Q. Brayan, how many did you hear from last night?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: A lot. A lot of people.
Q. Brayan, this is your second postseason. You played so well last year. How are you more prepared even for a second time around than maybe last year?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: I think it helps having that experience of last year, but in particular I don't like to get comfortable. If you feel if you feel you're getting comfortable, that's when a lot of trouble brew? And happens so for me I got the experience, but I want to take it like as if it was my first time still.
Q. Brayan, what kind of challenges does it present when you've played these guys three -- or like six times in the past 10 days?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: I think they're great competitors as well. I feel that's the type of team, they always compete, and we cannot take credit out of how of players they are and how good pitching they have.
So we're going to go outside, the same. Compete and and try to beat them, but we know they are going to be competing out there as well.
Q. What makes Skubal such a challenging pitcher?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: I think it's not only that he's one of the best, but he's like elite at what he does. And I feel he's also a competitor. He knows he's a competitor and he likes to compete. Obviously he's tough but he likes to compete. He's one of my favorite pitchers because of the way he pitches as well.
Q. How cool has it been to have George Valera in there? You played with him so many times in the Minor Leagues and everything he's gone through to make it here, like how cool is that for you guys?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: It's really cool to have that experience. That's something that we dream to get as kids, being able to play at this level together, and luckily having him here healthy and being able to contribute is something that's going to be really special and I know he's going to be able to contribute a lot going forward.
Q. Did you keep up with him when he was going through his injuries?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: We had some contact, especially when the injury happened and far in between, but not on a daily basis, but somehow we kept in touch.
Q. Did you think that ball was going to go foul or did you think it was off the foul pole?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: At the moment I got the feeling based on the trajectory that I was seeing from that angle that it was going to stay fair, stay true, but I didn't know it was going to be that close to the post, but luckily it stayed fair.
Q. Given the high number of high-leverage innings and situations you guys have been in in September and how meaningful all of these guys were for you guys to get week layoffs, how have you fought tired legs, fatigue and all that so you can still be at your best here?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: I feel he's handled it being smart, not necessarily skipping things, but trying to do the same smart quantity of ground balls and hitting and everything for our arms. But I feel like we don't do it as individuals, we do it as a group. We make sure everybody is in the best position to compete and be able to be 100 percent every day as we go, but we try to be smart about it.
Q. When you get into this time of year, do you have a gear that you consciously switch into or is it just something that happens?
BRAYAN ROCCHIO: I feel like a lot of people say comments about it's a different mentality or something for me, but for me it's the same game. I try to do the same, but we can say or do a little bit in this type of situation, speaking on behalf of the Latin players, we feel like we have something else to prove.
So it becomes a little extra challenge for us to demonstrate what we can do, and for me it's the little extra to compete and play the game the way that we play the game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports