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MLB WORLD SERIES: RANGERS v CARDINALSOctober 20, 2011Ron WashingtonST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Two Q. Question about the lineup tonight: Have you considered with Hamilton not looking like the old Josh Hamilton, did you think about possibly shaking up the order at all? RON WASHINGTON: No. One game, Hamilton has been sitting in the third slot for us all year, and he'll figure it out. I have no doubt about it. Nope, not at all. Q. How limited do you think Josh is by his injury that he's been dealing with? RON WASHINGTON: Well, he's been dealing with it for about a month and a half, and he's come up big for us, and I expect him to do the same. You know, at this point of the year we've all got nagging injuries. He had one, and he'll figure out a way to get through it, and we'll figure out a way to help him get through it. He's a big part of our lineup, and he's a big part sitting right where he is in our lineup. Q. 3-2 loss last night, what's the mentality for you guys to get back here tonight? And was there anything different about this ballpark for you guys, since you haven't been in it before, that you discovered last night? RON WASHINGTON: No, I thought early in the game Carpenter was battling out there, C.J. was battling out there. They both had to pitch around a lot of problems that they caused, and that's what good pitchers do. You know, in the end, it came down to one pinch-hit, and Craig got it, and I tip my hat to him. I thought Ogando came in throwing the ball very well, and he got him. As I said last night, there's a difference between losing and getting beat. Losing is when you're throwing the ball around and giving all kinds of opportunities and they're scoring runs. That didn't happen last night. They beat us. They got one swing of the bat when it counted, and they made it hold up. Nope, we'll be fine tonight. We've just got to make sure we bring Garcia on the plate. Q. Did you give any consideration, given it's supposed to be colder tonight than it was last night, to maybe sitting Josh tonight? And is the move to left field a concession about that injury? RON WASHINGTON: No, the move is not a concession. Whenever I put Gentry in our lineup, he plays center and Hamilton goes over to left. So that's a consistent move that I've made. The cold weather, no, we've played in cold weather before. I can't afford to take Hamilton out my lineup. Even if Hamilton doesn't do anything, he makes a difference just with his presence in our lineup, and I want his presence in it, and it's in there tonight. Don't be surprised if he comes up big, because I certainly won't. Q. Do you like it when the game becomes a sort of chess match between you and the other manager? And what's it like to play chess against Tony? RON WASHINGTON: I don't think I can win a chess game against Tony. But you know, the best I can do is try to put my players in a position to be successful and hope that they execute, and if they execute, I think the chess matches take care of themselves. National League is a different type of game. There's all kinds of moving parts, and once again, it just comes down to the players execute in whatever position you put them in, and last night, Craig executed and we didn't. Q. The increased rate of home runs given up by your starters, is that a byproduct of just facing better lineups in the postseason or a point of concern for you? RON WASHINGTON: Well, it's just them missing spots, and it has a lot to do with the teams you're facing. It's the best in the game right now, and when you make mistakes to them, they make you pay. We haven't been executing our pitches with regularity as much as we would like it to be, but that's the same for both sides. As long as the home runs are solos, I'm good with it. Q. Last year we had Little Wash, the kid who was dressed up like you, and this year we've got Movie Wash, the actor who portrays you in Moneyball. How would you assess the two portrayals of yourself? RON WASHINGTON: Well, Little Wash, I'm very humbled that he chose to be the manager of a baseball team, which all youth sort of emulate players. So in that respect, I'm very humbled by that. As far as Moneyball goes, I was a real player in that year, in that season, and I thought the guy did a good job of being very matter-of-fact. As I said, the only difference that I've seen that was different than Ron Washington, I don't do work on the sideline. He was doing his work from the sideline. I don't do work from the sideline. Q. Talk about what you may have learned from Game 1 from the Cardinals that you didn't know possibly beforehand and the importance of this one tonight and not wanting to go home down 0-2. RON WASHINGTON: Well, I didn't learn anything that I didn't know. Things worked out just the way I've always seen it. I watched every game of the Cardinals against the Milwaukee Brewers, and it's obvious that they have a very solid bullpen, and Tony will not hesitate to go to it. He has some seasoned veterans on his bench that are used to coming off the bench pinch-hitting, and that's something that they've done all year. Last night I didn't really see anything that I didn't expect. Once again, last night just came down to he putting one of his players in a position to succeed, and he did, and I put mine in position to succeed and they didn't. So it was up to the players, really. I didn't see anything different than I expected. Q. Talk about how you approached Cabrera in the previous round and then Pujols in this round. Would you share your thoughts on the intentional walk as a tool and why do you use it and some of the risks inherent in using it? RON WASHINGTON: Well, the risks inherent in using it, you've got to deal with Holliday and Berkman, two professional hitters, and they're not considered outs. But you know in a situation where you're in a ballgame and you're trying to stay in a ballgame, and Albert Pujols walks up to the play and there's some place to put him, you'd be a fool not to put him there. Last night we took a chance by not letting him swing the bat in a tie ballgame. C.J. executed a pitch, we got a double play and got out of it. That doesn't always work that way, but you're in a situation where you have to pick your poison, and I think I can rest better at night if I know I took the bat out of Albert's hands. I mean, I said I rest better, but then you have to -- like I said, you have to deal with Holliday and Berkman. You know, you just don't want Albert Pujols to be the one that beats you. That's the bottom line right there. You've just got to try to take chances and hope that your players execute and the results you're looking for happen. Last night we did it and it happened. Q. You used back-to-back pinch-hitters last night. How differently do you use your bench in a National League city where obviously you don't have a DH? RON WASHINGTON: Well, you know, each time that I've ever removed Murphy for a pinch-hitter because of a left-hander, I've always went to Gentry right away. It's paid dividends for me, and last night was one of those nights it didn't. And I look at that as Mark -- I don't know how to pronounce his last name, so I'm not even going to try. You've got to give credit to Mark; he executed his pitches, and he eliminated Gentry. And I went to German simply because he's a very good contact hitter. He knows the strike zone extremely well, and once again, Mark executed his pitches, and when pitchers execute, usually the results that we got is what you get. I don't have the experienced pinch-hitters that a National League team has because they do it so often. I've got nine guys that are healthy, that have gotten us to this point, and if those nine guys are healthy, usually during the course of our season, our extra guys get work when we want to give them rest. So they don't get a whole lot of pinch-hitting opportunity. But I do trust them, and I do believe in some situations certain guys can deliver for you. Last night ours didn't deliver. We move on. Q. You had a situation last year with Bengie Molina facing his old team in the World Series. What's it like for you to see Arthur on the other side of the field, having had him on your team? RON WASHINGTON: Very happy for Arthur. Arthur is a big-time professional. He's done a lot for the game. I know he does a lot in the communities. It was just one of those situations where numbers caught us over in Texas and we had to let Arthur move on, and he landed in a great spot, and he's doing a great job for the St. Louis Cardinals. I love Arthur. Arthur is a great person, so I'm very happy for Arthur. Q. Have you settled on the order of your starting pitchers for games 3 and 4? RON WASHINGTON: Yes, we decided to go with Harrison and Holland. Harrison will be in 3 and Holland will be in 4. Q. Our color man last night was a former pitcher, so he was trying to talk about the psychology of what Ogando may have been going through after he gave up that hit. He thought you would leave him in to get a few outs, thinking about the next time he's in the game in the series. What was your thinking and decision about that? RON WASHINGTON: Well, you know, if we would have gotten Craig out, he would have went back out. But he was in the batting order, and it came up, so I had to pinch-hit for him. But if we would have gotten Craig out, you would have seen Ogando back out there. That's where the decision was made. Q. You've probably talked about this with the people who cover the Rangers, but could you just explain who's influenced you in your managing career, how you got to where you were and somebody who maybe made a difference for you? RON WASHINGTON: I came through the baseball era when all the baseball people you ran into you take a little bit from. I was influenced by Buzzy Keller, I was influenced by Steve Boros, I was influenced by Jack McKeon, I was influenced by Billy Gardner, I was influenced by Tom Kelly, I was influenced by Doc Edwards, I was influenced by Del Crandall, I was influenced by Jimy Williams. These are the guys that I came through in Kansas City and the Dodgers organization, an organization that believes in going out and playing very aggressive baseball, pitching and catching the ball, being fundamentally sound, and made sure as a youngster when I was coming up that they demanded that, and if you couldn't be a part of those type of things, then you couldn't play for those organizations. An opportunity I have to give to the Oakland A's beat writers for putting me out front to have an opportunity to manage because of the years that I put in in Oakland, and they thought that I could do this. Next thing you know I was getting an opportunity to interview for jobs, and I just happened to get a general manager that thought I was the guy to lead the organization, that could convince the owner that I was the guy in Jon Daniels, and here I am. And I've been able to implement the things that I've been taught in the ballgame, and I continue to try to pass it on. That's how the game continued to get influenced by these young kids, by passing on the things that other people have passed on to you. None of us have accomplished anything without help from someone else, and I've had a lot of help along the way, and I just continue to try to learn. I'm like a player; I'm still novice at managing, but I think I'm beginning to understand. One thing I do know how to do is communicate, and that's communicate the baseball game. I can communicate that. I've been blessed to do that, and I cherish the opportunity that I have to be a manager, and I hope it lasts for a long time. But you never know. Q. You had mentioned in Hamilton's case that his groin issue is something he's been dealing with for a little while. As the playoffs have gone on, is it something that's got worse from what you've seen, is it just you've managed to stabilize it and he's been able to play at a certain level or do you think as time has wore on it's gotten a little more difficult? RON WASHINGTON: I think certain reactions that he takes out there on the baseball field may aggravate it more than others, but it is something that he can manage, and he's been managing it. You know, it's just exposed more because now we're the only game in town, so everybody sees it. But it's something he's been managing and we've been managing it. You know, as I said earlier, I'd look for Hamilton to come up big tonight, even though he has some injuries. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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