Let’s close out the National League Championship Series quotage from the deciding Game 6 during which the St. Louis Cardinals beat up on the Milwaukee Brewers, 12-6 setting up the World Series with the Texas Rangers starting on Wednesday.
Here’s the quotage.
Notes from MLB Postseason on TBS – October 16, 2011
The St. Louis Cardinals win the NLCS, 4-2TBS MLB on Deck
Matt Winer (host) and Dennis Eckersley, Cal Ripken and David Wells (analysts)TBS MLB reporter Craig Sager interviewed St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jason Motte prior to the game
Motte on his role for the Cardinals: “I just have to make my pitches and execute. And be ready to let the rest happen. I really try not to think about it too much I just believe in the stuff that I have and (try to) be confident.”Motte on facing Milwaukee Brewers power hitters Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun: “I will just try to get them out. If I face them, then we are going to attack them. We have to get ahead of guys like these; we can’t fall behind. The goal in pitching to anyone is getting ahead and if you fall behind, especially with these guys, you have to throw a strike otherwise these guys can hurt you.”
Motte on St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa refusing to name him the closer: ” It doesn’t matter to me (on not being named the closer) or when they bring me in. If the phone rings and my name gets called for the first inning or the fifth inning it doesn’t really matter. I just look at it as it’s my job to go out there and get these guys out and that’s what I am going to do.”
Winer on the St. Louis Cardinals stats at Miller Park: “All their numbers across the board are better here.”
Eckersley on St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Edwin Jackson: “This is a power arm. He throws the ball well. This guy has been on the big stage. He had an elimination game against the Phillies. He’s played well for the Cardinals. He’s got nasty stuff. Smoltz said it right, you have to act like the closer every inning out there. He’s pitched so well for the Cardinals this year. ”
Wells on Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum’s demeanor during batting practice: “He was loose, he was happy-go-lucky and I like that sign in a pitcher. Especially when most guys are uptight in a potential elimination game. He just has to go out there and play and trust his stuff.”
Eckersley on St. Louis Cardinals Jason Motte: “His confidence is sky high, but he hasn’t faced Fielder and Braun, and sometimes when you are the closer sometimes that’s the way it works out. You pitch who they tell you to pitch against but it takes nothing away from this guy’s confidence, and this guy is the closer, and it couldn’t come up at a bigger time because he is totally unaffected by it and Tony loves him.”
TBS’ Sager interviewing Milwaukee Brewers’ second baseman Rickie Weeks on the possibility of playing in the World Series with his childhood friend Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder
Weeks: “It feels great. This is what you dream of when you are in the backyard playing rag top baseball. We felt pretty good right now. Obviously we would like to be in a better situation, but we need to perform tonight and go out there, have fun and win a ball game.”***** ***** ***** ***** *****
St. Louis Cardinals (12) @ Milwaukee Brewers (6) – The St. Louis Cardinals win the NLCS and advance to the World Series
Announcers: Brian Anderson (play-by-play) Ron Darling and John Smoltz (analysts) with Craig Sager reportingAnderson on the Brewers going into Game 6: “The Brewers are playing without a net. It’s either win or go home.”
Smoltz on St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols when at bat: “That has been one thing in this series; Albert has had a good series but when Milwaukee executes its pitches and even throw pitches off the strike zone, he hasn’t been as patient as in the past so he can be pitched to.”
Darling on pitching in the postseason (speaking of the three-run homer Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum gave up in the first inning to St. Louis Cardinals David Freese): “No worse feeling for a pitcher. You know what’s at stake. You know what you have to come out and do. You are maybe one pitch or one play away from being okay. The postseason can be awfully cruel.”
Darling on St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Edwin Jackson: “Edwin Jackson now has the luxury to go after hitters more aggressively. He has a good fastball and a good slider.”
Smoltz on the number of times St. Louis Cardinals’ Jackson has been traded prior to coming to St. Louis: “He has appeared in five different uniforms – his own version of the Jackson 5.”
Anderson on the number of home runs hit early in Game 5 after Milwaukee Brewers Rickie Weeks hits a home run in the bottom of the second inning: “It’s a home run derby tonight here at Miller Park!”
Anderson on the number of home runs early in the game: “Five home runs already in this game and we are only in the second inning. Our pitchers up in the box, Darling and Smoltz, are a little gun shy up here.”
Darling on the Milwaukee Brewers at home: “They just don’t panic here – the Brewers. They know they play well. They know they are going to score runs. They know they can pop the ball out of the park. They had to have been shocked to have given up those four runs in the first, but they’ve done it here all year long.”
Darling on one of the Brewers relievers leading the the team in strike outs: “You know it’s been an amazing series when pitchers have not had their way, but (Chris) Narveson leads the Brewers staff with strike outs. You would never predict in this series that that could be the situation.”
Smoltz on Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach: “In his second year, as the hitting coach for St. Louis, Tony La Russa said that the best thing that he (McGwire) does is he remembers that it was hard to hit the baseball and he is good not only with the mechanical parts of the swing but also very, very good at understanding his hitters.”
Darling on Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder: “Doug Melvin, the Milwaukee Brewers general manager said he would like for the Brewers to go to the World Series and win it and turn the card on Fielder and have a chance to sign him and keep him in Milwaukee.”
Anderson on St. Louis Cardinals Pujols and Milwaukee Brewers Fielder: “It’s going to be an interesting off-season with the two first basemen in this series; Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder. Two guys you have a hard time imagining them in uniforms other than the ones they are wearing.”
Darling on La Russa’s involvement in the game: “He loves postseaon baseball. He is in it from pitch one and there are certain things you do during the postseason that you would never do during the regular season. Like how he has handled his bullpen this series.”
St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa spoke to TBS in between innings on the events of last night’s game
La Russa: “It’s unusual because you usually don’t get here without good starting pitchers, and it’s really a freak thing and really not fun to do this to a starting pitcher. They have gotten us here, both of our clubs, and to struggle like this is tough to watch, but that’s how the game is being played.”Darling on the home runs this game: “You know there’s been a lot of home runs when you can start analyzing the pitches that the home runs were hit off of. Six of them in this game already.”
Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke spoke with TBS in between innings on what he thinks is the way back for the Brewers last night
Roenicke: “Certainly not the way we expected it to go. It was tough on the starting pitching and offensively we are doing a nice job, so hopefully we keep it up and are able to come back here.”Roenicke on Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum: “It was a tough game for him tonight. We expected great things from him, so did he, and it’s been tough with the way things have been going for us this game.”
Smoltz on the Cardinals play this series: “It has been a series where, as Tony (La Russa) said, he didn’t intend for this but it really has been magical what these guys have been able to do. He’s pushed the right buttons and the guys have delivered.”
Anderson on the night’s multiple home runs: “It has been a night full of home runs in this game.a record-setting night for home runs already six combined which is a postseason record and all of them came in the first three innings.”
Smoltz on Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun’s hitting capabilities at Miller Park: “Braun can cover every part of the park. His power is not limited to one section.”
Smoltz on the crowd’s reaction to Fielder’s potential last at-bat as a Milwaukee Brewer: “There could be a big reaction from the crowd in what could be Fielder’s last at-bat.”
Smoltz on the St. Louis Cardinals potential play against the Texas Rangers in the World Series: “I think Holliday is going to be key. You know what (Albert) Pujols is going to do, but Holliday against the four starters for Texas are all left-handed and very talented. The right-handed hitters are all going to have to come through.”
Smoltz on the Cardinals this year: “This team, 10 ½ back…they get to the playoffs and everything they decided to do whether it was a bullpen choice or pinch-hitting choice, everything came up roses.”
TBS’s reporter Craig Sager interviewed St. Louis Cardinals Matt Holliday following the game
Holliday on the Cardinals road to the postseason: “We had a lot of adversity along the way, but we got in, and played really well and we are on our way to the World Series. We are hitting the ball really well.”Holliday on Freese giving the team a big lift this postseason: “I’m not surprised. He is a good kid. He’s battled serious injuries, but to get a chance to watch him grow as a person and as a player and come out here as a player, I am super-impressed.”
Sager interviewed St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols following the game
Pujols comments on when he thought this team might make it to the World Series: “You know what, it was when we got to the postseason. Anything can happen. We tip our cap to the Brewers. They played hard. They never gave up. They had a great year. Tonight’s our night and we need to enjoy it. But we got another step to climb and we have big games to play.Pujols on what changed and why this team was so good in the postseason: “It was our bullpen that pretty much got us into the postseason and we started swinging when we needed to and picking each other up. That’s why we are here.”
Bill Giles honorary National League president, presenting the NL Championship trophy to the Cardinals president Bill DeWitt: “This year was particularly remarkable. You have a never-say-die attitude great character a testimony to you.”
Bill DeWitt, president of the St. Louis Cardinals on this year’s team: “Our guys never gave up and we said let’s win as many games as we can and see what happens and you see what happened. I commend the Brewers for a great season and a great series.”
John Mozeliak the St. Louis Cardinals general manager on the team’s late-season success: “Right before we made the trades, we had a lot of people working together to make things happen. We always thought we had a chance, if we could ever get it going. It took a couple of weeks to get it going but once it did, we took off.”
Mozeliak on La Russa’s management of the team during the postseason: “Every button he pushed worked. I have been with him a long time and know how prepared he is. I knew we had a chance.”
Winer speaking with St. Louis Cardinals MVP David Freese on when he felt like everything clicked and why during the NLDS: “That’s the crazy thing about baseball. You just keep working hard and you get hot every now and then and it was a great time. What our bullpen did, they are the ones that really deserve this award (MVP). They are the reason why we won.”
Anderson on St. Louis Cardinals Freese and his accomplishments and his thoughts on the bullpen: “David Freese is now a star. But even Freese gave credit to the tremendous effort by the bullpen.”
Darling on the St. Louis Cardinals bull pen: “The bullpen was just unbelievable. It’s hard to believe they could pull it off being out there so many innings.”
Smoltz on the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals match-up: “This is a year where if you know anything about baseball, throw it out the window. For the Cardinals, they really are going to have to get more out of their starters. It’s going to be an intriguing match-up because I think we are going to see some really different arms coming out of Texas.”
TBS reporter Craig Sager interviewed Chris Carpenter after the game
Carpenter: “We have been playing hard all year long, we had some ups and downs, but the last two months we put it together and started winning. You have to give credit to everyone in this clubhouse from top to bottom. It was a lot of fun.”***** ***** ***** ***** ****
Inside MLB
Matt Winer (host), David Wells, Dennis Eckersley and Cal Ripken (analysts)Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder on taking off the Brewer jersey for maybe the last time: “I had a couple of clear-the-throat moments, but it was alright. I mean, I love these guys, I have been playing with most of them since I was 18. This organization has been great to me and it’s been good.”
Wells on Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder and what he will do next: “He still has a long career to go. This kid is going to be a great player, he already is now, his legacy is going to continue no matter where he is. He is a cool cat.”
Eckersley on Fielder: “He is unbelievable, he is a classy kid. He could light it up, and he lit it up for six years in Milwaukee.”
And that will do it. Thanks to Turner Sports for the press releases throughout the MLB Postseason. Job well done. Much appreciated and we’ll do it all again next year.
