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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS v CARDINALSOctober 12, 2013Don MattinglyST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Two Cardinals – 1 Q. Offensively, such a difference between the Division Series and now. Is it something you see or is it just good pitching on the other side that's really leading you guys into not being able to take advantage of opportunities? DON MATTINGLY: Well, obviously, we talked about it yesterday and give those guys credit. Their guy threw the ball good. I think you could see early on it was going to be a tough day to score. I think just it started off with the shadow. You could see where it was at early in the game. You knew it was only going to get worse as the game went on and it was going to be tough to get a run. I looked over at Trey early on and said it's going to be a fast game with those two guys. Obviously, we had a couple of chances. You know, the bases loaded situation and weren't able to capitalize there. Didn't have a whole lot of chances, but we had a few. So I give them some credit, and also we've just got to be able to execute with men on third. Q. What is the result of Hanley's X‑ray? DON MATTINGLY: They told me negative. I don't know what that means at this point. That was during the game. I didn't have a chance to kind of go into it. I'm assuming, which I probably shouldn't do, but if it's negative, it's going to be if he can move and be able to swing the bat, then he'd be able to play. So I don't know where that's going to go. Q. Can you talk about the way Puig has performed at the plate? It seems on the one hand his plate discipline has been really good. But on the other hand, when he swings, the results just aren't there. DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, obviously, he's frustrated, I think. Yadier back there does a good job of yo‑yoing him, showing him enough breaking balls and showing him the fastball. And it's back to the breaking ball. So Yadier is doing a nice job as far as yo‑yoing him back and forth and keeping him in the rocking chair. That's where I think we see his inexperience kind of come up, how to handle what's going on and what he's looking for. But him at any moment, you look like any moment, any swing has a chance to tie that game up or be a big hit. They did a nice job with him. I think he's a little frustrated. Q. Thoughts now on using Greinke on three days' rest in Game 4? DON MATTINGLY: We haven't talked not even once on using Zack on short rest. We need to go back home. We get a day off tomorrow. What do they say in the NBA, the playoffs don't start until you lose one at home. We're hoping to be able to regroup. It doesn't get any easier for us in Wainwright, but our guy's pretty good too, so we'll try to regroup and put it back together in L.A. Q. You commented a little bit about how it was going to be a fast game. But in terms of being 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position through these first two games, how concerned are you at this point after these first two? DON MATTINGLY: Well, I can't put two together. We talk about turning the page all the time, so you're going to tell me 1 for 16, but the 10 yesterday, right? Yesterday? Those are gone. So today we had our chances too. Three of those are in one inning, I think. I can always be concerned, but each game changes. You flip the page and their guy is good today. I knew nobody was going to be seeing the ball good today, and it was going to be tough all day. Q. This summer started when Hanley showed up. How much of a hole is it in your lineup without him in there? DON MATTINGLY: Well, it doesn't make us better, that's for sure. I've talked about this guy so much, I feel like he's one of the best players in the game. We go from not only losing Hanley, but we really don't have Dre today either. So our lineup changes when you take a couple guys out. It leaves Adrian vulnerable that they're not going to pitch to him. Obviously, we're not going to be as good without him as we are with him. Q. To hit like or not hit like you have these two games and seeing Wainwright in the next game, is it tough to not feel a sense that you're being overwhelmed or is that being too strong with it? DON MATTINGLY: No, I mean, our guys can pitch. We look at what they've been able to do to us, but we've been pretty good too. They're not exactly going out and throwing six or eight runs up on us. It's a matter of us‑‑ what we talked about last series and what we talked about coming into this series. It's about getting the outs when you need them and being able to get that key hit. This series up to this point we haven't gotten the key hit. We weren't able to put the run up when we needed it. If we get two key hits over the last two days. We win two. We're walking out of here up 2‑0. It didn't happen, so we're walking out of here down two. Q. Last night it was Hanley who got intentionally walked twice in big situations and then today it was Adrian. Is that just part of playoff baseball when you get the bats taken out of your best players or is it frustrating in a way to see them going down to first base and not getting a chance to hit? DON MATTINGLY: I think you get to certain times of the year and in any game, probably, you're going to go with a match‑up and you're not going to pitch to Adrian in any of those spots where there's an open base. It's where you miss. If Hanley's there, they walk Hanley and they pitch to Adrian or vice versa. So that's where you miss Hanley today is that's his spot. And if they want to walk Hanley at that point, then they've got to deal with Adrian. So it's different. They're able to walk Adrian and get to the kid and frustrate him. Q. Can you talk about taking out Clayton Kershaw after just six innings? DON MATTINGLY: Well, it wasn't any fun taking him out, honestly, the way he was pitching. But I think it was our last chance. We had to get a guy in scoring position, and our bullpen did a nice job. So it's one of the toughest things you have to do is to take him out because you feel like he's throwing zeros the rest of the day, and you're going to have a chance to score. But at the same time, you're down to seven outs and they bring the lefty, and you feel like you're just giving an out away if you let him hit. Really, it didn't work out in the end, but it did work out from the standpoint that we've got a guy in scoring position that had a chance to tie the game. Q. You did talk a little bit about it already. You had not seen Wacha before and he was coming off back‑to‑back one‑hitters. How tough was he on you guys in addition to the shadows and everything else? DON MATTINGLY: No, he's got good stuff. I don't think there is any doubt about that. I don't want to take anything away from him and his stuff. He's in the mid to upper 90s and he's got that hard changeup he throws, the breaking ball is an up‑and‑downer. His stuff is good. So obviously, I don't want to take anything away from him. He was good today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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