Q. Having Jacoby back in the lineup, how much do you need to get him going to where he was a couple of weeks ago for you guys
JOE GIRARDI: I think it's important. When we make these decisions, they're not easy decisions. But Jacoby has had as much success off of Kluber as much as anyone we've got in our lineup. And that's probably why he's back in there tonight.
Q. Joe, is everyone available in the pen tonight?
JOE GIRARDI: The guy that maybe I'm a little bit concerned about going into, before I've spoken to him today, is Robertson. Green, he's thrown 40 pitches and bounced back after two days off. Robbie probably hasn't thrown 50 pitches in a game since college.
Q. Is there any circumstance where you would consider Severino?
JOE GIRARDI: I think, if you get in an extra-inning game, you definitely consider him.
Q. Joe, I understand that you manage more aggressively in the postseason and your bullpen is pretty rested. How much would you love to get the equivalent of what Bauer gave the Indians last night?
JOE GIRARDI: Well, it would be great, obviously. And the one advantage that you have is you have days off, scheduled days off, which really helps your bullpen a lot. But it would be nice.
Q. Joe, what effect has CC kind of had on the whole team in the clubhouse? Does that carry over even to some of the young hitters?
JOE GIRARDI: Yeah. I think CC's effect in the clubhouse is as big as anyone I've ever been around. And part of it stems from the way he fights on the field and how much respect our players have from him, seeing what he goes through on a daily basis to be prepared to pitch and how he gives you everything he's got whenever he goes out there.
But just Monty following him around all the time, because you won't find a fiercer competitor than CC. What do you want from your athletes? You want that fierce competitor in CC.
But the other thing that CC is great at is making sure that everyone is included and making sure that it is a great clubhouse, the guy that, when you have off days and you're in a city, he gets 20 guys together or 25 guys together, and they go to a sporting event. Who gets the suite? CC. I mean, that's who he is. So he's really, really important to us.
Q. How impressed are you with the way Didi and Starlin were able to come in here and adjust to the city and the expectations and also the relationship they've developed with each other?
JOE GIRARDI: It's not easy. It was probably more difficult on Didi because of Derek. In a sense, people said he replaced Derek. You know, Derek had retired, and someone was going to have to move in there. It wasn't like Didi moved him out, in a sense.
I think they've done a really, really good job, and they've developed a great friendship, and there's consistency there. There's good at bats. There's good defense. They do everything that you want from two guys in the middle of the field.
Q. Judge didn't play in the two games that you faced Kluber. What kind of challenge is that for a young hitter to face a guy like Kluber having not seen him at all in it a playoff game?
JOE GIRARDI: Sometimes it can work to the hitter's advantage, too. Kluber hasn't seen him. Aaron will watch a lot of film. He'll talk to the guys on what he likes to do. But it worked out that that was one of the points, I gave him two days off in there when he was struggling. Kluber has been tough on all of us. I don't know if Aaron has an advantage or a disadvantage that he hasn't seen him.
Q. Joe, looking way back, what were your impressions of a young Carsten Sabathia? And you touched on this yesterday, just how rare is it to see a pitcher this deep into his career having to reinvent himself like he has?
JOE GIRARDI: I didn't see CC a whole lot when he was in Cleveland. CC really came on my radar when he went to Milwaukee. And what I was most impressed was this was a guy who was awaiting a huge payday but was willing to sacrifice everything for the team and to try to win in Milwaukee, pitching on short rest a number of times.
To me, I thought, man, this is the kind of guy that you want. This is the guy that's willing to do anything, and it's all about winning. So that's when I fell in love with who he was as a player.
As a person, it was once I got around him and seeing what he meant to our club. But reinventing himself, it's not always easy. There's been pitchers that have done it before, but he's really had to do it. It's been incredible to watch and how important he's been to us. Especially, you know, I look at this year, in a lot of instances where we needed a win, it was CC.
Q. Just following up on Judge, Joe. Did you think he had some good takes on those strikeouts?
JOE GIRARDI: Yes, I did.
Q. Have you watched it again or just off what you saw last night?
JOE GIRARDI: What I saw last night and just from some of the comments I heard from some of our people.
Q. I know he strikes out a lot, but are you at all curious how he bounces back a second playoff game to go 0 for 4 with four strikeouts?
JOE GIRARDI: I don't really have any concerns about it because I think, as watching him go through some of his ups and downs this year, how he's always bounced back. So I'm not really too concerned about it.