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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: CARDINALS v GIANTSOctober 21, 2012Mike MathenySAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Game Six Q. Rosenthal and Kelly were just in here, how do you see them long‑term for the Cardinal organization; as starters or relievers? MIKE MATHENY: Yes (laughter). They're both very talented, as we've seen. We saw Joe quite a bit as a starter this year and realized that he has the stuff to be a successful starter at this level. We haven't seen it from Trevor yet, but we know it's there. Trevor has been very impressive with everything we've put him up to. We continue to give him high leverage situations and he continues to execute pitches. But I know that he also has the ability to carry, if not the velocity that he has, pretty close to it, for an extended period of time on a start. Right now it's too early to start putting those plans into place. We'll be excited to watch them improve over the off‑season and then see what we have when we get to spring. Q. Yesterday you were talking a little bit about Beltran receiving treatment here. Could you talk a little bit about the progress that he's made? MIKE MATHENY: Well, the progress he made, first of all, was getting on the field. We were concerned we wouldn't have him, and it took down right at the last minute before we got him in that last game. But he came out and the first at‑bat gets a base hit and then steals a base, pretty indicative of how he's feeling. Seems to be getting better. I salute him and our medical staff for getting really ahead of this and hopefully we'll be able to keep riding this out and it doesn't flare up again. Q. Your lineup today, was it, given Carlos's progress, was there a possibility you held on about the card? MIKE MATHENY: No, I wait until the guys come in, hear from them, take a look at them, and make sure that everything is good. But they came in ready to go. They were all ready and have our normal lineup. Q. Yesterday you said there were still ongoing discussions regarding Wainwright's ability throughout the bullpen. MIKE MATHENY: We take it one day at a time. You guys know that's kind of the same old boring answer. But right now we're excited about what we have today and have a bullpen that had a full day off yesterday and ready to go. So we've got plenty of arms down there. Q. You've seen the Cardinals a few times in the postseason now have a young pitcher, whether he's a starter or a reliever in the future that's made a huge impact; Wainwright in '06, Motte last year. Is there any way you raise the pitchers through the system or the quality of arms that you could always pull that ace in the hole out in October and get big results from them? MIKE MATHENY: Well, I absolutely give a lot of credit to our development system and even a step ahead of that is our scouting staff and bringing in some guys who have the stuff that's pretty visible, but also the makeup to handle a situation like this. And a lot of that goes into the personnel that they decide to draft or sign as free agents. But then you get them into the hands of our development staff and I think they start to preach to them a pretty consistent message, one, of the way they're supposed to go about things when they wear this uniform; and, two, the fact that we're not afraid to use a young pitcher if he can make an impact on our club. And we've done that for years. The guys have been thrown into big situations and have delivered. So it's been something that's worked in the past and is working right now. But we have some very good instructors in our Minor League side in the development department and I know that the way they prepare them sets them up for being successful at this level. Q. The Cardinals won their last six elimination games. Giants won their last four. I'm curious, what is it about these two teams, when their back is against the wall they seem to step up big? MIKE MATHENY: Yeah, I think it talks about the character of the people. I've been very impressed with our guys and how they just continue ‑‑ it's the consistency as much as anything. And they just ‑‑ they realize after a tough loss we've got another opportunity tomorrow, let's keep our head down, is the term we keep saying. Keep your head down, keep playing the game the right way and things work out if you have talent. And you mix talent and the strong character. And the character part to me is the resiliency and not giving up and never disrespecting this game, never disrespecting your opponent. Those are things that I know that our team has shown on a consistent basis. And obviously with the things that this Giants team has been able to overcome, they carry a lot of the same qualities. You take all those stats when you get into this time of year and you throw them completely out the window. It's go out there and put your best foot forward and compete. The team that executes is normally the one that's going to be on top. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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