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AL DIVISION SERIES: RAYS v RED SOXOctober 5, 2013Joe MaddonBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Two Tampa Bay Rays - 4 Q. Can you talk about the Red Sox attack tonight. JOE MADDON:  You know, they did. It was kind of awkward the way it all unfolded.  Outside of Papi's home run, there was a lot of awkward kind of things that occurred. It's just one of those ‑‑ I think we got out of Fenway tonight, kind of. They took advantage of the quirks; we did not. And they got on top. I thought David had really good stuff, right up to the last pitch. Just had a really good 7th inning, and all of a sudden hangs a baseball to Ortiz and scores another run. It was kind of a weird night the way everything set up for them and against us. Q. David's had such success against the East, the Red Sox and lefties. Didn't have as much tonight. Is that quirks? JOE MADDON:  I think the first hit to Ellsbury was a quirk. You've got a softy to right, and then James shot over the third baseman's head. That's fortunate for them. The last one was well struck. David Ortiz, the guy that doesn't hit home runs against David, that was the awkward part. A couple of their lefties got them, and he got them. There's certain game that you have things working in your favor, and certain games you do not. And he did not make awful pitches to Ellsbury and he ended up getting two hits. That's just a part of their side. They've got a bunch of veterans that are really smelling it, they're wiling it, and that's kind of what you saw there, not necessarily that David was bad. Q. For all the changes that the Red Sox have made, what does it mean for them to still have Ortiz in the middle of the lineup? JOE MADDON: It's different, and especially the kind of year that he's had. He presents so differently. There's times we try to walk him, and we've done that on occasion. Tonight there was a leadoff home run, and the other was with two outs early in the game. When he's cooking he's very difficult. He's very difficult to play against. We've had it both ways the last several years. Sometimes we've come out on top. They're coming out on top these first two games. I'm really looking forward to Game 5 here. Q. Your guys have always been very resilient and now the ultimate backs‑to‑the‑wall thing. Can you talk a little bit about them. JOE MADDON:  We just went through a week of backs against the wall, so it's not new to us. It's going to be difficult. There's no question it's going to be difficult. We have to go home, and Alex, fortunately he's pitching that Game 3 for us. We'll have to fight through Game4. Hellickson will be pitching that to get back her for Game 5, but I don't think it's impossible by any means. We've been in this boat in the past and we've forced Game 5s in those situations, also. So Boston this time of the year is kind of lovely, and I'm looking forward to coming back in a few days. Q. You talked about David, what did you make of his fastball command? JOE MADDON:  I thought he was pretty good. He had one moment there where he was missing fastball up and away to somebody, and then he did definitely miss location there on Ortiz at the end with that home run. The first home run was a cutter down the middle. But overall fastball command, and he kept getting better. That 7th inning was pretty darn good, the way he went through that particular moment. And I thought again he was fine. I'm looking at the velocity and a lot of 93s, a lot of 94s. He started getting his change‑ups where he wanted later in the game. He did not throw a lot of curveballs. Typically he gets better. It was really an awkward start that put them in a good position. They earned it. And three double plays that we got into tonight didn't help either. Q. Do you have a read at all on Wil Myers' confidence level at all? JOE MADDON: Right, he had a tough day at the plate. Speaking with him, he seems to be fine. I'm certain that he is pressing a bit; I would not deny that. But we're trying to do everything we can to talk to him, and help him through this moment. Like I said, I think he handled yesterday extremely well. Couldn't have been handle any better than he did. And I'm really proud of him for the way he did handle that moment. I was just hoping that he had bowed and tipped his hat when he caught that fly ball. I was really hoping that he would have. But he did not. So he's a young man. He's a future All‑Star. He's going to put up huge numbers in the future. When you go through a tough moment like this, you don't abandon people; you try to support them. And you try to give your best advice possible, which is what we're doing. There's still three more games left in the series to do a lot of damage. So we'll see how it all plays out. Q. What did you see from John Lackey tonight? JOE MADDON:  Used his fastball a lot. A lot of fastball. He likes to pitch backwards. I think he was doing that a little bit today with the early breaking ball and then a lot more fastball in the latter part. I thought he had a good fastball. That's the difference between him now and when he was hurt. The velocity is back. And not only the velocity, the cutter, slider, curveball play. I thought he was very challenging. Challenging in that he challenged us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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