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AL DIVISION SERIES: RAYS v RED SOXOctober 5, 2013John FarrellBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Two Tampa Bay Rays - 4 Q.  Can you talk about Ellsbury setting the tone. JOHN FARRELL: I think he's got five hits in the two nights. And when he gets on, whether it's a bloop single, line‑drive single, he's always a threat to steal a base. Obviously that was the case in the first inning. We're a much more diverse offense. Not only when he's in the lineup, but certainly when he gets on base. Q. You talked about having a bullpen setup, is that how you envisioned being able to use it? JOHN FARRELL:  Each guy that came to the mound did a great job. Two key double plays, one by Brez in the seventh, another one with Taz against Escobar, who swung well against Junichi over time. We were fresh. We were ready to go, obviously on the heels of Lester's strong performance last night. Even if Escobar doesn't roll into that double play, Koji is ready to go for a four‑out save. But they came in and made some big pitches at key moments. Q. Did you see anything different from Price than you've seen this year, especially in terms of his fastball command? JOHN FARRELL:  The one thing that was ‑‑ I wouldn't say about fastball command. There wasn't as much swing and miss as we've seen against him. He's dominated against us in games, whether it's the result of the time of the year or whatever it might be. Tonight wasn't the case, where typically he gets a key strikeout when he needs it. I thought we had a very good approach against him. Anytime you get seven runs off of David Price, you've had a good night, and tonight was that. Q. Could you talk about the Victorino takeout slide at second base and how it perhaps symbolizes what the team is about. And also do you think it played a role in the next inning? JOHN FARRELL:  I don't know if it has a carryover effect. Vic is a strong and aggressive baserunner. And that's a good hard, clean baseball play, and that's the kind of baseball we like to play. In that moment because he's got that type of speed, he can get on the pivot man pretty quick. He keeps the double play from being turned. We're able to get a run in that case. Probably just more an emphasis and a style of baserunning that we like to use up and down the lineup. Q. We've asked you a lot about different guys coming into this team, how much does it mean for you to have David right in the middle, and everything seeming to evolve around him? JOHN FARRELL:  When he gets two home runs, things are going to resolve around him. Can't say enough about him. He's probably surpassed our expectation of number of games played. He's been so productive, which has been consistent with his entire career. It was always a matter of health. And the work he's done to maintain the health. He's the main cog in our lineup. And to build around him, leading up to him and guys that follow him in the lineup‑‑ we're capable of scoring runs in a couple of ways, but when you can score it in one swing of the bat, as he's done many times over, he's a huge threat for us. Q. What does Breslow do that makes him so effective against guys on both sides of the plate? JOHN FARRELL: He uses all of his pitches. He's got emotional control, even in some key spots. He doesn't give in, evident by the ‑‑ he wasn't going to throw a 3‑2 fastball to Longoria in that situation, representing the tying run. He doesn't panic if he has to pitch around and put a guy on base. We felt the matchup with Zobrist, we wanted to keep Zobrist on the right‑hand side of the plate. Fortunately he was able to roll it into a double play. Brez has got such a complement of pitches. He reads swings well. And I think more than anything he's not afraid to not give in. He doesn't give in. He doesn't throw a fastball in a fastball count, he can cut it, sink it. That's the main reason why he's effective against both. Q. You used the word "relentless" to describe your team. Is tonight the perfect example of that? JOHN FARRELL:  Tonight is one example of it. There's been many nights of this. And I think the beauty of our team is that they look at each night as an individual challenge, and how are we going to attack a given pitcher. We knew we had our hands full against David coming in here tonight, but they'll look for opportunities. I thought we did a great job of running the bases with some balls off the walls again. And that all goes into the mindset that's currently here. Q. Lackey had a bunch of three‑ball counts, had three walks tonight. How much did that layoff kind of affected him? JOHN FARRELL:  I thought in the first inning it might have had some effect to it. He pulled some fastballs off the plate to some right‑handers where he fell behind in the count. They pressed him. Tonight was a blue collar night on the mound. He gave us everything he had. Fortunately we were able to give him a little bit of cushion, where he wasn't making every pitch with his back against the wall. But John is such a strong competitor. Like we talked about Brez, he's not going to give in at certain at‑bats. And the bullpen picked him up as needed. Q. Koji is on a big stage, he pitches strikes. Can you talk about him. JOHN FARRELL:  Koji, I don't know, we probably lost or ‑‑ I don't know if you can continue to come up with words to describe him. He's been phenomenal. He throws a 90‑mile‑an‑hour fastball, it looks like it's got the reaction of upper 90s pitch. That split that he can do multiple things with, throw for a strike, finish a hitter off, and he thrives in moments like tonight. We've seen it time and time again, regardless if it's a three‑run lead or a seven‑run lead, when he's come in. It's one of the more comfortable innings when he's on the mound that we'll watch from our dugout. Q. Morales was warming up in the seventh, in what situation would you have brought him in? JOHN FARRELL:  If we got in a situation where there was quickly two men on base and Joyce was there, didn't want to push Koji for a six‑out save. We were just protecting against maybe a scenario that didn't unfold. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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