Quotes complied by Michael Cunningham and Matthew Bain
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Shelby Miller’s season
“From my perspective, even when he pitched in St. Louis, I thought he was a pretty dominant guy. I think he’s just finishing being polished here by Roger (McDowell). Here’s a guy that commands his fastball. Today it wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen him command his fastball but this guy competes. He gave us every opportunity to win the ballgame today against a guy who is pretty darn good there in the other side, Cole Hamels. We had a baseball game going for us. We had the right guys at the plate there in the ninth inning. We just couldn’t get the ball deep enough into the outfield to score a run and then we win the game and sweep the series. Nevertheless, we go 4-2 on this home stand. We are playing good baseball, pitching the ball well. We go out to Milwaukee on the road trip to hopefully finish off the first half with a couple more series wins.”
On Miller competing without best stuff
“You saw him kind of just missing some pitches in the strike zone and getting his pitch count up but he competed. He competes. He grinds out every at-bat they throw at him. He also fields his position, that play he made on the bunt in the seventh inning was tremendous. He was sharp. He did his job. Nine times out of 10 we win that game with those guys at the plate (in the ninth).”
On if Miller might get frustrated with lack of run support
“I think he’s OK. He’s a straight professional. There is always one guy on the staff that doesn’t get any run support, and there is another guy that has a 4.00 ERA but his record is 10-1 because that night we happen to score a lot more runs.”
On if he’s looking forward to Miller being selected for the All-Star game
“Yeah, I’ve got my fingers crossed that somebody will call and give him an opportunity. I think he lines up perfectly to pitch in that All-Star game. Hopefully somebody calls and gives him a chance.”
On the Phillies winning it in 10th inning
“Again, the bottom of the ninth was the key to the whole game there. We punch one through the infield or pop one out a little deeper than it was we win the game and the 10th inning doesn’t even come to exist.”
**SHELBY MILLER
On his start
“Everything was pretty good. Mechanically I didn’t feel my best, though. It was weird. It was kind of a weird start. But I came back in after the first couple of innings and A.J. (Pierzynski) and Rog (McDowell) adjusted me a little bit and I got back to throwing pretty normal. All in all, we played a good game. It was a tough loss. Would have loved to have this one but at the end of the day we put this one behind us and move on to the next.”
On if he’s OK with no run support
“Absolutely. Whether we win 1-0 or 8-0 I just hope we win at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter who’s pitching, who’s in the lineup—at the end of the day as long as we win that’s all that matters. We didn’t win today and looking forward to going into Milwaukee and hopefully win a couple games there and then so on. We’ve got the team to do it. I’ve said it the whole year. We are talented, no doubt about that. We are chasing the Nationals. We’ve got the team to get into first place and hopefully do something special.”
On if he gets frustrated with run support
“That’s part of the game. You are facing Cole Hamels, a guy who has had a lot of success in the big leagues, the ace of the Phillies, a great pitcher. I’m trying to go out there and just pitch. Whether we score eight runs or one, we are just trying to win. Everybody on this team is competing until the very last out. There’s no doubt about that. There is no doubt in any of our minds that we are playing hard and playing our guts out. At the end of the day, it’s a loss. That’s what goes in the record book. Hopefully we get back on track in Milwaukee and win some games.”
On if he’s looking forward to All-Star selections
“Yeah, you are always seeing who is going. It’s not something I am going to really go out of my way to see. If you get told you make it, you do. At the end of the day it’s just another day. I’m not going into tomorrow looking forward to that kind of stuff. I’m looking forward to playing baseball and cheering my teammates on.”
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On the offense struggling
“That’s a good pitcher. Shelby threw good. Their pitchers did a great job. They held us off. We didn’t score any runs. They ended up putting some runs on the board and got away with the win.”
On what makes Hamels effective
“His stuff. His experience. He works well with (Carlos) Ruiz. They know how to mix pitches up pretty good. He spots up, too. He’s the complete package.”
On if he likes where the team is
“Not exactly. We want to be above .500 for sure. We’re still not that far from first place. It’s not as close as we want but we still feel like we are within reach. It’s a long season. We’ve just got to keep fighting and get wins.”
On not giving Miller run support
“It’s a little unfortunate. He battles, man. He battles every chance he gets. He threw great today but the offense didn’t help him out.”
On if Miller has a chance to make All-Star team
“I feel like so. I feel he deserves to be there. You saw what he did today and he’s been doing it throughout the season and hopefully he earns a spot.”
