AARON HARANG
On if Marlins being more aggressive on his fastball this time:
“Yeah. Man, five days ago to now that was a totally different team. I wasn’t feeling as sharp as I normally do. I don’t know if just a little off because we had the two extra days off this week, that’ll throw you off a little. You’ve got to throw a couple bullpens in the middle of the week instead of just the one but yeah I felt like I wasn’t as sharp and they looked like they were taking some comfortable hacks there.”
On if more frustrating given success he had last time out vs. Marlins:
“Yeah. I had them totally baffled at home. They were in there, they were comfortable today, and yesterday too against Woody. We just got to look forward to tomorrow, let Ervin go in there and do his thing, move on and get ready for the next start.”
On if tighter strike zone:
“I just felt like I wasn’t sharp early on, so I was falling behind in the count and having to come back a little bit more to the middle of the plate than I would have liked to so yeah, when you fall behind, it just puts you in a hole right away.”
On walking off the mound, said something to Gattis, on if that was referring to umpire:
“No, we were trying all sorts of stuff to figure out a game plan against them. I don’t know if, it was just trying to keep them off-balance and yeah it was nothing towards anybody. it was just more of a general conversation.”
On more like a “can you believe this:”
“Yeah it was more just a baffling, like, where were these guys last week. They’re way too comfortable. It seemed like they were all hitting like Ted Williams today. What can you do? You’ve just got to look forward to the game tomorrow and I’ll just start preparing for next week once we get home.”
On if experience helps you to move past it:
“Yeah it happens. It didn’t feel as sharp as normal. That’s a big change when you go from being on five days to all of a sudden you’re on seven days, back to a college rotation again. But it just happens because the multiple off days in one week, and instead of bumping everybody around and kind of screwing everybody up. We were on a roll and you’ve got to keep everybody going. And you want to keep throwing the same guys out there because everybody is doing well, so you can’t make those adjustments and you’ve just got to roll with it and figure it out. Yeah, just get ready for my next start. Throw my bullpen in a couple days and try to get back to where I was.”
CHRIS JOHNSON
On the loss:
“We just got our butts whipped the past two nights, plain and simple. There’s no really other way to describe it. We’re getting beat on every aspect, not just Eovaldi and Fernandez. We’re big league hitters. We should be able to put some runs against these guys. They’re really, really good but at some point, especially with them being within our division we’ve got to try to figure them out. We’ve got to try to put some runs on the board. There’s no excuse for it. We just got our butts whipped.”
On if saw anything different from Eovaldi early on:
“They were just on balls. They were swinging the bat well. They were spitting on some stuff that was off the plate, and they were waiting for that ball over the plate and they didn’t miss it. They didn’t miss many balls tonight. Just a tough night for Harang. He’s done a great job and this one he’ll probably just forget about and come back the next time and try to pick up where he left off before this.”
On Harang’s frustration coming off the mound:
“I’m sure it was a bunch of stuff. He was getting hit around a little bit, probably missing on some pitches, missing over the plate. I’m sure that’s why he was frustrated. That’s normal.”
On Marlins better than last year, if worry giving them some confidence:
“We’re still confident here. I think we think that we can beat anybody. We just got our butts whipped a couple nights. It’s really all you can say. It’s going to happen. We’re going to lose back-to-back games again at some point this season. We’ve got to come out tomorrow, I think tomorrow is a big game, and try to get one and get out of here. But we’re a pretty confident team. I don’t think too many guys in here get too down or think somebody’s better than us.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On off night for Harang:
“He’s got to be so perfect and I think early on in the game he wasn’t getting any corners. Not that you’re begging for that but he pitches off the plate a little bit and he wasn’t getting those pitches and he had to throw the ball over the middle of the plate and obviously in hitter’s counts, and gave up a big number. But it’s one of those sometimes you match up well against a team and sometimes it can help you if you have a little different umpire behind the plate. And I’m not blaming the umpire or anything but sometimes you get a guy that gives you an inch here, an inch there, or a pitch here, a pitch there. And it’s a little different ballgame.”
On Harang being frustrated coming off the mound:
“Yeah, I think so. He’s a competitor. Nobody likes to give up runs and get hit around but I fully expect him to be back here tomorrow, be ready to go, be ready to get his next start, be professional about it and be ready to go.”
On if frustration was aimed at strike zone:
“No I don’t think so. I think it was just the frustration that he was getting (hit). I’m saying that a pitch here, a pitch there and then all of a sudden he gets into better counts. I think he was just frustrated because the guy is a competitor and as a pitcher pitching pretty good, you don’t like giving up six or seven runs that way. I’m just saying from my observation he didn’t get a couple pitches here and there.”
On Eovaldi doing this against others too:
“He’s pretty good. They’ve got a good core of young pitchers with some big power arms and today he had a couple of different pitches working. He kind of frustrated us offensively.”
On Justin Upton finishing up good month:
“Justin, I think first thing tomorrow afternoon when I see him, I’m going to say it’s still April. April is going to stick around for at least another couple months. I’ll keep reminding him every day ‘It’s April. It’s April.’ Because he’s had some gigantic Aprils in his career. Tomorrow afternoon it’s still going to be April for Justin Upton.”
