KRIS MEDLEN
On keeping pace with Minor and Teheran in the series:
“Obviously we have confidence going in that we can control their lineup but knowing the kind of lineup that they have and how good of a team they have – I’m trying to avoid saying we were surprised that they only scored three runs this series – but I just think it’s how good we are as a staff and the bullpen has done a great job when we’ve come out of the game too. Mike and Julio led the way and I just wanted to continue that.”
On if able to continue the work started in NY:
“Obviously I had the one inning that was pretty frustrating, giving up a couple hits to Shelby Miller. Yeah for the most part I felt like I had the muscle memory of what I’ve been working on and I wasn’t thinking about it in the game and it was just like Mac put down the number and I tried to hit my spot. Didn’t think about it, just did it, and for the most part I did. I just wanted to really focus on keeping the ball down. I did a better job of that today. I got some big double plays, two or three. D played great behind me, the whole series, and it’s one of the best teams in the National League and we played well against them all around.”
On if turn to see Andrelton just so you can watch what he’s doing:
“No, I’m already walking off the field (laughs). He’s a vacuum over there. It’s unbelievable to watch. Him and Pastronicky had that battle early on before they even got called up in spring training (in 2012) and I think Andrelton had kind of separated himself defensively in that way. One of the best shortstops in the league, if not the best.”
On if change-up is more effective with more fastball command:
“Exactly. I think I gave up a couple hits on the change-up today but it was because I think they might have been sitting on it. When I control my fastball in and out which is what I did today and make sure it’s down, it makes my other pitches a lot more effective.”
On sweep after Huddy’s injury:
“Well if you’re wondering how Huddy is, besides the ‘good job’ text messages, he said ‘Shelby Miller really ripped your (behind) just like I would.’ I think he’s feeling a little bit better than he was the other day.”
On how much of confidence builder start was:
“It’s huge. Obviously my start against the Mets, I felt pretty confident, just had the one bad inning. The two starts before that were just debacles. Not really myself, I wasn’t really (right) mechanically. After the break, I really just wanted to focus in on just being aggressive and not thinking about stuff, just getting the ball and going. And that’s what I’ve done my entire career so far and it’s kind of what I did tonight. Mac put them down and I just tried to go with him.”
On game plan against this lineup:
“When I can locate away to righties and lefties it opens up the inside because you’ve got them thinking which way you’re going to go, it’s just the chess game that you play as a pitcher. Like I said going into this game, I knew how tough how tough of a lineup they were. It’s practically the same one I faced in the wildcard game. I didn’t really change much. It just comes down to execution against a time like that.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On good pitching and defense:
“That was the common denominator all three of these games here. Good starting pitching, hell we only used three games out of the bullpen in three games. We used Avilan, Walden, and Kimbrel. We never used anybody else because our starting pitchers went deep in the ballgame and were able to get the lead and were able to turn it over to some of our top guys.”
On Simmons plays:
“Him and Danny do a great job turning double plays. They turned one today that’s got to be in the highlight films for a while. He’s an athletic guy that can go both ways, to his glove side, to his backhand, and make plays. And in shallow left field, he can go out there sometimes and catches balls.”
On Medlen bouncing back after tough month:
“It’s been a tough month for him and I saw some good stuff. His last outing he was really, really good five innings and didn’t get out of that inning but today I was confident that we didn’t have to pinch hit. We were going to run him back out there but we had to pinch hit there with Terdo. Terdo gave us a great at-bat there. First career RBI for him, nice one to be the first one there in that situation. Jason had a good series, good game. It was a really well played series against the Cardinals.”
On Hudson being a rally cry, sweeping this series:
“I think so. Nobody needs to be Huddy. Nobody needs to be the ace. Nobody needs that kind of label. Believe me, I’m going to fight that the next two months. Collectively, you circle the wagons and you go out there and get these three performances like we have.”
On showing best is yet to come with these three games:
“I thought we had a good approach today. At one point in the fourth inning he had 70 plus pitches. I think we had a pretty good approach against maybe one of the best pitching staffs collectively that we’ve faced all year, bullpen included.”
On Terdoslavich getting more comfortable:
“I know Reed (Johnson) helps him a lot. He always grabs him when he comes up here and gets ready for his pinch hit, Joey follows him up and gets him ready. Down the road someplace we’ve got to get him four at-bats, just so he doesn’t go pinch hit to pinch hit. Get a game, get him four at-bats, just so he can see some pitches.”
On what happened to Reed:
“His Achilles heel. Sometimes it flares up on him a little bit. We don’t want to make it something that is worse than it is. (Took him out) for precautionary reasons. We’ll check him out in the morning.”
On if going to stick with Heyward at leadoff:
“Yeah right now, the way we’re set up, sure, yeah.”
On holding that lineup to three runs in three games:
“Sometimes it’s a combination of good pitching and sometimes it’s just catching a team at just the right time. But I think we pitched really, really well.”
ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On having fun playing defense tonight:
“I always have fun playing defense. Personally I like defense more than I like offense. Everybody dreams of hitting that walkoff hit in the World Series and I dream of catching that ball he hit. But I enjoy hitting too but defense is my priority.”
On what pitching staff did this series:
“These guys have been great. They’ve been pounding the strike zone, throwing their offspeed for strikes, they know when to make them chase. They’ve been awesome, in and out, giving us a good chance to score runs and win games. They’ve been amazing.”
On turning a double play like that:
“I always enjoy making defensive plays and it’s a pretty neat play I thought after I saw it. It’s always fun, making those plays.”
On if Freeman trying to show you up with catch over the railing:
“That was amazing. I gotta come with something special to beat that. That was pretty cool.”
CHRIS JOHNSON
On if showing best is yet to come for this team:
“I think so. Any time a team like this comes in, and you could can beat them. They’ve shown they’re the best team in baseball all year long, so it’s a good thing for us to come in here and make sure we beat a good team like that. We’re not fully healthy yet. We’ve got to get B.J. back and get him going, hopefully we keep moving upward.”
On his impression of Miller:
“He’s great. Lot of life on his fastball, he’s got a good breaking ball. My second at-bat he threw me a couple of really good change-ups too. He battles out there, all their guys battle out there. they have a really good pitching staff. We just tried to chip away, get one here, get one there, our pitching staff, Medlen tonight, slammed the door for us.”
On what this pitching staff did against a really good lineup:
“As an offense we appreciate that a lot. That’s a really good lineup. That’s got to be one of the toughest lineups in baseball, and they went out there and shut them down for three nights. We’ve just got to keep rolling. I think we all know what they’re capable of and I think they’re all stepping up and trying to step up because we lost Huddy. They did a good job.”
On Simmons making amazing plays look routine:
“It’s awesome. He just gets anything hit to the left of me, so I don’t even have to worry about it. He’s amazing. He’s the best defensive shortstop I’ve ever played with, and he’s starting to come up with big hits for us. Came up with a two-out RBI again for us tonight. He’s a big part of our team. He’s doing great.”
On setting up the decisive inning with nine-pitch at-bat:
“The inning is not over until it’s over. You don’t want to throw any pitch away. Just grinding, trying to get on base. We knew we were probably going to have to pinch hit there if we could get something going so that’s our job is to try to flip the lineup over. And Terdo came off the bench and came up with a big hit. That’s a really big hit for us.”
On what happened to all-or-nothing power-happy lineup:
“Well hopefully that’ll come back too, but for now especially when we get deeper in the season and towards the playoffs we’re going to have to start doing those things, get guys on, get them over, and come up with big hits like that. Terdo and Simmons did that for us tonight.”
JASON HEYWARD
On facing Miller for first time:
“He throws hard, try not to miss your pitches to hit. He’s got some putaway pitches, some out pitches, you don’t want to fall behind and let him fall into a groove. So we did a pretty good job of having some ABs, putting the ball in play with some good swings.”
On ESPN commenting you were imposing leadoff hitter:
“I don’t know how the lineup is going to work out from now until the end of the season. I’m just going to try and do the best I can. I’m getting more comfortable in general, swing-wise, hitting-wise, the more you move it is a little harder to get comfortable.”
On the series victory:
“We’re going to keep trying to ride this wave, continue to be smart, continue to play defense, continue to run the bases well, put pressure on people. You’re not always going to win by large margin, especially this part of the season. A home run is not always going to win the game for us. We want to play well in tight games, play defense well, run the bases well, and come up with big hits like we have been.”
On rally with two-out hits:
“Any time you do that it takes the breath out of teams. You get two outs on the other team, you feel like you’re just one pitch away and then they keep coming up with hits. We’ve been on the other side of that as well.”
On pitchers limiting Cardinals scoring chances period:
“That’s not a team that’s going to give you games. They’re going to play you until the end of the game. You’re going to have to play well, you’re going to have to pitch well, you’re going to have to hit well, your’e going to have to be smart. They play defense every night they come out and put up good at-bats. It’s something you’ve got to be careful with. Itw as a fun series this weekend.”
