Quotes from Freddie Freeman, Mike Minor, Justin Upton and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Monday's victory over the Nationals.
FREDDIE FREEMAN
On contributions from everywhere:
“Mikey went out there and pitched great like he has been doing. Our bullpen came in and shut it down. We strung a couple things together in the innings against Strasburg and Justin came up huge with the big home run in the eighth off Clippard. It was a team game tonight.”
On going for the ambush vs. Strasburg, so don’t see breaking stuff:
“Oh, I just swing and hope for the best. That’s pretty much my approach off anybody. I don’t think I did anything different. With guys in scoring position, I’m not looking to walk against that guy, I’m trying to get a pitch and luckily I was able to work it to 3-0 and then the lucky golf swing I had, the first RBI I don’t know how I did that.”
On like the hit vs. the Twins:
“Sometimes my butt can go, my upper body can collapse and somehow I can still get a ball out there but it was a huge win. They’re behind us and we made the lead a little bit bigger tonight and it’s coming in here, you’ve got a great home field atmosphere here, so to come in here and beat their ace tonight is a win.”
On not wanting to give them any hope:
“That’s what we’re trying to do. I think that’s everybody’s goal when you’re in first place, you want to step on their necks, especially when we’ve got this big of a lead. We can expand it a little bit more against the. I think we’ve set the tone tonight and hopefully we can come out against Gio tomorrow and do the same thing.”
On if would have thought 13 1/3 up at this point:
“I don’t think anybody could ever think you’re going to be 13 1/3 up in the NL East division. We got off to a great start and we treaded water through our injuries and now we’ve got everybody back and here we go ahead, so we’re all clicking right now and our pitching staff is what’s keeping us in it and the offense is starting to put up some runs now. It’s going to be a fun two months. Let’s see if we can close it out pretty quickly.”
On the view of Justin’s hot streak from on deck:
“Yeah I’ve had a pretty good view of him the last few games. He’s been unbelievable. He’s locked in. He’s driving the ball to right center. And if they leave one out (over the plate) tonight like Clippard did offspeed pitch he was able to hit a home run to left. When he’s doing that, it’s exactly what he was doing in April. That’s going to be very tough to beat us if he’s doing that.”
MIKE MINOR
On frustration with his “stuff”:
“Couldn’t throw a strike. Leadoff guy got on every inning besides the first inning I think. And it was one of those nights where I was trying to throw two-seamers just to get a groundball, for them to mishit the ball, and I kept throwing it out of the zone, and then it would be 2-0 and I’d have to throw a strike because I didn’t want to walk another guy. It was pretty frustrating. I knew it was going to be a close game. It’s a big series and we needed to win the first game, so all that goes into play of being frustrated and trying to help your team out. But really I guess I kept us in the game but a lot of that was defense.”
On if ever thought you’d be 13 ½ games up at this point:
“Obviously not. It feels good but we’re not going to let up….I don’t think it’s anything about them. It’s about us. We’ve played really well, and that’s why we’re up.”
On another step for him, not having his best stuff but team winning:
“It feels good to get a team win. Carp came in and bailed me out. To have one of your bad games and still squeeze out a win. Justin’s been heating up. Lot of guys have been heating up. Lately we’ve been kicking on all cylinders. It’s pretty exciting to see what’s going to happen next.”
On comment that he had his worst stuff of the year:
“Yeah, and anybody that was watching on the TV could tell. Lot of balls right down the middle. I was trying to manipulate stuff, get it to move. I didn’t have any strikeout stuff. I made a couple key pitches, LaRoche struck out. I got him on a curveball, got Zimmerman on a curveball, and then I got Lombardozzi to groundout a couple times on double plays, and Dan makes a diving play. Liners at Jason. Ramos hit liners. There’s a lot of stuff that helped me out.”
JUSTIN UPTON
On continuing to put together good at-bats:
“Yeah, you walk up there and relax and put together an at-bat. I think that’s kind of what everybody is trying to do at this point and that’s the only way we’re going to win ballgames without putting pressure on ourselves and going out and just try to get a good pitch to hit.”
On if can feel it click when get in a zone like this:
“I think for me, I just start seeing the ball a little bit better. I’m recognizing pitches a little bit earlier and I’m able to make those adjustments within an at-bat.”
On wanting to make a statement early in series:
“The goal every season is to win as many ball games as you can. I don’t care what kind of lead we’ve got. We’ve got to come out and win every night. That’s our goal, so at this point, every series is big.”
On trying to put something together against Strasburg:
“A guy with his stuff, you’ve got to go out and battle with him. You’re not going to get great pitches to hit but when you do, you’ve got to make sure you capitalize on them. We were able to get two runs.”
On the jump he got in fifth:
“I had a feeling it was a good time to run, and I got a good jump.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On Justin Upton:
“He’s swinging it pretty good right now. We played a hell of a ballgame all the way to that point and then he just gives us a lift, hit a home run. I couldn’t begin to tell you. Player of the game, Simmons throwing Ramos out at the plate early in the game. Mac catching that flyball up against the screen there with a man on third base. Carpenter coming in and getting five outs. Lot of good things happening.”
On Minor grinding it out:
“It wasn’t his best stuff out there, and he knew it. He just battled through it and kept us in the ballgame, and that for me is a sign of a guy who’s maturing and knows that, when you pitch 30-plus starts a year, you’re not going to have you’re A game every single time and today wasn’t his A game but he sure gave us a hell of an opportunity to win the ballgame.”
On if could have imagined being 13 ½ up this point in the season:
“No, I thought that the division was going to be a lot closer. There are still a lot of games to be played, but coming out of spring training, we felt that we had a pretty good club. We had our share of injuries – major injuries – but it seemed like the guys have rallied around that and picked up and done a pretty good job so far.”
On bullpen not giving up earned run to Nats:
“We’ve got a bunch of guys in the back end of the game that you can mix and match. You give Kimbrel a breather after going three in a row and you feel comfortable, Walden has done it in Anaheim. You’ve got two left-handers to get people off. You give Scott Downs a breather and Avilan comes in and does a good job. Carpenter has been evolving into that late-in-the-game type guy which is good to see. You’ve got Ayala with some experience. We can do some stuff in the back end of games.”
