PHILADELPHIA — Braves quotes from James Russell, Freddie Freeman, Emilio Bonifacio and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Sunday’s 2-1 win against the Phillies.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On winning today against Hamels in a Braves “bullpen” game after Alex Wood scratched from start
“The whole time you’re thinking about what Bobby (Cox) says, ‘you just never know you’re going to win.’ You come in, you get four hours of sleep, constantly turning over, trying to figure out how you’re going to use your bullpen. Our guys were terrific. Russell set the tone, gave us four solid innings, and we got two with Avi (Avilan) and everybody else goes one, one and one. And we get two quick runs off of Cole and we made it whole.”
On Hamels, getting two runs early before he dominated
“He pitched great. This is the first time that we’ve even sniffed a couple of runs off of him (lately). The last time he was involved in the no-hitter (Sept. 1 at Turner Field). What a great pitcher. He gets hit in the face with a comebacker in the third inning, and he stays in the game and almost has a chance to complete the game.”
On importantance of Bonifacio’s first-inning leadoff homer against Hamels
“Get a run on the board. He is capable of shutting you down and throwing zeroes at you, which he did after that. We got two quick ones, and then we did pretty much noting the rest of the way. But our bullpen was terrific.
“Boni has shown that he’s a guy that from the right side can give you some production, and our pitching was terrific again. It’s nice to finish on a note where our pitching was normal — even though it wasn’t a normal start — and for us to win this game.”
Good feeling to at least finish with a couple of wins in a row for the first time in September?
“It’s going to be a nice flight going home. It’s a two-game winning streak, and hopefully when the (2015) season starts back around we can pick that up. Because you’re absolutely right, it’s been hard. It’s been difficult. There’s a lot of good things that happened (this weekend). It’s always nice to leave a place when we’ve won a series. It’s been a while since we won a series. It’s nice to end the season on a positive.”
On Freeman setting the innings-played record, beating Andruw Jones’ mark for a single season
“Good for him. He’s a guy that plays through some, not necessarily injuries, but everybody’s beat up when you play 162 games. And he plays through it. Good for him. That was a goal that he wanted to achieve, 162 games, and also the innings. And he got it.”
Any emotions today as the game progressed, or just felt like a normal 2-1 game?
“It didn’t feel the same because you didn’t know how the bullpen was going to react to all the innings we were going to throw at them. But once you start sniffing it, once you start sniffing that you’ve got a chance to win this game, and you’re running the Varvaros and the Carpenters out there, your guys, and then you’ve got Kimbrel in the ninth, then you start feeling that butterfly – let’s get this win. And we did. The guys did a nice job.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On playing all 162 games and breaking Andruw Jones’ Braves single-season innings-played record
“It’s an accomplishment personally. I’ve always wanted to do that and never been able to have a chance, and to stay healthy all year and be able to grind out 162 games is definitely a nice little reward at the end of the season.”
“It was a learning experience for me this year. It’s definitely something that’s going to take a lot more realization and maybe more preparation. It’s a mental grind. Maybe it’ll be a little easier (to do) next year, I don’t know.”
On getting two first-inning runs against Hamels
“He’s phenomenal. The stuff that he had going – in the first inning, he’s not usually 95 (miles per hour) with a 92 mph cutter. The stuff he was throwing in the first inning, I don’t know how we got two runs off of him. You saw him the rest of the way, he just absolutely shut us down the rest of the way.”
On James Russell
“The job that James Russell did today, and our bullpen, was just unbelievable. Russell, that’s a unbelievable job, to only be told last night that you’re starting, and to do that today and give us four innings. It’s a big deal, and it’s just nice to end on a positive note going into the offseason.”
On winning the last two games of difficult season
“Everybody’s happy that that’s the last game of the season, but everybody’s happy that we won, too. Take that into the offseason. Winning series, that’s something that we haven’t really done lately. It’s a nice win going into the offseason. Everybody seemed to be out there playing hard till the end of the season, and that’s what you want to do. You don’t want to give up, and we definitely didn’t do that this year.”
**EMILIO BONIFACIO
Been a while since you hit a leadoff homer?
“Oh, yeah. I think I hit one in 2011, like, the last series of the season.” (It was Sept. 25, 2011, for the Marlins at Milwaukee)
Today particularly important to do it against a guy like Hamels?
“Yeah, a guy that’s dialed in like that. It’s good to win the last game of the season. We finish the season with the feeling that you won the last game.”
**JAMES RUSSELL
On pitching four strong innings on short notice in emergency start
“It’s fun. I had some fun with it. They gave me a chance, might as well go out and show them what I can do, try and prove something to somebody.”
“I just go pitch-by-pitch, just try and execute the pitch that’s called, try and get quick outs and get the guys back in the dugout.”
Been a while (since 2011) since you started a game, do you feel better suited for it now than you were then?
“Yeah, I’ve always had confidence in myself in starting. It’s always something that I’ve wanted to do. It just never really worked out in Chicago. I asked them all the time, but they saw more value in me as a reliever. I was happy to get the opportunity today.”
Nice to contribute to a win in the final game?
“Yeah, it’s a fun way to end the season. It’s a shame we couldn’t make a better push for the playoffs, but we still had fun in game 162.”
