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NL DIVISION SERIES: DODGERS v BRAVES


October 4, 2013


Don Mattingly


ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Game Two

Braves – 4
Dodgers – 3


Q.  Can you talk would you the bottom of the 7th, the decision to pull Withrow, kind of what led up to the Heyward‑Paco matchup?
DON MATTINGLY:  Just really at that point trusting Paco to do what he had to do.  If not we knew we were going to get left and Paco has been that guy all year long.

Q.  You had that tough 7th inning, Hanley hits the two‑run homer, no outs, big guns coming up.  How quickly did the momentum slip away?
DON MATTINGLY:  Obviously Hanley gets us right back in it.  At that point still I think we're six outs left.  So nobody out.  Mark gets on, Hanley hits the homer, we're within one, and we're going to have six outs to score.  So you know obviously the game has changed again for us.  I don't know about slipping away, but that beginning got finished, got away with that, had our chances in the last inning.

Q.  What was your view of the Gordon attempt to steal?
DON MATTINGLY:  Well, the view, it looks safe from our point of view, but I think we're that far away, just looks like Dee gets there before the ball gets there.  And I know our replays feel like they're fairly clear, but I'm sure other people see is another way.

Q.  Have you already looked at a replay?
DON MATTINGLY:  Yeah.

Q.  And you thought he was?
DON MATTINGLY:  We thought he was safe.

Q.  Can you talk a little bit about Puig's plate discipline on that last at‑bat?
DON MATTINGLY:  Well, I mean, I'm out.  What do you want me to do, say he swung at a bad ball?  That's what we do.  He's an aggressive guy.  He's going to be on the attack, and he's going to chase sometimes.

Q.  When you saw Carl was going to go for the double play, did you feel pretty good at that point?
DON MATTINGLY:  With that at‑bat we feel like Carl would put the ball in play somewhere, and it's like one of the last guys, we felt like if he got it on the ground they're not going to get two unless it's just a bullet right at somebody.  At that point that's a big league play.  Many times you'll see that guy not make that play.
Everything doesn't really go perfect right there, they don't get Carl.  If it's not a perfect throw to short, Simmons, he makes a nice play and got a cannon.  So they do everything right right there.  We kind of get what we want.  We feel like Carl would hit the ball on the ground somewhere.

Q.  Can you talk about walking Reed Johnson to get to Heyward?  I know this year he'd improved a little bit in hitting against lefties.  What went into that thought process?
DON MATTINGLY:  Nothing, just Paco is a guy that pitches down and fits into Reed.  We felt like Paco fits into Reed, he's a guy we think gets Heyward out.  Been getting those guys out all year long for us.

Q.  Are you going to beat yourself up over this one because it really looks like a win that might have gotten away?
DON MATTINGLY:  I mean, you think you obviously look at everything, but we're down 2‑1.  Yeah, you always look back at everything, you could have did this, you could have did that.  So I think you look at it and you look at it honestly and see what you think.

Q.  With Paco coming into the game initially with the intentional walk right away, is that something you generally try to avoid?
DON MATTINGLY:  Well, if a guy is up there we know we're going to walk, we would do it differently.

Q.  I know Greinke is a good hitter and he'd only thrown 80 some pitches.  Did you give any consideration at all to leaving him in to hit for himself?
DON MATTINGLY:  Not really.  We felt like we actually got what we want.  Michael got a hit and we had a shot at a run there.  So I mean, it's not like he was‑‑ I mean, no.

Q.  Bunting Ellis to try to stay out of a double play there, having A.J. bunt there two innings earlier, guy on first, nobody out?
DON MATTINGLY:  Which one are you talking about?

Q.  The 7th.
DON MATTINGLY:  We're taking a shot at getting a run, when we're getting in scoring position.

Q.  How do you feel heading back home for Game 3, splitting the series here?
DON MATTINGLY:  I think we feel fine.  We're a club that I don't think‑‑ we understand we're in a series with a good club.  We came on the road, basically got us a win here.  We've got a chance to go home with Hyun‑Jin on Game 3, and we feel good about it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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