NL WILD CARD SERIES: PADRES VS METS

October 8, 2022

Buck Showalter

Citi Field

New York Mets

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Buck, what is it about the makeup or the fabric of your team that leads you to believe they will accept the challenge in a big way tonight?

BUCK SHOWALTER: One, they have no other choice, right? No, they've been doing it all year. There's been a lot of challenges through the years, just like I'm sure Bobby could say about his team too.

That's what's so fascinating about it is you've got two teams that -- all these teams have answered a lot of challenge to get the opportunity here. So nothing's given to you. Everybody's giving you their best bolt. You're not living to fight another day. You're not trying to think about the next week. You're thinking about this nine innings.

Our guys have done a good job of that, staying in reality. Obviously it's a little different circumstances because of the consequences of not winning.

Q. Buck, just what made you decide to go with Ruf over Alvarez there?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Two good choices. The front office people have done a great job all year and the off-season providing us with some great options, but a little history there. I like the flexibility it gives us with the catchers.

One of the things that Francisco brings, obviously he can catch. Darin's got a little bit more of a track record, especially where the Padres are concerned, being in the National League west so much, knowing a lot of their pitchers.

We'll see. He's worked hard to get back here physically and just from the standpoint of working on his trade. So we'll see if he can get back to his track record.

Q. From Alvarez being so inexperienced at this level, do you have any concerns about handling a pinch-hit at-bat in the playoffs?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Sure, that's something you think about, but that's part of the equation. Snell -- if you look at the matchup too with what Snell, you feel like he's going to try to do to hitters what he's done in the past, and is probably going to be able to do to some extent. So we'll see.

Q. You've faced elimination games in the playoffs in the past. Is the way that you approach it, either mentally or in terms of managerial decisions, mutated or shifted over the years?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Did you say mutated? (Laughter).

Q. I couldn't think of the word.

BUCK SHOWALTER: I like that, though. That's a good way to describe it.

Sure, I hope so. I hope so. We're faced with situations in life, and you do something a certain way. If it does work out, you hold onto it. If it doesn't work out, you have a way of shuffling the deck.

So I hope so. It's like if somebody says is somebody pressing? I hope so because that means you care. Not just in sports, but we're all faced with things in life where it's like, gosh, let's try something else.

That's one thing about experience. I tell the players at times with different stuff, listen, I've done what you're doing and it didn't work out. So I think it would be a really poor thing to say about somebody if they didn't adjust to the things that life throws at them and experiences that they get.

Q. Can a manager start pressing? If so, how do you deal with that?

BUCK SHOWALTER: You can want something too much -- players, coaches, managers. You can want something too much, but trying to temper that because you can do all these things that loosen people up, and all of a sudden, the magnitude of what you're trying to accomplish -- what's tough is you've played all these games, and you've got a certain mindset and mentality, and then that sense of finality comes in there.

You're just looking for something to get a toehold and get some things going that you know you're capable of.

Q. Buck, did you have a pretty good feel when you left here last night that Marte would be able to get back up into the 2 hole today, or did you need to speak to him when you got here today?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Yes and yes, because the way he felt after the game, but I didn't put it in ink until we saw him and talked to him today when he got here physically.

But I didn't jinx ourselves by saying it was a given after last night. That was something I was proud I took out of last night. We've seen it before, this guy. Next year when you try to have somebody go out on rehab, what about Marte? But that's how you get trust with a guy or he gets trust with me because I've seen him say something and it's come to pass.

He's been doing this a while. He's 33 years old. He knows his body. You think about the challenges he faced last night physically with the slides and the ball that he caught next to the wall, I felt like, leaving here, if there was an issue, we would have known last night. But you also with bated breath wait until the sun comes up to see how he does overnight.

Q. I'm sure you waited with bated breath to see how he reacted just when he swung the bat in a game, made contact. Was there anything you saw last night that particularly impressed or encouraged you? For his at-bats I'm talking about.

BUCK SHOWALTER: No. It's there. I know he missed a breaking ball left out over the plate that he flew out on. I could tell that, when I saw him kind of upset at that, it didn't have something to do with his finger. He just didn't put the swing on it that he wanted to put on it.

There was two things that I was worried about, off the end of the bat and the jam. There were a couple there that probably did him a little, but I watched him between innings. Especially after the ball that he went back and caught on the wall, and the slide that was very -- I wanted to see the slides and see what type of contact he was making with his finger. But it's good so far.

Q. That's what I was going to ask about the slides. I know players are used to doing things a certain way their entire lives, their entire careers. Any discussion with him about not sliding head first with that finger?

BUCK SHOWALTER: No, as long as he's using the right hand. If you noticed last night -- that's hard. You've got left-footed sliders, right-footed sliders, just like you've got left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters. You have left-handed head first and right-handed guys.

If I took 30 baseball players on the field, you'd be shocked at how many of them -- I'd say 29 of them can't slide on both legs. So you have left foot and right. One of the things through the years is when you've got a guy that could slide on both legs, like Bernie Williams, you thought about switch hitting them. That's one thing I found through the years is if a guy can slide on both legs -- Posada can slide on both legs. That was one of the first times I remember when we did the sliding drills. Structurally, Bernie could slide on both legs.

I'm surprised -- I asked Marte one time, we never got deep in conversation why nobody ever switch hit him when he was a young kid. I'd still like to know. I don't know if he can slide on both legs. I'm not going to change him.

But he's been able to go with both hands. I think it's easier for guys to control their hands as opposed to their feet and legs. How many of y'all can slide on both legs? You can be a switch hitter.

(Laughter)