are doing great right now. And I already told some of my friends, don't be jumping on the bandwagon now. Now that they're doing well, don't be jumping on that bandwagon. I've been following them since I've been here in Detroit.
I follow all the Detroit teams, and I'm proud of them. For the Lions I'm very proud of them as well. To be doing this at the same time as they are playing well, that's great. Not only for the teams, for the city, for everything that's going on in the economy, I think it's wonderful. It's perfect.

Q. You had a little bit of a long road back from your knee surgeries. You were playing, but just to get back to feeling like you were before. How are you feeling at this point of the year? I know there was a game a couple of days ago where it seemed like you were making plays that looked a little bit more how you were before the surgery. Are you feeling health-wise like you did before the operations?
BRANDON INGE: Oh, yeah. I don't even notice anything with my knees anymore. Besides the fact when it rains, I can tell you when it's going to rain. Obviously, it's raining right now. For my knees, as far as performance goes on the field, I don't feel anything. That doesn't hinder me at all. They've been great for me.
The thing that's been a difficult battle for me is going -- playing here and there. That's hard. For me, I almost got in a routine, play every day, that routine, I know what I have to do.
Then showing up and trying to figure out if I'm in the lineup or not and then playing once out of every three or four days, that's the tough part. That's because you -- because you feel rested and you go out there and not warm enough and the tendency to pull things. It's been an adjustment, but it's been working out so far.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much for coming in. That concludes the interview room pregame today.

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