Joe Torre:
On the game as a whole:
“It was a classic. That’s post-season baseball right there. Great pitching on both sides. Carpenter did an amazing job at getting out of jams. They made plays. Kuroda, that’s as good as you want to see him right there. It was a great game. If they had beaten us, I’d still have to say it was a great game, just the way things played out.”
On Kuroda:
“It looks like he was very aggressive. It looked like he was pretty much doing what he wanted to. It looked like the ball was really alive, movement wise, and he was locating it. I think that he had as good of command as he’s had since early in the season.”
On Ethier:
“It is just a matter of timing for me. You saw him hit that ball the other way with two strikes from the left-hander, you know he is back and comfortable.”
On Manny:
“It looked like he tried to pull. He was hitting the ball on the ground. Stayed inside the ball that last time and hit the ball hard to right field.”
Hiroki Kuroda (through his interpreter):
On his pitching overall:
“Most of my key pitches were moving. The sinker, slider and also splitter…were all good today.”
On facing Chris Carpenter:
“Before the game I didn’t really have the time to think about the other pitcher. I just was worried about how I was going to pitch today and how to get outs on other hitters.”
Russell Martin:
On Kuroda:
“His command was great today. Good velocity on his fastball and good movement on it too. His two-seamer was working well for him. He really had all his pitches tonight: his two-seamer, his slider working well, his splitty as well and also using his cutter.
From the first inning, he was throwing 95 and getting that good sink. Just with that pitch alone, he can get away with just having that pitch. Today’s the day where he had everything. So you know when you have all those weapons that you can use, that there’s a lot of different things you can use to get the hitters off balance.
On hearing that the surgery for the little girl who fractured her skull during batting practice on Monday was going to be ok:
“Earlier today, I heard the news, and definitely felt a bit better. It definitely was on my mind yesterday, the whole day, and it was good to hear the good news.”
On playing 0-0 games:
“It means that you’re doing things well, playing good defense and pitching well. The hitting part, you’ve got an ace on the other side. You get a win against him, you’re happy, no matter how you get it.”
On Chris Carpenter:
“He had his good stuff today. Good curveball, command. Not really leaving anything over the middle of the plate. Every time you’re up there, it’s a battle against him.”
On Manny’s big hit:
“I don’t know how he hit that ball – it seems like he got jammed a little bit. That’s a good sign when he’s able to stay inside the ball like that and drive it the other way. That’s when he’s at his best, so it’s good to see that.”
On Broxton’s 11 pitch battle with Pujols:
“When you get in those situations, the great hitters just get even better. And you could tell right there, he was fighting off some really good pitches. Good thing we had one of the best closers in the game out there. That’s what Pujols does, he’ll just wear you out until you make a mistake and then capitalize on that, but fortunately Broxton just came through, kept making good pitches.”
Jonathan Broxton:
On the ninth inning:
“The heart of the order coming up. I just had to go out there and make pitches…I did.”
On his battle with Pujols:
“I was just out there trying to go pitch for pitch…trying to see what he’s doing with the ball. He kept fouling off some good pitches. I finally just had to bury one.”
“It felt like it was a long time. I had to keep going with good pitches and good location. I couldn’t make a mistake.”
Photo Credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010
Post-Game Comments from Torre, Billingsley, Ellis and Blake
Here’s the feedback after tonight’s 6-0 loss to the Padres (particularly good stuff from Casey Blake). Additionally, earlier this evening, the Dodgers were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Joe Torre
On Clayton Richard’s complete game shutout:
“It just looked so easy for him. We didn’t do a whole lot of damage. We just couldn’t get anything going. Up until that last inning, we didn’t really have a threat. You have to give him credit, he works fast, he’s very aggressive in the strike zone and he certainly pitched well tonight.”
On being eliminated from the playoffs:
“We didn’t play well enough to be in a pennant race. We thought in the first half that we would be able to contend. Unfortunately the second half started off badly and we never really recovered from it.”
On Billingsley’s performance:
“It just didn’t look like he had command. He’s been pitching so well, his stuff looked good, but he just wasn’t able to locate. It sounds simple, and that’s probably a simple explanation, but as I said, I thought his stiff was good, but he just didn’t get the ball where he wanted to. Plus we put pressure on him. We don’t score, they score a couple of runs and you try and be perfect. I think a lot of the pitchers have had to deal with a lot of that this year.”
Chad Billingsley
On his performance in tonight’s game:
“I just didn’t get the job done today. I was battling those two innings and couldn’t find a way to get out of it. I’ve just got to get ready for the next start.”
A.J. Ellis
On Chad Billingsley’s performance:
“They capitalized when we put their runners on base. The walk or a hit by pitch, they capitalized on it. When he was ahead in the count and throwing strikes, he was dominant as he normally is, putting guys away. When you put guys on base it makes it that much harder on you.”
Casey Blake
On being officially eliminated from the playoffs:
“In order to be a championship team, obviously you’ve got to be playing well, but you’ve got to have a lot of things go your way. It seems like neither of those happened for us. Injuries didn’t help anything: Losing Manny, losing [Furcal], Padilla, just go down the line. Andre for an extended period of time. I was out five games and that really killed us [laughter]. Every team goes through adversity like that. It’s disappointing. You feel like a failure. We’re not embarrassed, it’s just really disappointing for all the expectations and hope you have. You make it to the playoffs a couple of years in a row and you just expect to do it. When it doesn’t happen, it’s really, really tough to take.”