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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: NATIONALS VS CARDINALSOctober 10, 2019Andrew MillerMatt WietersSt. Louis, Missouri - Workout Day Q. Matt, having spent last summer in Washington and this summer here, you've sort of had the front row seat for championships in other sports in these two cities. What's been your experience watching those franchises and the way they have sort of, the Caps and the Nats grown together as well as the Cardinals and the Blues, as well as those things have been going on? MATT WIETERS: Yes, kind of unique to have the last two teams I've been with as Stanley Cup finals and win the Cup. So I don't know, may have more hockey teams recruiting me than baseball teams coming up here pretty soon. But, no it's fun because same thing happened, the Capitols came to the clubhouse and kind of, you get, any time you can see a championship and see guys being great it makes you want it even more. Q. Matt, you've been in the game obviously for more than a decade. Unique perspective this year working with Yadi Molina. What have you been able to take away from him and how is he different than other catchers that you've played with before? MATT WIETERS: I think one thing that's probably surprised me the most, not that I was surprised because from the outside, you realize how great he is just watching him play. But the attention to detail he pays to all of the small things in the game, just the some of the monotonous drills that you would think over the course of his career that he would be like, okay, I'm comfortable with receiving the ball. But he still works on it non-stop. And it's one of the things that really kind of motivated me this year is like it's special to see probably the greatest at his position still works at it like he's got to go out there and prove something every day. Q. Andrew, did you know much about Miles Mikolas before you joined the Cardinals and then can you describe what you see out of him as a Game 1 starter? ANDREW MILLER: No, I knew the story a little bit of him coming back from Japan, but other than that, no, I certainly didn't know what personality I was walking into. A great guy, great teammate, a lot of fun to be around. But as a pitcher, just fun to watch and I imagine for position players fun to work behind. He throws a lot of strikes, he can manipulate the ball as well as anybody I've played with, and he's -- I know that he had a really great year last year and maybe didn't get off to quite the start he wanted to, sometimes expectations are hard to meet. But he's been really great for us down the stretch and we got a lot of confidence in him, I think as a Game 1 starter -- the game in Atlanta was not easy to go on the road there and step out and face that lineup and he did a great job. Q. And then just a quick follow-up, the idea of October, the concept of October, you've been through it, what can October do to someone's, I guess persona in this game if they win in October? ANDREW MILLER: I don't think you have to look any further than this city to see how big of a impact you can make. We see guys come in, particularly David Freese, gosh, playing against the Dodgers this year, the reception for what he did in the postseason here, you can turn yourself into a legend in a place like this. And I think it's neat, it's the stage we all want to get to and perform well on and guys that can accomplish it, I think it's just another feather in their cap. Q. For both of you, what was your game watching experience last night of Game 5 in Los Angeles? Were you guys watching with certain teammates rooting for certain sides so that you could be home or and also like how much strategizing can you do just because it's an opponent that's coming up and you don't usually get to watch a team live like that? MATT WIETERS: We were all actually in the hotel bar watching and just kind of more celebrating the game we just played and kind of just seeing where we were going. And I know the talent that the Nationals have, it's going to be a test for sure, but I think it's always nice when you can get the advantage of having the home game so we're excited to be back home and be playing Game 1 here. ANDREW MILLER: Same, I think that we're not, whoever you play at this stage of the year's going to be a real good team so you're not trying to pick and choose and be greedy, that's foolish. I think like Matt said, home games are nice, we were just kind of sitting around waiting to see what the travel situation was going to be as much as anything and enjoying each other, a lot of us had family in town and just as a group, as a team enjoying what we just accomplished and knowing that as soon as that game ended the work began for us. Q. How unique is the challenge of Rendon and Soto back-to-back in their lineup just going right, left like that with two such elite hitters and particularly I guess how hot they have been in the playoffs so far, too? MATT WIETERS: They're tough and they're tough because they're plate disciplined more than anything, they're not going to help you out. So it will be like it's going to be against every other hitter in the lineup, it's about executing, and we have pitchers who focused all year on being able to execute their pitches and at this stage of the game you're going to need it just like what we have been preparing for all year, you've got to go out there and just execute. Q. I know it was a few years before you got to Washington, Matt, and you were in Baltimore at the time, but in 2012 the Cardinals faced the Nats, and the big story that series was who wasn't pitching in the series, in Strasburg. I wonder as you got to know him and got to see how well he pitched in October, if that echoed in that clubhouse at all. MATT WIETERS: No, I know they're confident in their big guys that they put on the mound, it's what they have built their team around is their starting pitching and I know they're feeling good because they're all got three of them ready to go. And that's kind of what our challenge will be, it will be able to grind them out and it's not going to be one hitter versus one of their pitchers, it's going to have to be a team concept of grinding out pitches, grinding out at-bats and it's a 7-game series, so it's going to be a grind. Q. What does it mean for your offense to have Dexter Fowler and Kolten Wong both starting to heat up a little bit at the top of it in front of Ozuna and Goldschmidt? MATT WIETERS: I think it's exciting. Watching from the side the team kind of feels it, that it's starting to feel like everybody's getting going at the right time. We have had different points in the year where certain guys would carry us for a stretch and certain guys would pick up and there would always be that waxing and waning, but the series in Atlanta as it got rolling kind of felt like, kind of kept the dominos going and especially in that last game. Q. Andrew, working in the bullpen what have you seen from Gallegos this year as he's grown into the guy that's now getting called on in big spots? ANDREW MILLER: Yeah, I think that he's just gotten better and better. He came up and had success and just earned higher and higher leverage situations. Nothing's shaking him. His stuff is obviously good, but at this point in the game it seems like everybody's stuff is good, so it's something beyond that. I think he's just got great composure, he's ready, he prepares, he works hard. Getting to watch him every day it's not a surprise the success he's had. And we need him, he's a big part of what we're doing. Q. Matt, what's Miles like on game day maybe compared to some of the other pitchers, based on the personality that he has? MATT WIETERS: He's actually one of the few pitchers I've been around who wants to talk, he wants to have conversations. He kind of, he's -- I mean, he's pitching against Atlanta and he's having to strike up conversation with us, because he wants to keep it loose and keep -- most guys would want to stay focused and stay to themself and he wants everything just to feel like it's a normal day for him. And it speaks some that he can do that and once he gets on the mound, turn on the focus and be ready to go. Q. Is that unique to see someone like that? ANDREW MILLER: Everybody's different. I think if anything it's just, it's something that guys have to figure out for themselves. We have seen guys that stare in their locker, don't talk to them, don't brush up against them. And then you have Miles who is the usual Miles we see every other day. So it's just a credit to him knowing what works for him. Q. We have talked to you guys a lot about Mike Shildt's strengths and all the different things he does, but curious about his kind of ability to motivate his fire. He was pretty apologetic about the comments that got out, but it did speak to kind of the side that you guys see that we don't see all that much of, unless it's caught during like a hot mic or a field dispute with an umpire. What does that mean for you guys to have a manager who can flare up like that I guess in the right time? ANDREW MILLER: I think he builds a relationship with every player and I think he does a really good job of knowing how to talk to different guys in different situations, what they need at that moment. And he's been a baseball guy for a long time, I think that he knows that there's times when you need to speak up and try to fire up the squad or go out there and get on an umpire or whatever and there's times you need to put an arm around somebody. He's just really good at having that feel, he's got that skill and it's a big part of the cohesiveness we have in there and what we do. MATT WIETERS: I think everybody in the clubhouse knows how much Shildty cares about them and that's one thing that when you get conversations out of the clubhouse that shouldn't be out of the clubhouse, I know he's apologetic for the choice of words he used, but everybody in that clubhouse knows how much he cares for them and that's why some conversations get taken the wrong way when they're not, they don't feel that relationship that everybody has in there with Shildty. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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