FREDI GONZALEZ
On the first loss of the season
“We had some opportunities but we didn’t get another run. They came out of the bullpen and matched up against us. We came from behind twice, had some chances. Woody (Alex Wood) he battled the first couple innings then he settled down a little bit. It’s the old saying, you can’t walk people. You walk people after we score a run and tie it, get yourself behind the eight ball and somebody is going to face somebody they are not supposed to. It’s not a real comfortable feeling walking the bases loaded facing (Daniel) Murphy with a kid (Andrew McKirahan) who hadn’t thrown a pitch in the major leagues. And he did a terrific job. I’m really, really excited watching his inning and two-thirds work. That was nice to see, especially bringing him in with the bases loaded and one out.”
On having to use Juan Jaime in the eighth
“Well, it’s not like it’s the first time with Jaime. It’s one of those things that he’s got a good arm but it’s just putting it all together. Today we were behind the eight ball. That happens when you win five days in a row and you are using (Luis) Avilan, using J.J. (Jim Johnson) a couple days in a row, (Brandon) Cunniff. So we went with what we have. Other than that eighth inning and walking two guys, I thought everything went to script. Not get on the negative and I won’t because it is what it is. It’s nice to see Andrew did what he did. That’s a nice bright spot for him.”
On Jonny Gomes beating out double play in second
“That is stuff that you can’t measure. He beat the double play and all of a sudden we kept the rally going Simmons got to the plate and got two runs and we end up tying the game. Those are the things that are hard to measure, hard to quantify but the baseball people, the baseball fans see it, your teammates see it. It’s all good.”
On Braves starter Alex Wood
“He battles, he competes. We talked about a couple days ago about his preparation, his competitiveness. Today he didn’t have his good stuff until the last couple innings but he competed and gave your team, on a night he wasn’t on, a chance to win the game. You leave the game after 6 2/3 with three runs, I think you’ve done your job.”
ALEX WOOD
On if he felt like he settled down after the first inning
“No. It was a battle the whole day. Looking back on it, not having my best stuff, these are the type of games that separate between good and great seasons. I didn’t think I really had much of anything from start to finish. My goal is to give us a chance to win each time out and I felt like I was competitive enough to where I gave us a chance to do that. From that standpoint, I was happy; the rest of it, not so much.”
On competing without best stuff
“I’m always going to compete. The other part (is) trying to figure it out throughout the game, doing whatever it is I need to do to go as deep as I can when I don’t have my best stuff. To an extent I felt like I did that. There were a few I wish I could have back and done a little bit more to keep the streak going. From that standpoint, I was happy. Not so much with us getting our first loss in my second start of the year.”
On the Mets scoring all of their runs against him with two outs
“That’s just bad baseball, bad pitching by me. When you get two outs, especially early in the game, you can’t get yourself into trouble like that. That’s frustrating for me because that’s just Baseball 101. But you know, nothing you can do about it.”
On Mets starter Bartolo Colon’s RBI single in the fourth
“Fastball, broke his bat. That’s always fun.”
JONNY GOMES
On if he’s seen the attitude he wants from the team so far
“Yeah. Six games in, we get our first loss on an 0-2 sac fly. I don’t think we were all banking on 162-0. You win some games, you lose some games. We play the game right.”
On pleading with his home run ball to stay fair
“I was doing everything I could to bring it on the fair side of the pole.”
On Mets starter Bartolo Colon
“I was his teammate in 2012. Pretty much anytime you go against him it’s, ‘How is he doing it?’ Both sides of the plate, sink, cut. He does a heck of a job and has a blueprint how to pitch with your fastball.”
On the season so far
“We respect the game, we play the game right, we pick each other up. I think we will be all right.”
ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On winning five of first six games
“We put a lot of balls in play. We gave ourselves a chance even though we fell back. We are still playing good defense. Pitching has been pretty good. There are a lot of things to be positive about.”
On Alex Wood
“He competed. He clearly was not hitting the spots like he wanted to. He was falling behind. But he stayed in there. He made some pitches and he minimized the damage.”
On being contact hitters
“That’s the kind of team we’ve got. We’ve got guys who can put the ball in play. We have a decent chance with the pitching, (it) gives us a chance in every game. We’ve just got to find holes.”
