Pregame chatter

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Managers Terry Francona and Joe Maddon, along with Red Sox projected Game 7 starter Jon Lester held Q&A's with the media before Game 6 of the American League Championship Series at Tropicana Field.

Follow the link below to watch video highlights, or read the transcripts, as provided by ASAP Sports (more transcripts will be added as they become available).

VIDEO: Francona | Maddon
TRANSCRIPTS: Francona | Lester | Maddon

Video

Francona on a Rays rivalry; starting Coco

Maddon on creating a home-field advantage

Transcripts

Terry Francona

Q: This is not meant to sound flippant, although it may. It seems like being down 3-1 and 3-2 and coming back is almost old hat for you guys, and I'm wondering if there is anything you can possibly say to your players or said to your players tonight, before the game, that they don't know, they haven't heard already, that you haven't already said.

Terry Francona: Boy, that was long (laughter). No, we don't need to meet every night. We did actually meet the other night just for a couple minutes, I think just to remind them of how we felt about them, things like that. No Knute Rockne, foam trash cans or anything like that. We've gotten ourselves into a lot of predicaments, and fortunately we've had the ability to get out of them. There's no other choice. But that gets a little big picture-ish. I think the best way to go about it is play the game at hand. We do it all year, and there's no reason to change that philosophy now because that's the only way.

Q: You've talked in the past about how the role the Fenway Park club plays with your club, and of course when you guys are on the road you have pretty supportive clubs, too, and particularly here. When you guys rally, you're going to hear a lot of cheering for your team. Does that play any role?

Terry Francona: I think maybe during the regular season more than now. In Fenway it's hard for people to get tickets, and that's a good thing. But when we go to Baltimore or when we go to Tampa, there's a lot of following during the summer. I think that's a little bit different now. They're in the playoffs. I don't know that you can just grab a ticket -- you know what I'm saying? Or make plans in July to come to Tampa. It just doesn't work like that. So it'll probably be a little bit different.

Q: Is there any reason to think that this is now a rivalry that should last for some time, looking at the competition of both clubs, and two, was there any difficulty at arriving at a lead-off man for tonight's game?

Terry Francona: The first part, we were actually just talking about that with the beat writers. It makes life in the American League East difficult. We all know what the Yankees can do and are capable of doing. The Blue Jays have an unbelievable pitching staff and some injuries that maybe kept their winning total down this year. And then all of a sudden you've got another team that comes out and wins 97 games. We beat up on each other, and it's hard.
It makes life very difficult, and it's not going to get easier because they're not going to go away. Second part?

Q: Leadoff tonight.

Terry Francona: We thought about it a little bit. Millsy and I stayed around here yesterday and we thought about a couple things, and we kept coming up with the same thing. If Coco leading off our lineup has more balance 1 through 9, if Coco can get on a couple times, get a couple hits or a walk or something, our lineup works better. That's kind of what we arrived at.

Q: Can a team have too much time off this time of year, because whoever wins the series will be playing a Phillies team that will have a whole week off.

Terry Francona: You're talking about the Phillies?

Q: Can a team playing the World Series have too much time off? Is that a detriment?

Terry Francona: I don't know. We've never had that ability. I mean, we played Colorado last year and they had a lot of time off, and I think that we hoped it would hurt them. Again, it comes back to you try to take everything and make it turn into an advantage. If you have time off, you try to use it to your advantage. If you don't have time off, you try to use it to your advantage. I don't know how else to do it.

Q: Was there a point this season where the Rays went from being just another American League East team that you played 18 times to one of your new rivals? Was there a particular game or particular home stand or a particular trip down here that sort of flipped it?

Terry Francona: You'd have to ask them that. I don't know. I mean, they were winning all year. You know, I don't think we really look at it like that. You come in and you play a series, and we had our hands full down here a lot. But when you leave, you play the next team. I don't know that I would have gotten on a plane and thought, this is the game that made them legit. We really don't think like that. They were good all year. But we just don't look at it like that.

Q: Last year in the ALCS you ended up having to bench Coco the last couple of games. This year obviously you're turning to him for a spark. What does that say about the need for both depth at this time of the year and also just riding a hot hand?

Terry Francona: A little bit of both. I mean, even taking a step further, having Kotsay. He's played in just about every game we've had, whether it's right field or first base. The one thing we try to stay away from during the season now is -- and I don't -- when I say this, this might sound flippant, I don't want it to, is like the flavor of the week, because I think you can make some mistakes doing that. I guess we just try to show up and do what we think is right and put our team in the best position to win, and sometimes -- I mean, Coco and Ellsbury are a little bit different for me this year because they both played so much, and we tried to make it where nobody ever really sat, because I think we both -- we reviewed both of them as kind of everyday players, but they both couldn't always play every day. So we have used them both a lot.

Q: What goes into your thinking of your seven, eight, nine hitters? What's gone into it in this series and kind of how you adjust per game as you go?

Terry Francona: (Joking) You know, everybody is looking at you like you're a dumb (expletive), which I'm glad. (Laughter). Everybody is looking at you like you're dumb. You know what, we're trying to have innings where we don't have quick innings and can grind it out and have balance. Some of that has to do with our bullpen. They have the ability to match up so well and then have a guy stay in there. So we're trying to have balance, and the three switch hitters certainly don't hurt. Now, a couple of them are better one way, but it certainly helps having switch hitters.

Q: You guys were looking to sign Drew. You knew he was a good player, but did you know he had, for lack of a better term, that clutch gene, that ability to do things in big moments?

Terry Francona: Well, I didn't know J.D. very well. When we were trying to sign him in Philadelphia, it wasn't the most popular thing to do, go out and talk to J.D. on the field when he was playing when he didn't sign for the Phillies. If they're going to hit him with batteries, I don't want to get the shrapnel (laughter).
He is a very good player. Sometimes, I think, the clutch situation things, when you're on good teams, you get put in those situations. If you're not on a team that's winning, hard to tell, because you're not put in those situations. But he's done a very good job. He's come up with some huge hits for us.

Jon Lester

Q: During the regular season at least when you guys play here, there are a lot of Red Sox fans who are out and cheering for you guys. I don't know if that plays any role with how one plays. Does it play any role to hear supportive noise in this building from your fans when you're not at home?

Jon Lester: I don't think it's any different than any other place we go to. I mean, really every road game for us is almost like a home game. I mean, we've got a lot of following and good fans that travel all over the country to come see us play. Yeah, I don't think it's a big surprise for us, and it's something that I guess we're kind of used to hearing, whether we're at Fenway or whether we're on the road.

Q: I know you have to win tonight before it becomes reality, but how exciting would it be to be able to take the mound in a Game 7?

Jon Lester: It'll be definitely exciting. You know, it'll be something that I think, like you said, kind of have to wait and see what happens tonight in order for it to set in, which kind of sucks, because you can't get your emotions one way or the other. You have to wait and see and hopefully tonight we can pull it off, and then come tomorrow turn the switch on and go get 'em. But it'll definitely be a lot of fun and a lot of excitement.

Q: And along those lines, how do you mentally prepare yourself for a game you may or may not pitch?

Jon Lester: You just have to do the same routine that you would if it's a regular season game. You know, I've done the same workouts, prepared the same, done everything that I normally do in between starts, and it's just a matter of mentally staying focused enough tonight and tomorrow to come out tomorrow night and pitch a good game.

Q: Before you can pitch, Josh has to come out tonight and get his job done. How confident and how excited are you to see him out there tonight?

Jon Lester: Very confident. Josh has got a great track record in the postseason. You know, regardless of his record in the postseason, as well, he's a great pitcher. He's a great competitor. It doesn't matter what he has physically tonight, whether it be the old Josh, 96, 97, or the guy that we've seen the past couple starts, struggle with velocity. But he's going to go out and compete and he's going to go out and try to execute pitches, and hopefully he can keep them at bay and hopefully we can score some runs early on and get the momentum still on our side for the rest of the series.

Q: Did you notice them approaching you any different last game, and can you take anything away from that last start?

Jon Lester: Yeah, I noticed a little bit, they were aggressive early on, especially to the fastball. You know, I don't know if they approached me any different. I just think that's their approach is to go out and get the fastball early. That's kind of what we've seen all year from them and in the past. I don't think I have to change my game plan. I think I pitch pretty well, with the exception of a couple pitches, and unfortunately those pitches hurt me pretty bad. But hopefully I can go out and execute pitches again and stay away from the big innings, like I talked about before and keep them off-balance.

Q: Was there any point where the Rays went from being a team that you face a lot, 18 times a year, to sort of your new rival?

Jon Lester: Not that I'm aware of. I mean, every team in the East is your rival. I think we have probably the best division in baseball competitive-wise. You know, to win 97, 95 games in this division is pretty tough. To be a starting pitcher, to go out and have to pitch against the Yankees three, four, five times, the Rays three, four, five times, whatever it may be, it's a tough division. So I think any time you play somebody in our division, it's going to be competitive, it's going to be like a rivalry, and something that I guess we've become accustomed to.

Q: As a starter, what does it feel like to have a closer like a Papelbon in the 9th inning for you, and what do you think has allowed him to have so much success in the postseason?

Jon Lester: Any time you have a guy like him on your team, it definitely takes a lot of pressure off, not only your starting pitcher but your offense and the rest of your bullpen. You know, he's a guy that can go out and get six outs for you if you need to. He's proven that he can do that before. He's huge for us. Any time he comes in the game, we feel like we're going to win that game, you know, whether we're up one with bases loaded, with no outs, or we're up by a lot. He's definitely helped us out tremendously. I guess what makes him so good is just his mentality. You know, he goes out and he gives you his best stuff every night, and he basically tells the hitters, I'm going to throw it here, and you're not going to hit it. And most of the time that happens.

Q: Have you ever tried to catch a pop-up here, and what is that like with the roof?

Jon Lester: I think it's fine. I mean, it's -- I don't think it's as bad as the Metrodome. I think it's pretty good. The lights get in your way sometimes, but it's not too bad.

Joe Maddon

Q: Looking at the age and even contractual situations of both of these teams, is it fair to say that this is a rivalry, that, A, has been born, and B, should continue for quite a while?

Joe Maddon: I like that. I agree with you. The way this season has played out, the closeness of the games, the intensity of the games, the fact that we've finally been able to arrive at the level of the Red Sox in regard to playing on the field, and as an organization I think we're on our way there, also. There's so many positives to be derived from the season. I think it's great for us, it's great for the game, it's great for this division to add another wonderful rivalry, so I agree with you. I think it's something that we look forward to.

Q: After the loss, is it better just to get a day off for the team, and talk about you've lost one but you've still got the lead. Is it better to just let Floyd and those guys handle coming out tonight and closing it out or do you feel that you have to say something?

Joe Maddon: No, I want to handle it like we've handled all other difficult situations this year. I thought we reacted to it properly. Our guys were upset, but they got over it rather quickly, which was good.
Coming on the plane, I liked them. Today in the clubhouse, I liked them. I do like the idea that we have enough veterans within the group now that they can take the message out there from us as a coaching staff. Of course we're going to talk to the guys in passing, in the food room, as they're just walking through the clubhouse, et cetera. That's how it should work. We've lost some difficult games this year. Of course, that one was most difficult. But I think we've trained ourselves to be able to move forward, and I really believe our guys have, and I know we're ready to play tonight.

Q: Much has been made about how Tropicana Field perhaps is not as esthetic as some other ballparks, but this is your home. What are the parts of the stadium that you like? And not just the facilities perhaps that you only see in the clubhouse, but the things that everyone can see out on the field.

Joe Maddon: Well, if you had seen it a couple years ago to where it is right now, we have done a great job, the people within the organization, to really move this along and make it appear to be more of a baseball stadium.
When we first came here, obviously it was a little bit more disappointing. I think now with all the scoreboards and the activity and I think just the presentation has really gotten a lot better.
I remember Tim Salmon told me he felt like he was on a cruise ship a couple years ago. That was hysterical. So I think we've added a lot of excitement to the building. For me personally, I think it's fair. I think it's a fair building. You can pitch here; you can hit here. It plays pretty big in center field, which I like from the pitching perspective.
Even though we have the turf, after the first year Tim Foley and I and a couple other guys went up to Birmingham, Alabama, to see their field turf at Legion Field, which was kind of cool because that's where Namath had played and Bear Bryant had coached, et cetera. So we went out and checked out the turf. This field turf here at that -- I don't even know if it's still the same -- has the same proclamation, but at that time was the only Major League field with that kind of turf, whereas 50 percent of the strands stand up and the other 50 lie flat, which I thought would permit it to be a little bit more of a slow turf field. And then furthermore, it dirts very good.

So I think it plays pretty good. It plays pretty good in spite of being turf. But overall I think it's a fair ballpark.
Yeah, we don't dig the catwalks. I don't want a ball hitting the roof and having it impact play, nobody wants that. But overall I think our people upstairs have done a great job to make it a great environment, and right now I know our fans are digging it, and it's really turned into a home field kind of thing based on the cowbells, et cetera.

Q: You and your team have not gone conservative with the running game in the postseason. You've kept the pressure on. How much of that is just staying true to what worked in the regular season and how much of that is what the 2002 Angels did in the postseason with their running game, if you remember what they did?

Joe Maddon: Yeah, I mean, this has been one of our concepts that you're seeing right now. This is no different than the regular season. It's part of the "Ray Way" of doing things. We really research it a lot. We have the kind of guys that can take advantage, too. Furthermore, all of our coaches do a wonderful job in a lot of different aspects, but Davey Martinez, in particular, with the base running and the base stealing has really had a huge impact on our guys this year.

What you're seeing is just a continuation of regular season play. And when I say that, I wanted to keep everything the same, I don't want us to take less chances or more chances, take the same chances based on pitchers' times at the plate, et cetera, what kind of a lead you're getting, what the score is in the game. All those things matter.
So we're not doing anything different. I mean, people are seeing us now maybe for the first time because we haven't been on TV that often to this point. But this is pretty much the game we've always played, and I want to continue to nurture it. I don't want us to be pigeon-holed into being one kind of a team. I believe in power; I believe in speed, and of course the pitching, the defense, I want us to be able to take advantage of playing this game properly on every level, and I think we have the personnel to do that.

Q: I want to go back to the cowbells and the loudness of this crowd, because this is one of the loudest buildings, of course, in the Majors, even when it's not 30-plus. You guys have an incredible record here, and I'm just wondering between the cowbells, the record large crowds, is this more of a perceived advantage, or is it a real advantage, do you think, and can it be a distraction?

Joe Maddon: Well, we've kind of turned it into that. Just getting the 30-plus-thousand people in here was a chore, but when they've been here, we've played pretty well. I've often thought even from day one, for anyone that might have been here from day one, in the opening press conference, I talked about we needed to turn this place into the pit. Having come here with the Angels for so many years, even though the Devil Rays at that time weren't a very good ballclub, you never liked playing here. It was just -- the environment was -- it lacked. It lacked. It was kind of a dead place to play, and it was different because of the roof, et cetera.

So I always thought when we went to Minnesota, when you went to the Old Kingdome, went to those old domes and those teams were good, you didn't want to go there. That team played well there and you didn't. So I thought that we should be able to turn this into advantage for us eventually, and the term that just came to my head was a pit, just being inside as it is, and the advantages that the nooks and the crannies, the ceiling, even though it's kind of symmetrical around the outfield, nevertheless -- the lights are low. It bothers me because of my glasses that the light reflects off my glasses all the time. I used to hate each just coaching here.
So why not take a place like this where you play the majority of your games and turn it into an advantage. And furthermore with the noise level, I love the noise level. I think it's fantastic, and I know our guys respond to it.

Q: Given that you've been in such game-clinching situations before in your career when you were with the Angels, in what ways did you feel challenged as a manager when you found yourself in that situation: Game 5, when all about -- seemed to be collapsing and you have to keep your head in that situation?

Joe Maddon: That's just what you've got to do, man. Talking about Bill Walsh, the football coach, something I had read about him that I feel really applies, when he coached a game on a sideline, in his mind's eye he was standing behind a piece of glass, and that glass would separate the emotion.
Now, there's times I'm going to tell you, man, it gets a little bit more difficult than that. But theoretically I like standing behind that piece of glass as often as I can and just try to do what the appropriate thing is at that moment void of emotion. So when I read that, I thought that really made a lot of sense. When you're playing in Fenway Park and some of these venues, my goodness, it gets nasty. The biggest thing is to attempt to think, as you would, like you and I are talking right now. But I had read that advice, and there's times it gets a little more testy than that, but what it really comes down to is that you're able to continue to think in a manner that you would like to. So the other night actually I felt okay. It's just it got away. They came back and won a game, and their big boys came through for them, and that's going to happen sometimes. Overall I just think it's wise to try to keep your emotions out of it.

Q: Was there a particular time that you can think of during the season that teams started to look at you a little bit different, look at your team as more of a rival and really think of you as a contender?

Joe Maddon: Yeah, I was telling other folks, when other managers and coaches aren't coming up and always giving, hang in there; it's going to get better kind of a comments. It's started to turn to "hey, listen, you guys are doing good, we like what you're doing, keep it going." We started hearing those kind of things as opposed to the consolation kind of stuff. That started happening early on. I think even in spring training, just talking to scouts, I think they could recognize the difference within our group. And again I point back to last year, just even going to the off-season, the uniforms, a couple good acquisitions free-agent-wise, and then of course, young players becoming a little bit more veteran, and then getting into the season, starting off relatively well. I think, honestly, it was just the comments from the other teams, that little quick visit behind the batting cage and their commentary just started to change.

Q: When the playoffs started, you weren't quite sure of Crawford's health in regards to the hand.

Joe Maddon: Right.

Q: How much better has he been than you had a right to expect, and as you observe him, how much do you think he's enjoying this experience after all the losses in all the years he's been here?

Joe Maddon: That's a good question. I mean, I really didn't know what to think. I really didn't. Again, he's not just coming off an injury, he's coming off of surgery, which really is different. I think that goes overlooked sometimes. So he's coming off of surgery, and a key component in your hand, swinging the bat, and all of a sudden toward the end there he was really starting to push the doctors a bit. Fortunately we had a couple instruction league games to pop him into to just see exactly what it looked like, so I was able to come out and watch him in the instruction league games, and he's swinging the bat pretty good. Again, what I look at a lot of times when a guy is coming off of a long layoff, it's not that he's getting hits. It's his approach at the plate. He's not jumping all over the place, the game wasn't too fast, the ball wasn't too quick. Those are things I was trying to glom onto, and I thought, okay, he's okay. And then when we get into the first part of the White Sox series and you could see his at-bats were pretty good, and he wasn't over-matched, and then of course it culminates in a five-hit game.

So honestly, he's much further along than I had anticipated. Is he enjoying it? Absolutely. I could hear his little giggle going on now and then, and I like that, and you just see it in his face. Carl is very intense when he plays, facially. You can see that, and I obviously love that. But there's a part of him, also, when you can step back and just giggle a little bit. I like that, also. He's an exceptional athlete, and he is enjoying the moment.

Q: At this time of year can a team have too much time off, because whoever wins this series will be playing the Phillies team that will have a whole week off. Can that be a detriment?

Joe Maddon: I don't know. You'll find out when it happens, I guess. Sometimes groups get a chance to heal up. The worst part is just the anticipation, just having to wait for it. That's the most difficult thing to gauge and work with. But I don't know, when you get down to the World Series and you get this opportunity to play, I'm sure they're going to -- they will find a way to stay sharp, and once that bell rings opening game, I don't see -- I don't know that it's an advantage or a disadvantage. I just think it comes down to the individual, how you handle the moment, what you do in order to prepare yourself mentally. It's all about what you think anyway. I don't necessarily see it as being a huge disadvantage.