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NL DIVISION SERIES: DODGERS v BRAVES


October 6, 2013


Don Mattingly


LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Three

Q.  Yesterday we had chatted a bit that you don't think of Ryu as a rookie, you don't look at him that way.  But what gives you so much confidence with A.J. Ellis behind the plate in terms of managing this game with someone who doesn't have Postseason experience?
DON MATTINGLY:  Well, just the fact that this is, for us, it's his second year, and the type of guy that he's been as far as what we try to do with scouting reports and how we're going to pitch people, and then him basically having to do a good share of the homework and basically being ready to, you know, call a game for that pitcher and for really any batter that we have up there.  He's just showed us over the last two seasons that we can count on him to be prepared and give us the best chance.

Q.  Is the batting order still the same from Game 2 other than the pitcher?
DON MATTINGLY:  Yes.

Q.  And number two, who would be, if you needed a long man, given that Chris didn't pitch as a starter in September, who would be your long man?
DON MATTINGLY:  Well, the order is the same, and depending on the situation, how early and how long, and if he gets hit on the ankle or something early, then we'd have to make a decision.  If it's the fourth, it's maybe one guy, if it's earlier than that, it could be another.  So Cappie is the guy that's had the most experience starting down there, and so he would be a guy that would hopefully be able to kind of neutralize our lefties a little bit, Freddy and McCann and them.  He's pitched good against Atlanta so, he'd probably be, if we had to go to somebody really early, it would probably be Chris.

Q.  What do you think he's stretched out to do?
DON MATTINGLY:  At that point you're not really looking to get five or six from him.  You'd be looking, depending on how he's pitching to hopefully get two or three and get you back into your pen where your guys are rested.  Then you've got a full complement of guys.

Q.  Tell me about your mental preparation, regular season versus Postseason?
DON MATTINGLY:  It's pretty much the same.  I think it's just a little more detailed during the Postseason.  Obviously, we get a lot more information coming in from our scouting department, the front office.  All of a sudden we get a lot more involved in giving us a lot more information.
Then we have to kind of be able to take that in and what we give to the players, how much do they get, how much where you start, you don't want them getting out of their norm, per se, but you do want to‑‑ the Postseason game, I think you can‑‑ you're going to always take those extra steps.  You're going to hopefully ‑‑  hopefully you're doing this all the time.
But at 162, I don't think you're as detailed as far as making sure everybody's in place in the outfield and moving a step here and two outs you're moving, just trying to do as much as you possibly can to give yourself the best chance.

Q.  Are you absolutely committed to Ricky for Game 4, or will events tonight maybe give you‑‑ are you giving yourself some wiggle room in case you're down 2‑1 after tonight?
DON MATTINGLY:  Right now Ricky is the pitcher in Game 4.  That's what we've decided, so right now Ricky is the pitcher.

Q.  Will Nolasco be an option to be a long guy today?  I know earlier in the series you alluded to the fact that if somebody got knocked out early, he might?
DON MATTINGLY:  That was basically Game 1, if we were in that situation.  It would be tough to do that today because he's pitching tomorrow.  So unless we got into a total emergency, a game that was 15, 16 inning game, I don't see Ricky pitching today.

Q.  What does Ricky need to do to pitch as he did before the last few starts rather than where he struggled there at the very end?
DON MATTINGLY:  I think Ricky is a matter of basically how he uses his breaking ball and if he's going to have command and be able to get the fastball where he wants, because he's a guy that basically is going to use a couple different breaking balls.  He can change speeds on it and can change the shapes on it a little bit and be able to use that to get him ahead in the count and get back in the count.
Really, for me, always with all our guys, you're going to be able to locate a fastball when you need to.  You need to make a pitch.  Can you locate a fastball?

Q.  How, if at all, has Clayton changed his between starts routine, just to give you that option for tomorrow just in case you wanted it?
DON MATTINGLY:  I think Clayton's pretty much stayed the same.  He threw his pen yesterday in preparation for Game 5, if we get that far.

Q.  What makes their pitcher so tough today that you guys have to face?
DON MATTINGLY:  He's a guy with good stuff.  It's going to be a matter of us being able to get him on to the plate and get him into areas that we want.  So he's a guy with basically three, you can call it four, quality pitches that he gets over.  So he's a guy that basically the guy that basically all year long has been tough.
We haven't seen him, which gives us a little bit of apprehension when you've never seen a guy.  So it will be a little bit of new territory for us.  Hopefully we can get him on the plate and get good pitches to hit and stay with our approach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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