The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - AJ Hinch - We Have A Single Game Mindset

Episode Date: October 17, 2019

Astros Manager AJ Hinch joins Matt and Ross as the team prepares for Game 4 in New York

This is 790 baseball direct. Direct from the ballpark. To your radio. Driven by Texas Direct Auto, powered by Vroom. 1231 on the Matt Thomas Show. Game number four. American League Championship Series tonight, game five Friday. That's all we got to worry about, right?

Just play the games that are right in front of us. I think I've heard that from somebody, AJ Hinge. How are you, sir? I'm doing well. I'm on my way to the field for game four. We're closing in on Yankee Stadium. I'm on the team bus, and we're ready to go. Okay, so you can't talk as loud.

That's okay. Right. I can't yell. No, no. Hey, I thought about something. How about you and I keep doing these Tuesday things even during the off season? I just want to talk about life. Talk some college basketball, maybe an LNBA.

Are you in for that? Let me see how the next couple weeks go. I could be in an incredibly good mood, say yes, or I could be an incredibly bad mood and say no. So it'll, you know, let's root for some wins and maybe you get, you and I get the opportunity to keep this up. I like it. I like it.

All right. So let's get two. Let's get two before we get to yesterday. You've managed a lot of games in your life. Give me what was like managing game two. Everything you are calling on. And look, you guys prepare. It's all about the athletes.

But your bullpen decisions, everything gelled. I mean, does that, if you were to put. put a mantle up of the great managerial games of AJ Hinge. That had to have been among the all-time tops because the bullpen just did a fantastic job for you. They did. And we did a lot of things right. And I think getting into the game with the lead, you come to Yankee Stadium, it's a real environment. There's, you know, there's a lot of pressure.

The first pitch of the game, they rise and get on their feet. They call out all their pitchers, I mean, all their players on the field, it gets their cap to them. It's such a fun environment here. And so then when Hosey hit the Homer and you, and, you, you bounce out and you're 1-0-0-0. It's a redikets the homer. It's 2-0. We settled in and played pretty loose. Our pitchers did a great job here.

Cole wasn't even at his best, but was putting up zeros. And then our bullpen came in and did their part. And our defense was good. Our base running was good. It's a good reminder that we have a good team. And we took control of the series in a really tough environment. You took control. And I think the weathercasters did you all of favor in terms of at least having this out there.

Because I remember you talking about this on Sunday. about the rainout potentially. When did you and Zach and JV get into that conversation about, hey, here's what I want to do once this game is officially called? Well, we're really going to do anything with Zach because he knew he was pitching on Thursday regardless, whether it was going to be, you know, game four or game five. His day was Thursday.

So we let him know right away that was his next time to get, to get ready to pitch. The JV conversation happened when we got to New York and, you know, we started answering questions about when his availability he was going to be there. And, you know, after a guy pitches, he has a routine the next day. He has a throwing routine. He has a physical routine.

He is lifting in the weight room. His treatment, everything is dictated on what the next plan is. And so we did everything planning for him to pitch on Friday, in the event that there was a rainout. And then once it became official, I let him know to get himself prepared to pitch on Friday night in the Bronx. And he sounds good. I'll be ready.

What did you tell the guys to do yesterday, besides probably just stay off your feet, right? Well, we went to the field. We got notice about 12 o'clock here, Eastern, and we had a one o'clock bus. I was going to the field anyway. So anybody that needed treatment, anybody that had a little bit of energy and wanted to do something inside, it was pouring rent. It was all inside.

We had a couple guys want to hit in the cage. We had a couple guys want to jump on the bike. I mean, these guys don't sit idle very easily, especially during October, but it was a very, very limited group and a limited work. you know, we were there for probably, you know, 45 minutes to an hour. Probably took us an hour to get there, an hour there, and an hour to get back, which killed part of the afternoon, I think, which is good. We have to wait so long to play these games.

There's a, we don't play until 8 o'clock Eastern, so it's, the waiting game sometimes is hard. It's better to have something to do rather than just sit around the hotel and rest as you would expect. Do you like, did you like the day off here better, or the way it affects travel? I mean, Skip, what do you think about the way this? went down. Well, I think they made the right decision calling it early. I mean, you almost have to have been here to see how miserable it was, and it would have

been bad news to just go to the field and sit around and pretend like we were going to play when the forecast was bad. And so, I mean, M.O.B. did a good job stepping up and, you know, taking a little bit of a risk. They called it when it wasn't raining, but there was every meteorologist in New York was expecting this downpour in it, and it was, and the weather today is good. It's going to be cold, a little bit windy, but dry. And so when it all went down, they did a terrific job of communicating it to everybody and how that was going to dictate Friday night's game and then moving into Houston,

if it's necessary, then we know what's in front of us. They're very blunt, very direct with what's at store. So I don't really care what, you know, people's reactions are to four games in a row, if necessary, because we've got a single game mindset to win tonight, game four. put a ton of pressure on them with elimination games from here on out from them if we could win. And if we have to travel back and play in Houston, then the energy of October and the adrenaline of October and the chance to do some special things in front of our home crowd will carry us through. We'll be fine.

Yeah, so obviously this is changing up the rotation. And one of the things I think is most difficult for you, Skip, is dealing with sample sizes, figuring out when to go back to something, even if it didn't work out. respect to that, do you think starting Verlander on three days rest and the way it worked out in the ALDS, has that affected your thinking going forward? No, I think you have to count every situation in its own right and evaluate every situation in its own right. And I know where you're going with this on whether or not we would start Cole on three days rest. And, you know, I think you, case by case basis on, I mean,

I don't even really want to feel many questions about what if, because game four is going to take all the energy that I have and all the attention that I have to try to take a three to one lead in this series. So, but to answer your question, we always review our decisions or review our situations or, you know, try to get better in our analysis on what, what we need to do to win tonight's game. And if we factor in, you know, rest and recovery and effectiveness and how guys pitched, I mean, that's part of it. But right now we focused all on game. four and Zach Crenke's on regular red. Six innings and three runs the last time we get that out of them again or better. I think we're going to like where we're sitting.

Did you see anything different from Zach between the DS game and what you saw in game one? His change up was a little bit better. You know, I think he, on a breaking ball to Torres. He had a homer. He, you know, he gave up the home runs were the biggest damage. But, you know, I thought he handled the situation fine. I think the magnitude of the playoffs created a little bit of of an overreaction, but like I said, he got us pretty deep into the game at a relatively good pitch down and, you know, give up some, unfortunately, a couple home runs the end of his outing that separated them. But the score of the game, I think when he left was three nothing. And, you know, we just didn't do anything offensively to create any momentum for him or, you know,

he held them off as long as he could until I took them out of the game. And then our bullpen, you know, that night had a little trouble keeping them off the scoreboard a little bit. So I think his changeable play key here in this ballpark. I think when it's cold weather like this, you know, the pitcher has a little bit of an advantage. Hitters don't love to hit in cold weather. But pitch selection and pitch execution is the key to that grand key. And he's been really good at his whole career,

and we expect him to be good time. With all the different pitchers that your hitters have seen, especially with the bullpen games of the Yankees and the rays, seeing Tanaka again, is there any extra comfort level that at least know that they want him to go as long as they can as their bullpen's been taxed. And the other hand, your guys have been able to see him a couple of times now. Sure. No, it'd be nice to see him again.

And, I mean, obviously, if he executes at the rate that he executed the other day, he's going to be really tough if he makes some mistakes. Our guys can do some damage. But, you know, it's a very similar cat-mouse game as it is with Granky and then, where you pick a pitch, you've got to pick a location, and he just misses every now and then. And if he does make a mistake, we're going to be ready for it. We were one swing away from making it really tough on them when Yoron hit the 110-mile-hour bullet to right field and Bregman got doubled off. I mean, a lot of ips and butts in the playoffs timeline.

But if that ball is elevated a little bit and it becomes a home run or a ball off the wall, who knows if Tanaki even stays in the game much longer. So one or two big swings early, I think we'll get us right. If we stay disciplined in the strike zone, again, we could put some pressure on them. Two final questions. Josh Reddick has played thousands and thousands of major league games and has lots of big moments. Where do you put his, ah, that felt good moment when he hit the ball out of the ballpark in game three? Yeah, I was happy for him.

You know, he wasn't happy that he didn't start game one. These guys all want to play, but yet he took it the right way and knew that he had to play better if he was going to keep his spot in the lineup. And I told him at the very beginning, you're going to start game three against Severino. You can see him well. You can get back in and help us win, and then boom, a big home run, you know, to make it 2-0. It was huge for him and made us all feel really good. So I've stuck with Josh Redick a long time this season because of the impact that he can have, and I think he's going to have a good night tonight.

How did you feel about the lineup switch? I know move the Alvarez down the spot. I know that there was an immediate payoff, but is he carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders right now? Because the answer should be, shouldn't. He's got a lot of great teammates around him. Yeah, I don't know if there was a little bit of an impact because I think Yuli's sack fly, you know, once they threw the ball of the backstop and after intentionally walking Bregman, having Yuli up in that spot was really big against Britain and he got the sack fly and we get, we got another run. So I think the payoff is always good, you know, when you can get guys up to bat that you want and also to give Yord on a little bit of a break. And I just think it's hard to hit playoff baseball.

This is not an offensive-driven time of year when you're facing the kind of pitching and a kind of map-ups that matchups that you are. Sometimes getting a little bit of a run. But as we've seen before, you know, whether it's George Springer in the World Series or, you know, the way Al-Tube and the DS and the CS has been when guys do lock it in and they do some damage, it's really good for your team. Thank you for the time. I hope you enjoy the rest of your bus ride. And let's not worry about game six. Just get it taken care of in New York. And thank you for the visit.

Okay. You got it. AJ Hinch with us here.