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MLB WORLD SERIES: RANGERS v CARDINALSOctober 25, 2011Ron WashingtonST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Workout Day Q. A two-parter: One, just want to confirm Michael Young at first base in Game 6. And can you walk through your strategy why you altered your lineup, splitting the two lefties for Games 4 and 5? RON WASHINGTON: Well, Michael Young is the first baseman. And why I split my lefties is because of the left-handers that Tony has down there and the consistency in which they get out left-handers. I just wanted to make sure that if I decided to leave any of my guys in there, the left-handed hitters, that he would have to go through a righty before he'd get to the next one. So that was it. Q. It seemed like Matt Harrison was warming up in the ninth inning last night, if I remember correctly. Is that correct? And what was the purpose? Was he planning to go in the game, or was that his between-start thing? RON WASHINGTON: That was a between-start thing. He wasn't warming to come in the game. Q. You've had a long personal journey to get to this point where you have your team within a win of the World Series. Can you express just how fortunate and excited you feel at this time to be in this position and just how much that journey kind of steels your resolve to take it to the very last out and make sure your team does, too? RON WASHINGTON: Well, it's like anything else, you know, when you start a baseball season, it starts in Spring Training. You do the things you think it's going to take on a daily basis to be successful, and then you become fortunate enough that your players execute the things that you ask them to do and get focused on the things that it's going to take to be successful. And when they do that, it makes you proud. It makes you proud of your coaching staff because you delegate to them, and then they have to apply it to the players, and the players have to accept it and get it done. And that formula so far has worked for the Texas Rangers because my players get along with my coaches, my coaches get along with my players, and I get along with them all. So it all works. And as far as being close to winning a World Series, we know where we are. I know where we are. But our focus is on tomorrow, just trying to play the very best game that we possibly can, try to execute what the game asks you to do, try to play the type of baseball game that we know we're capable of playing, and that's pitch, catch, run the bases if the opportunity presents itself, try to take advantage of opportunities as given to you, limit the opportunities that you can give to the opposition. All of those things come into play. That's the mindset. But it's not, well, we've got to win this game. Yeah, we want to win the game, but we have to play to win the game, and if we just come out and just play baseball the way we've been playing baseball and do the things that the game asks us to do, I think the results take care of themselves. We can't make the results. We've got to go out there and play between the lines, and then the results happen. Q. You made it pretty clear yesterday with the three intentional walks yesterday to Albert that you weren't going to let him beat you. Can we assume that that strategy continues tomorrow night, and can you talk about why? RON WASHINGTON: It's obviously why. He's one of the best players, hitters in the game. His importance in that lineup is to drive in their runs. You know, I just don't think any manager, when the games are dwindling down, now we're down to three, will allow Albert to swing the bat to beat you. That's not taking anything away from Holliday or Berkman, because we know what they're capable of doing. But we're just not going to let Albert do it. Q. There's an 80 percent chance of rain tomorrow. We had the situation in the ALCS where they called off a game early and it didn't really even rain because they didn't want to get it started and stop. What's your opinion about tomorrow? Would you rather get the game started and if it has to be suspended, suspend it, or would you rather wait for the whole game to go another day? RON WASHINGTON: I would rather wait for the game to go another day. If it's possible we can play, of course we want to play. You don't want to sit down. We're here to play baseball. But if the forecast says that it's going to be bad weather and we're going to play and start and stop, get our starters going -- because tomorrow is an elimination game. We have an opportunity to eliminate; they have an opportunity to stay in it. And we feel like we have the guy that's capable of taking us to the next step and they feel like they have the guy that's capable of taking them to the point where they get an opportunity to play an elimination game, also. So we want to make sure the conditions are correct, and if we have to wait a day, then we have to wait a day. But if it's at all possible we play, I want to play. Q. This season had a lot of fits and starts developing its own pitching in the past. Clearly you're doing better now with guys like Holland, Feliz. What has changed? RON WASHINGTON: I just think the fact of playing baseball. The more you play, the more you begin to get through the struggles of a season, get through struggles of just going out there on a daily basis, and I don't think you can play a season where there isn't a time when things don't go right. And I just think because we're playing a lot of baseball, the guys are getting an opportunity to fix the things that may have been a problem, and now they're not a problem. They're able to go out there, and they know what they have to do and execute their pitches and do the things that it takes. And it's just a process. That's all it is, it's the process. Q. Obviously it's the players who win and lose the games, but how much do you as the manager enjoy a night like last night when there's so many moves, lineups, pinch-hitting a guy, not pinch-hitting a guy, intentional walks, bullpen guys, so many moves and strategies that you make that have a direct outcome in a win? How much do you like that? RON WASHINGTON: That's the flow of the game, and that's what the game is. I do a lot by my gut. I do a lot by the way the game is flowing, who's doing what, how he's doing during the course of a game when I make a decision on who I want to move, who I want to bring in. It's just the flow of the game. And I'm in the flow of the game. You know, there may be a point where someone says, you should have done this. Well, you don't know my players. That's you saying that. Maybe the strategists say that's what you do, but the flow of the game says something different. I'm in the flow. You know, it's not that I don't look at strategy because some moves I make are strategic, but I am in the flow, and that's the way I've always been in the game of baseball since the day I arrived as a professional as a player, since the day I arrived as a professional as a coach, since the day I arrived as a professional in the Major Leagues as a coach and the day I arrived as a manager in the Big Leagues, that's been my flow. I flow with the game. Q. Just with Tony talking earlier about the confusion and the miscommunication that he dealt with in the bullpen last night, I was curious if you can recall an incident of your own where you may have had a communication breakdown with the bullpen or a mistake, something that came back to haunt you? And two, can you think of an instance where you've had one of your players call their own hit-and-run or run-and-hit, as it were? RON WASHINGTON: I'll answer the second one first. Whatever strategy we employ, that's in-house. I'm not letting that out. So that's the answer to that one. Maybe one time my rookie year as a manager, I just forgot to tell someone to get someone up, and I got caught. But the rest of that, there's no perfection in this game, so sometimes things get a little confusing. And that's the beauty of baseball, because if everything worked the way you wanted it to work, then we all could love doing what we're doing. That's just the beauty of baseball. Sometimes things just don't work the way that you would like them to work. Q. I am assuming that the way you would describe Colby's biggest asset going into a postseason start is his mentality and his focus. I wonder if you could give me a little bit of description about what kind of sets him apart from that respect from some other guys? RON WASHINGTON: He totally believes in what he's trying to do out there on the mound. He never gets away from what he does best. That's mainly the key right there. I think that's the key thing that keeps him relaxed because he knows what he's capable of doing. He does exactly what he's capable of doing, and then whatever the results are, he'll deal with them because he did what he knows that he is capable of doing. And if you can get every ballplayer to get into that type of mindset, you'll have some super players all over the field. But you know, this game sometimes can bring out the worst in you, and this game can definitely get you to the point where you begin to doubt what you're capable of doing. Well, Colby never doubts what he's capable of doing, and I think that's what makes him apart from some guys at this stage. It doesn't bother him one bit. Q. I think over the last two years only the Red Sox have issued fewer intentional walks than you have. Is that a philosophical thing? And did anything in Game 3 make you revisit that and reevaluate how to proceed? RON WASHINGTON: No. If I'm in the record book for issuing intentional walks, it's because one guy is Albert Pujols and one guy is Miguel Cabrera. I've never seen Albert Pujols before other than on TV. It's my first time seeing him. And what he did the other night, no, I wouldn't mess with that. (Laughter). I don't know how many of you guys seen Miguel Cabrera from the Detroit Tigers. I tried to expand the strike zone on this guy. He still hit balls out of the ballpark and hit doubles. You can blame Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera for my intentional walks. Q. In Game 2 I think Gentry started over Murphy. Is that your plan with Garcia on the mound? RON WASHINGTON: Yes, I've done that all year since Gentry joined us, and I'm not going to change anything from what I've done all year. Gentry will be in center field. I will move Hamilton over to left. Q. For a guy who is hitting .381 in the World Series, Adrian Beltre has kind of flown under the radar. How has his performance reinforced what he's done for you all year? RON WASHINGTON: I'm certainly glad you think he's under the radar because I certainly don't. He's gotten big hits for us throughout the year and since the playoffs have started. He's a quality professional. He shows up every day to do the two things that you like to see in your ballplayers. That's be the best he can be and try to beat his opponents, whether it's on the defensive end, whether he takes a chance on the base paths, or whether he swings the bat. And that's what he does for our team. And that's what each and every guy throughout our lineup is capable of bringing. You may get through a couple. Somebody is going to get you. That's the way we feel. And if we do not get you, then you just look to the guy that's toeing the rubber, and you can say that guy is pitching one heck of a game. But that's what it takes, because of the strength we have up and down our lineup. And when that happens, we deal with it, and we move on. Q. What's your assessment of Feliz compared to what you were seeing earlier in the season and what you're seeing here in the postseason? He's been tested far more this postseason than last postseason. RON WASHINGTON: Well, he's settled down. I think he knows this is the finish line, and when you get to the finish line, everything you've got, you've got to bring up. And he's bringing everything he has up. He's certainly starting to use his secondary pitches more. He's starting to throw the ball inside with a little bit more consistency. He's starting to hit the strike zone with more consistency, and I just think it's because the year is winding down. Everything is at stake right now, and anyone that's able to put on a baseball uniform and go between them lines, everything you've got, you've got to bring. I don't care if it's 50 percent, give 100 of it. If it's 30 percent, give 100 of it. I don't think anyone will ever know if you're 100 percent if you give 100 percent of what you've got, and that's what he's doing. Q. Sticking with Feliz, he's also had a penchant for putting the lead man on and working from there. In last night's game what was your thought, he gets ahead of the batter and then plunks him to put him on first. And also with Ogando, just what you're seeing out of him, if he looks a little tired or if he's throwing as well as he has all postseason? RON WASHINGTON: You know, I keep getting questions about being tired. Every single person that's still playing baseball right now is tired. So that's no excuse. In Ogando's case, yep, his command, hitting his spots is a little off, but what I see out of Ogando is everything he has, he's giving to us, and that's all I want, and that's all we want is for him to give us everything he has, and that's what he does. Now, he may be tired, but who isn't? And Neftali, yeah, Nefti comes in and he makes it tough, but he's my closer, and I've gotten to the point as the season progressed that he will get me the three outs I'm looking for. I've just got to settle my heartbeat down and put up with it. Sometimes I get off the bench and walk away, but he is my guy, and he has gotten me three each time I've put him out there as we have gone down this stretch here. I just have to put up with it. That's Neftali. Hopefully going into next year and finishing this year off, the next few times he gets the baseball, hopefully he can come out and get a one, two, three. If we're in that position, I'm feeling good if I'm giving the ball to Nefti. And if it takes four hitters to get three, I'm good with that, also. Q. If there is a rain-out tomorrow, would that affect your possible decision on a Game 7 starter, or is that set in stone either way? RON WASHINGTON: Matt Harrison is my seventh game starter. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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