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MLB WORLD SERIES: RANGERS v CARDINALSOctober 24, 2011Mike NapoliMichael YoungARLINGTON, TEXAS: Game Five St. Louis Cardinals 2 Q. Mike, two nights in a row you're the centerpiece, the hero. Can you talk about what it means to be able to do this two nights in a row, to bring your team to within one game of the ultimate prize? MIKE NAPOLI: I'm glad I can help to contribute. Anybody in this lineup can do it. You've got to give Beltre credit for hitting the homer to tie the game up. If he doesn't do that, I don't have a chance to do that in the eighth inning. We all do it together and there's key things that are overlooked, but we fought hard. Q. Were you surprised to see Rzepczynski in there pitching? MIKE NAPOLI: I mean, not really. I have Mitch hitting behind me, he's a lefty. I didn't really see anybody warming up in the bullpen, so I kind of figured I was going to face him. Q. You contributed both offensively and defensively. When you look back at this game maybe a couple months down the road, what will you remember this for, the offense or defense? MIKE NAPOLI: I want to be a complete player. You know, I'm not just here trying to be an offensive player. My job is to get pitchers through innings, give them a quality start, try to get us a win. I'm trying hard on the defensive side. That's my main goal. And then when I come up to hit, I go to hit. Q. Michael Young, you've had a few years now with Wash. How would you describe his managerial style? It certainly seems a little bit different from Tony but it's working. What makes him so effective for this team? MICHAEL YOUNG: I don't really compare my manager to other managers, I just know how he works it us. I think the mark of a good manager is putting your players in spots where they can have success and Wash does that consistently with us. His biggest goal, like I said, is to make sure the lineup he puts out there is one that he feels is going to have a chance to win a ballgame. We have complete faith and trust in Wash and we know that that's a two-way street. Q. You turned to the dugout and yelled after you threw the runner out and I was going to ask you why you yelled at the dugout. And I was wondering, Michael Young, about your level of confidence when he comes up given, how he's using the whole field and swinging the bat well lately. MICHAEL YOUNG: Yeah, we had the right guy up there, and given the way our lineup was, Napoli was in the 8 hole, we separate our lefties and I'm not really sure how that affects other managers in terms of the matchups they use. Fortunately that's not really my business to think about that. But obviously with Nap up there right now, we needed a sac fly, and with the way he's going right now, he got us two. So that was obviously a huge knock for us. MIKE NAPOLI: I was just excited. It's a key point in the game, ninth inning, and to get a double play, keep that tying run from home plate is just -- I was excited and showed some emotion. Q. Can I ask both of you guys, I know you're a game away, I know it's not over, but how excited are you right now to be in this position one game away from winning the championship? MICHAEL YOUNG: We're excited about it, but we'll take the same approach we always have. We have a really hungry team, but it's professional in every sense of the word. You know, it's just definitely the most mentally tough, blue-collar type club I've ever been a part of. Because of that we'll be ready to roll on for Game 6. We'll be playing that game to win like we always do, whether it's a Spring Training game, regular season game or in the World Series. Obviously we know the stakes right now, but we'll show up ready to compete and play our game. MIKE NAPOLI: Yeah, I mean, we're going to prepare the same way, go out the same way and take our BP, go out there and play a game. We're a confident group, we expect to win every day, and we'll go out there and play the game the right way. Q. With the damage you've been doing all postseason, Wash explained his reasons, but is it still a little funny to see yourself batting eighth and putting up these numbers? MIKE NAPOLI: No, it doesn't matter to me. It's a team thing. Whatever Wash wants me to do, I'm going to do. So I mean, we've got a deep lineup, and like I said, we all do it together. When it's my turn to go, I'll go up there with the approach I take, and whatever happens to be done, I'm going to try to do. Q. There's going to be talk about this after Carpenter got you out for the last out of the inning, the camera showed him screaming out loud, did you perceive he was screaming at you? MIKE NAPOLI: Yeah, I guess. I don't really know him. It's unfortunate if he was yelling at me because we've never had any things going on. So it's unfortunate, but it's not my -- I'm not going to pursue anything. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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