Win or lose, was last night’s marathon physically and emotionally draining?
It’s the World Series. Nobody gets much sleep. The players probably get more sleep than I do. I think I went to bed at 4:00 and I was up at 6:30. It’s a fun time of year, that’s what makes it so much fun. It’s kind of exhausting, but it’s exhilarating at the same time. The two hours of sleep felt much better winning that game than they did losing that game.
Alex Gordon said he had seen Familia quick pitch the previous hitter, so he was ready for it. What are your thoughts on the quick pitch?
Again, I don’t have any problem with it. For me what pitching about is disrupting timing for the hitter. And most of the time pitchers do it with fastballs, change-ups, sliders. Some guys do it disrupting their timing in their delivery. Johnny Cueto does it. It’s just a part of the game. And I don’t think for me, I have no problem with it.
Are your hitters ready for it?
Absolutely. But, see, in those situations if you do your homework, like they all do, they know what they’re capable of doing and they’re normally prepared for it.
Is Chris Young still starting Game 4?
Yeah, yesterday our plan for Chris Young was that if we needed him we would use him 45 to 50 pitches and he would still be available in Game 4. It would be just like a short start and then coming back a day early. He hadn’t pitched in six days. We wanted to use Chris in that situation knowing that Chris would be available for Game 4, we would have Kris Medlen long for Games 2, 3, 4. So it just was a perfect scenario there.
Is Volquez still available to you?
Last thing Eddie told the guys last night when he left is, I’ll see you in New York. I expect Eddie to be there and ready to go for Game 5.
Collins talked about Perez, and said no big deal about the pine tar incident. Are you surprised it was brought up?
No, they look for any stupid thing to bring up. It’s not illegal for a catcher to get an extra grip. A pitcher is illegal. But Sal is not putting anything on the ball for the pitcher. He uses it for his own, he just taps it lightly so that he gets a better grip when he throws, which is completely legal.
Will this World Series go down to the wire like last year?
It’s going to be tough, yeah. Each and every game is going to be like it was last night, a grind, for both teams, both teams, because we are so equally matched. And we don’t expect it to be easy, by any stretch of the imagination, no.
Can you give us an update on Perez’s hand?
He’s fine.
Escobar looked like he might have rolled his ankle.
He did a little bit when he hit third base. He’s fine. Everybody is great. Everybody is good.
When did you learn about Volquez’s father passing?
I think Eddie’s wife called Dayton and told him what had happened and Dayton came right in my office and told me. At that point I got Don Wakamatsu and Pedro Grifol in the office, because they’re guys that I trust with every decision that we make, and what do we need to do here. And all of us came to the decision, we honored the family’s wishes. She didn’t want to tell Eddie. She wanted Eddie to pitch the game. He would be informed later. As soon as the game was over his wife and kids and brother, they brought them into the clubhouse, and they all went into my office and shut the door.
