Quotes from manager Fredi Gonzalez and several players following Wednesday's loss to Toronto at Turner Field.
KRIS MEDLEN
On if could tell right away was the kind of thing that would force him out:
“I’ve been hit by a lot of balls in my life playing short and whatever else. That’s probably one of the harder ones that I’ve felt. I think I knew right away, but I just wanted to at least get through the inning. I know how tough it is for our bullpen to have to do something like they did today. They picked me up big-time. I mean I was the worst pitcher out there.”
On after trainers checked you out, what they told him:
“Nothing they can tell me. It’s all how I feel. It totally tightened up on me on the way off the field.”
On if anything you can do before next start:
“See how it feels yeah.”
FREDDIE FREEMAN
On if going on contact from third base:
“Yeah. Ball down, you go. Either he picks it up and throws to second and still maybe get one or get me out and hopefully B.J. can come through.”
On figuring you would have advantage or tough vs. patchwork group:
“It’s tough in interleague period because you’re not going to face these guys very often. He’s only in there for 3 1/3 innings and we didn’t get through the lineup twice with him. Then all of a sudden they bring in another guy and another guy and another guy. It’s hard to get comfortable when you haven’t seen guys.”
B.J. UPTON
On dealing with frustration:
“I’ve got to try to flush it as fast as possible. I don’t know. I’m just at a loss for words.”
On if going to the plate, thinking about mechanics:
“I don’t know. I’m really to the point where I really don’t know. I can’t work any harder on it. That’s definitely not the problem. Maybe I need to not pick up a bat before a game one time. Maybe I need to try that. I’m about to that point. Yeah, it’s getting frustrating. It’s been frustrating…. It’s just when you know, I know this isn’t me. Trying to find it isn’t working. It’ll definitely test you mentally, but it’s nowhere I haven’t been before, just definitely not this long and hopefully it changes. I can’t work any harder than I’ve been working. That’s the frustrating part. If I didn’t care and I wasn’t working, that would be one thing but I continue to work at it, and it’s not getting any better. I keep getting the same results, so I’m at a loss for words.”
JORDAN WALDEN
On his outing:
“I felt good and I was going to go out and attack the zone.”
On the job the bullpen did:
“That was great, Carpenter, AV, me and Cory at the end, it’s awesome how the bullpen can come in at the end and throw up zeros like that, especially in a short bullpen like we have.”
On a load with only six relievers:
“It’s tough but there are going to be days like that. It’s the game of baseball. We’ve got to live with it and do our jobs.”
BRIAN MCCANN
On the offensive struggles:
“I tip my hat to that starter tonight. He was throwing whatever pitch he wanted, wherever he wanted. And they kind of matched up the rest of the game. They threw some really good arms at us tonight and what are you going to do. I tip my hat to that guy tonight.”
On the guy Perez (2 1/3 innings, four strikeouts):
“They matched up great. They brought him in at the right time and we saw a guy throwing 98 that no one has ever saw before (Neil Wagner). And they hand the ball to the closer. They pitched great tonight.”
On bullpen picking up Medlen:
“I think you saw some guys tonight step up and their roles are going to increase obviously with Venters and O’Flaherty going down. We expect them to put up zeros.”
On Medlen’s injury:
“He got smoked right above the calf. It’s hard to do anything when you get hit right there, especially how hard he got hit.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On the bullpen:
“The bullpen did a hell of a job, they really did after Medlen gets hit in the back of the leg there, above the calf. Shut them out the rest of the way and you feel like you had an opportunity. We never got really good at-bats against their three guys that they ran out of the bullpen. Three runs for us is doable, and our bullpen did a nice job.”
On if could tell after second inning Medlen would have to come out:
“He tried to stay in there but when you get hit in the muscle that high up, it started stiffening up a little bit. There was no sense in running him out there much longer than that.”
On if it got much worse when he got to dugout:
“Lovey checked him downstairs and he said it’s just going to keep getting worse and worse. It’s a leg thing and the more you use it, the worse it’s going to get. Hopefully five days from now I think he should be able to make a start and we’ll go from there.”
On Freeman’s triple to get something going:
“Yeah, he’s swinging the bat. Two out of the four hits. He’s swinging it. You feel like you can score a run there. We just didn’t do it. Offensively we didn’t hit on all cylinders today, obviously, when you get shut out like we did today.”
On if not expect Perez to come in and do that:
“Perez did a nice job and the other guys they ran behind him did a nice job, keeping us off the basepaths and keeping us off the scoreboard.”
On if can get through with six relievers after this:
“I don’t know. We’re going to sit here and talk about it a little bit. And see what we can do.”
On if Carpenter being able to go three innings changes the decision:
“Yeah but he’s the only one unavailable, I would think, and Varvaro is a question mark. Everybody else just threw an inning.”
