**ALEX WOOD
On his finger
“Throwing my spiked curve ball, the skin split open on the top. It wasn’t really bothering me, it was just bleeding and making it slick when I threw a couple of breaking balls there at the end. Nothing crazy, nothing to serious.”
On his day ending early
“My pitch count was a little high with a few walks. Of course I wanted to stay in there. Anybody up here in any kind of situation would want to go out there for another inning. It was good to get back out there and start.”
On his performance
“I would have liked for my pitch count to be a little lower. It was my first time out there in a couple of weeks and I thought my stuff was pretty good. I thought I competed well. It definitely felt like being back at home. It was definitely a good experience. Unfortunately, we couldn’t come out on top, but hopefully we’ll get the second win today.”
Did finger affect pitch selection?
“A little. When I faced those lefties in the third, I probably would have thrown a breaking ball or two to them. But we decided to stick to the change up and if we really needed a breaking ball, we would have thrown it.”
On whether he was shaking off a little rust (the two walks)
“My glasses were bothering me a little bit today and they fell off a couple of times. I finally just put them in my back pocket. I was right back to pumping strikes and getting ahead. I’m still waiting on my Oakley’s to get here, they’re taking forever to get here. I’m also going to try some contacts and see how that works. It’s definitely been an adjustment for me with those glasses and I think it has affected my command a little bit.”
On heat and humidity and the glasses
“I was sweating so much. On my follow through, when I was trying to be aggressive towards the plate, they’d shake. They fell off once or twice.”
On if finger callused over when he was starting in minors
“When I was starting, I was throwing 10-15 breaking balls in a game. You’re throwing it so much that it kind of stays hard on the top of my finger. Now that it’s been a couple of weeks, it’s probably gotten a little soft just because I’m not throwing as much as I was before. It’s one of those things that you have to keep an eye on and watch it, but it shouldn’t be a big deal at all.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
Similar to last night with your best at-bats late in the game?
“We had some good at-bats. We had some of the right people up there and scored some runs but we just didn’t score enough. I thought Woody did a nice job, giving us whatever he could give us, three innings, 75 pitches, and the bullpen held them. That eighth inning we gave them a couple runs by walking some people and hitting a couple of guys. Hindsight is 20-20; that kind of comes back and bites you. Who knows, in those situations. I know Carp didn’t want to do that. We had some opportunities there late in the game we just couldn’t bloop one in there.”
If not for the callous, could Wood have stayed in longer?
“Well it was borderline and it was a combination of the two. And it wasn’t a callous, it’s a cuticle on top of his finger, throwing his knuckle-curve. He cut it a little bit. But I think he did a nice job.”
On how many pitches he could have gone if not for finger
“We were 75 to 95 (limit), right around there. Seventy-(three) in three innings, that’s a lot of pitches for a kid who hadn’t started in three weeks now.”
On how Wood felt after his stint
“Good. He felt good. Again, he did a nice job for us.”
On being midway through longest day most of you have had (in pro ball)
“It’s a baseball game. Nobody is asking us to go put on a roof, or anything, or patch up the interstate. It’s a baseball game. I know it’s a long thing but it’s still fun. You forget the night before when you’ve got situations like it came up tonight with the bases loaded. Those things are fun. Now we take a couple hours’ break and run them back out there again.”
On feeling good with Mac pinch-hitting against a right-hander
“Yeah, the whole time, you felt good with all those guys, even B.J. there at the end against Parnell. Any of those guys can run the ball out of the ballpark. You feel pretty good, all the pinch-hitters we sent up there, Chris Johnson against Parnell in the eighth. You felt pretty good also. He made some pitches.”
Did Chris Johnson hesitate before he threw on play when run scored?
“I’m not sure. It was first and second, 3-2, two outs and runners are running and I think he was trying to force that guy out at second base, knew he had no chance to try to reset and go to first. That was the only run that scored off of Woody. Not only that, it kept the inning going. He probably ended up throwing another 10 or 12 pitches.”
Did cuticle open up in about the second inning?
“I think it was maybe the end of the second and the whole third.”
Easy to what all the fuss is about with Harvey?
“He’s pretty good. He threw his slider any time for strikes in any count, fastball commanded it all over the place and elevated it. He’s pretty good. Good athlete. Swings the bat OK also.”
**DAN UGGLA
On the loss
“We’re not always going to come from behind but we made a push and just came up a little bit short.”
On Matt Harvey
“He’s got electric stuff. He was throwing everything for strikes today. He was working both sides of the plate. His fastball’s 95 to 100 (mph). Tip your cap to him.”
Having come from behind so many times, you guys have confidence could do it again, down 4-0 after seven?
“Yeah, 100 percent. Even though we’re down 4-nothing — we’d have liked to have been down two, but it didn’t work out that way – we still feel like we have a chance, especially when we’re at home. For some reason, we’ve had a lot of magic playing at home so far this year. That’s the way we feel and the way we think.”
Fatigue a factor at all after late game Monday?
“Dude, we’re tired every day. You can’t try to put blame on it that we had such a late night. Because they’re going through the same thing. We’re both playing in the same weather, same rain delays, same whatever. So you strap it on and you go.”
Harvey probably not the guy you’d hand-pick to face in day game after last night, though?
“Definitely not. At the same time, it doesn’t matter, that’s not in our hands. You’ve got to strap it on and compete. That’s why these guys are the best in the world at what we do. It’s not always about getting an easy draw, because I don’t think in this game there is an easy draw. Everybody’s here for a reason.”
On what he thought about Wood’s first start
“I thought he did great. He battled. Threw a lot of pitches in three innings but he battled. Never gave in to anybody and thought he showed a lot today. I’m sure you forget just like I do he’s less than a year removed out of college or right at a year, so it was fun to watch him get out there and get a start. I think he’s got a bright future here.”
What he said to Wood going out to the mound before Wright’s AB in third inning:
“I just said don’t just lay it in there. David’s a guy who’ll make you pay in any count, so be smart.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On hesitating before making throw (Byrd safe at first, run scored from second)
“I just didn’t have it in my hand. I made sure I had a good grip before I fired it in there. I wanted to make a play, but I didn’t have it in my glove.”
**JASON HEYWARD
On Matt Harvey
“Obviously he had it going today. We were able to get his pitch count up, to where he wasn’t going to go nine. Put up some good ABs there late and gave ourselves a chance to win. That’s all you can ask for.”
On staging another late rally
“You don’t ever want to quit until it’s over. We’ve got the type of lineup that can put up a lot of runs in a hurry, just the way we did today. We fought back, hung in there. You like to not give teams extra runs, if you can. It makes that comeback that much easier. But sometimes it happens.”
**DAVID CARPENTER
On command problems in eighth
“Just trying to make a few pitches, especially with the bases loaded. Just wasn’t able to execute. It’s even more frustrating knowing we’re going to be able to put up some runs, and if I’m able to hold them where they’re at, or only give up one, we’re either still playing or we’re here in the clubhouse with a win. But it’s something you’ve just got to battle through. It hasn’t happened too often. Lately I’ve been able to pitch out of some situations. But today was a little bit tougher.”
Tough coming back to pitch a second time in 15 hours?
“It’s the first time I’ve ever done it, but it’s part of being up here. It’s part of being a big-leaguer. You’ve got to be able to prepare for that kind of stuff. It’s not always going to be the easiest role, but it’s something that you’ve got to try and prepare the best you can for. I did as much as I could, got as much rest as I could, came in, did my normal routine. Today was just a little tougher to get the job done.”
