NL WILD CARD SERIES: MARLINS VS PHILLIES

October 3, 2023

Rob Thomson

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Rob, what went into putting Wes on the roster, and what role do you see him having in the series?

ROB THOMSON: Just because of how many left-handed pitchers they have, not only in the rotation, but coming out of their bullpen, it just gives us another right-handed bat that we could possibly pinch-hit for one of our lefties.

Q. Was it a difficult call with Lorenzen, leaving him off the roster? What went into that?

ROB THOMSON: Just because it's a short series. We felt like we were better off with another right-handed bat coming off the bench than we were with the extra arm. Michael is working on a couple of things right now, which gives him some time to continue that. It doesn't mean he's not going to be on the next roster if we get there.

We thought it was just -- we were suited better with the extra bat than the extra arm.

Q. Are you able to share what he's working on?

ROB THOMSON: I can't because I'm not exactly sure what they're working on, but I know they're working on something.

Q. You starting Pache. What have you seen in his at-bat over the last few days that you've put him in the lineup that made you make that decision?

ROB THOMSON: Over the course of the time he's been here, he's hit left-handed pitching pretty well. He's had good at-bats. Small sample, but he's 2 for 4 off of Luzardo. Luzardo is really tough off of left-handed hitters.

We're getting the defense, and this is a team that we're playing that you can't give them anything. So the more defense we have out there, the better.

Q. Obviously what you did last year worked, so maybe you don't have a lot of sample to choose from, but what have you learned sort of about the cadence of these three-game Wild Card series in terms of how you manage them?

ROB THOMSON: They go quickly. They do. And you've got to be ready to make some moves because you don't have a whole lot of time.

I think that the biggest thing in my message to our players was that, if you get the lead, get on it because people tend to get out of their at-bats. They try to do things that they normally wouldn't do.

On the flip side of it, if somebody hits a leadoff home run and we're down, stay calm. Don't panic. Stay with your same approach. We've got a lot of time left. But from a managing side, it goes pretty quick.

Q. Bryce just talked about this notion of like this being a new team and rewriting the story. I'm wondering if that was something that you conveyed back in Spring Training or at some point in the season, the importance of starting new, writing a new story?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, last year was last year. It was a great run. We had a lot of fun. We've got to get back after it this year, and it's a different team. I believe it's a better team, to be honest with you. But it's a new year.

Anybody can be on any given day, and we've got to be ready to play. We've got to go out, and we've got to play our best.