Oct. 6 Joe Girardi postgame interview

October 7th, 2017

Q. Joe, going all the way back to that sixth inning, taking CC out of that situation after he had retired 12 of 13, why did you decide to lift him at that point?
JOE GIRARDI: Well, we looked at -- you know, it's kind of what we've done all year with Green. It was set up for Green to come in, and I decided to go. Usually, we give CC somewhere around 90 pitches. I think he was at 80, and it was set up for our bullpen. I went there, and it didn't work.
Q. Joe, with Chisenhall all happened on not challenging the hit by --
JOE GIRARDI: There was nothing that told us that he was not hit on the pitch. By the time we got the super slow-mo, we are beyond a minute. It was way too late. They tell us we have the 30 seconds. They will take longer in replay.
And probably being a catcher, my thought is I never want to break a pitcher's rhythm. That's how I think about it. So if it's not something -- there was nothing that said he was not hit.
Q. Could you have waited and asked for more time?
JOE GIRARDI: They said 30 seconds. We talk about that in the meeting all the time.
Q. Joe, it seemed, though, that Sanchez was trying to say that he was hit? Being that it's already the sixth inning, why not just go ahead and do it?
JOE GIRARDI: I guess I could have, Joel. Again, being the catcher I am, I think about rhythm for the pitcher and not taking him out of his rhythm.
Q. It might be too soon to tell, but who will be available for Game 3?
JOE GIRARDI: I'm not sure. We'll have to wait and see.
Q. And then Tanaka is still starting?
JOE GIRARDI: Yes.
Q. You used Chapman for two innings. Did you think about bringing him in in the eighth?
JOE GIRARDI: I had him up to relieve Robbie if we needed him. The one thing I haven't done a whole lot is throwing Chappy two innings. You're never sure how that first inning -- what if he throws 22, 23 pitches? But he was really efficient tonight and threw really well.
Q. Joe, both Chapman and Robertson warmed in the sixth --
JOE GIRARDI: Chapman was just up playing catch.
Q. Okay. So you had Robertson up, and I think it was both Gomes and Chisenhall had long at bats against Green, fouling off a lot of pitches, which may have indicated it wasn't his best stuff on the night. Did you think about lifting him for either Chisenhall or ultimately Lindor when it turned over?
JOE GIRARDI: No, because he's had success off of Lindor. I did not think of lifting him. His last hitter was going to be Lindor, obviously, but he's pitched really well against Lindor.
Q. Joe, sorry, I heard you say 30 seconds as we were coming in. You said you didn't have an answer in time on the challenge?
JOE GIRARDI: No, we did not have the replay that showed he was not hit.
Q. Okay. So you couldn't challenge --
JOE GIRARDI: I guess I -- in hindsight, yes, I could, but as I said earlier, being a catcher, I think about rhythm and never want to take a pitcher out of rhythm and have them stand over there two minutes to tell me that he wasn't hit.
Q. Joe, I know you said before the game you weren't sure if you had Robertson or not based on when he was coming off. Did you think Green and Robertson were both up to speed after what they had been through on Tuesday already, or was it based on their stuff and how they had been throwing?
JOE GIRARDI: I thought they threw pretty well. Robertson went through an inning and a third and was pretty good. hurt us this whole series, and he hurt us again tonight.
Q. Joe, if I'm not mistaken, that happened earlier this year when you didn't have the replay in time.
JOE GIRARDI: The super slow-mo.
Q. Why does that happen and is there anything that can be done to fix it?
JOE GIRARDI: I don't know. I'm not sure why it happens. You're at the mercy of the telecast, what replays you get.
Q. Joe, I know you've done this a lot with Green, but with CC 12 out of 13, were you --
JOE GIRARDI: Larry and I talked about it, you know, and we just felt that Green's been really good in this spot and let's do it. We thought the inning before, they hit some balls on the screws, and we decided to make a change.
Q. Joe, I assume at some point it was relayed to you that he was actually hit, the knob of the bat. When were you alerted that was the case? I'm sure I know what the reaction is, but can you take us through your emotions at that point, especially if what happened afterwards.
JOE GIRARDI: It's probably about -- it's when Lindor is coming up to bat, in a sense, that we're alerted, and it's frustrating, you know, because if he calls that he's not hit, then nothing ever happens. And maybe they replay it. I don't know. But he made no signal that he was hit. The umpire thought he was hit. I know Gary said it. We looked at it. We had no super slow-mo at that time. Again, I'm going to reiterate, I think about keeping a pitcher in rhythm. Maybe I'll think different now.
Q. Joe, just to be clear, did you go ahead and say to the umps, we're not challenging, or did they say you're out of time?
JOE GIRARDI: No, I told them after the 30 seconds we weren't challenging.
Q. Is that something that needs to change? If they're going to give you all kinds of different replays, do they need to be given to you within the 30 seconds?
JOE GIRARDI: Yeah, you hope that the super slow-mo, you get it within the 30 seconds, but sometimes you don't get it for like a minute. It's something, I guess we can talk about moving forward.