—Quotes complied by Michael Cunningham, Erica A. Hernandez and Tanya Sichynsky
**FREDI GONZALEZ**
On if he got the good start he wanted from Mike Minor
“Absolutely. I thought he repeated his delivery every time. His breaking ball got better as the innings went by. The most thing that was really visible was his arm action. His delivery was there 99 percent of the time he was able to command his fastball both sides of the plate and that’s because of his delivery. I thought it was better than a quality start.”
Good to see bench come through during the big inning?
“We kept the line moving, scored six runs. We got a chance to rest (Jason) Heyward a little bit. Ryan did in there and did a nice job. Laird, he always seems to come up every time we play him. With 17 straight games you will see the bench out there to give these guys some at-bats.”
On if he’s impressed with Laird’s consistency playing part time
“That’s what he does. That’s why he gets the big bucks to be the backup guy (smiling). Not only that, you see the offensive stuff but we have, by design, there are some times we stick him with a certain pitcher just because we want him to get through the game because of his veteran leadership, the way he calls games. He does that. That’s hard to quantify. You quantify the 2-for-4 with an RBI or something like that. But sometimes, Roger will come in and say, hey, we need Laird to matchup with this guy today. I think we’ve gone up and down the rotation with him. I think everybody has gotten a share of throwing to laird. It’s a luxury, really, to have a backup catcher who can do that.”
On the special day for the organization with Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux Hall of Fame ceremony
“I thought those guys were great. Everybody, really, was great but of course we were watching (Braves guys). Where else, other than in Cooperstown, would you want to be to watch Bobby and Greg and Tommy (than) sitting in the dugout? I don’t think other than being there you couldn’t ask to be in a better place. Everybody did a great job. What a special day for the Atlanta Braves to have those three gentlemen and what a great day for baseball to have those six quality people going into the Hall of Fame.”
**GERALD LAIRD**
On if Mike Minor attacked hitters more today
“We were actually going to talk over the hitters and I said, ‘Listen I know you’re battling some stuff out there and you’re going through some changes but let’s get back to the basics and pound the zone with everything. Let’s not really go over the hitters and just make pitches today. Throw pitches in the zone, make pitches, let’s focus on keeping it simple’ and he did that, we did that. I’m sure he probably wanted to do a little better. I thought he did a heck of a job but just something for him to build off. I though he did real well today.”
Nice to see the two-out hits coming around again for you guys?
“Oh yeah, definitely. I mean it’s one of those things where sometimes we’re such a streaky team and this is a good time to get hot, right here, push right here towards the end of July and into August and get ready for that stretch run because it’s going to be fun to play. And it’s a matter of time for this team to kind of all of us get hot.”
On his advice to Minor
“He’s been hearing things coming from every different direction. I mean this guy has gone out there and he’s a competitor and it’s bugging him so today we just said let’s keep it simple. No mechanics, let’s throw pitches in the zone, we’ll mix it up. Let’s pitch more over the plate then to corners and make these guys play. I was glad to see us get some runs on the board so he could relax a little bit and make pitches. I thought he found a little bit of a groove right there.”
Hot day but a good day for Minor to get out there and put in the work?
“You didn’t have to do much to get loose today. It was pretty warm out there. But the main thing is I’m happy—we need him to get going, he’s a big part of our success. He’s going to be a big reason why when we get to the post season, we need him to pitch like he did last year and today was a good start for that. He’s just got to take it one start at a time. Build off that and get back to where he was.”
**MIKE MINOR**
Did it feel good out there
“It felt good to get a win. And to go six innings plus is a lot better than going the three or four I’ve been going. “
On what a good start means to him
“Good right now is going deeper in the game and giving the bullpen a break. Even if I give up four and I went seven I still feel like that’s a good game.”
On if it was a good feeling to see the offense put up six runs in the third
“It’s always good to get at early lead right that. But I feel like lately it’s more of me and trying to attack hitters. I gave up the two home runs but that’s just the kind of pitcher I am. I kind of shied away from the contact lately. Today I wanted to go out and attack hitters and make them earn it.”
On if the lead allowed him to be aggressive
“That could have been part of it. We were mostly throwing to halves and thirds (of the plate) rather than corners.”
On the adjustment between starts
“There were some mechanical things we worked on in between the start in the bullpen and just playing catch. There are some different things I’ve been doing from last year to this year. We found three big things that are different and we are trying to change them but I think it’s going to take time. I feel like it’s going to be hard to do it right in the middle of the season and it’s something we’ll have to slowly adjust.”
On why he thinks he started slowly
“I don’t know. I think maybe just the slow start at the beginning (after missing time because of injury) and trying to rush and maybe not long-tossing enough and getting my bullpens in and all that. I feel like maybe it just was out of rhythm because I’m used to taking my time in the offseason and taking my time in spring training. Spring training is usually pretty long. But there was no, I don’t want to say that wrong, the way that I was rushed, but I felt like I wanted to get out there so bad that maybe I was just changing things. “
**TOMMY LA STELLA**
On today’s win
“It was big, I thought we played pretty well offensively. Got some big hits from Justin (Upton) and Chris (Johnson) kind of put the game out of reach, which was nice.”
Encouraged by Mike Minor’s performance?
“Yeah, absolutely. I really didn’t think Mike had not been throwing the ball well. I thought he caught some bad breaks over the last couple of weeks but that’s baseball. It’s going to happen. You throw some good pitches that they put good swings on but today, finally, luck was on his side a little bit.”
On if he’s feeling more comfortable at the plate
“I wouldn’t say necessarily more comfortable than I have been. I pretty much feel like I have since I’ve been here. I’ve felt comfortable pretty much the whole time. Obviously you go through lulls and everything like that but how I felt in the box hasn’t really changed.”
On making the adjustment to the Padres’ varied speeds of pitches
“Like I said yesterday, you don’t see it all that often, it’s not that common so it definitely, obviously, change of pace but I think you simplify a little bit. You’re kind of just reacting to what you see, not trying to do too much. I mean, trying to do too much on a guy like that will (mess) you up so we did a good job of that today.”
How big would it be to win this series tomorrow?
“That’d be nice. Obviously it’s been a long home stand. Gets some momentum going into the trip out west which is going to be a big one for us. So hopefully we can finish up and then head out there.”
