Braves postgame quotes after Friday’s win vs. Mets

DAVID ROSS

On the job the bullpen did:

“Kris Medlen is one of those unsung heroes throughout the year. The guy does whatever they ask, goes down when they ask him to start. He pitched two great innings for us tonight. Cristhian Martinez, what a big inning he had for us, getting those three guys with the bases loaded. You’ve got to tip your cap to all those guys, O’Flaherty, Kimbrel’s always nasty, it’s nice to pick up a win.”

On the job Prado did:

“Man that’s why I love this team so much. The guys just pick each other up. The one time you try and get away with a guy being one shortstop and calling up a guy or whatever they were doing. Jack goes down early on and Martin made great plays, on the chopper up the middle flipped to Uggs. He’s solid. That guy has been our MVP. The guy played left, they asked him to move to third, they moved him from second a couple years ago and now he was at short. I just hope he doesn’t try to take my job at catcher.”

On extending the streak McCann started w/another home run by catcher:

“Let’s keep it going. Let’s see if we can’t get to 10. I hope Mac’s tomorrow to help us out….Guys had good at-bats in front of me to get on base. I just tried to throw a good at-bat on him, got a pretty good pitch to hit. I love to hit homers. It’s always fun. Everybody does.”

On 11 walks:

“Our whole team was disciplined and took advantage of their pitching mistakes. The big hits cost them tonight.”

On Hudson:

“I don’t know if being on the bases that one inning he was on for a little while (in the second) and running the bases. There were some close pitches that could have gone our way. And then Tejada got that ball that just crept through the right side. He wasn’t off but he wasn’t his normal self. I don’t want to take anything away from their hitters. I think they give some of the toughest at-bats of any team that we play. They do not give up at-bats. They’re in it the whole way. That’s why their manager kept making pitching changes and matchups the whole game because he knows that they’ve got a chance to score runs.”

On McCann:

“He called me right before the game. He sent me a picture of his son. We sent him a little video – me and some of the guys congratulating him and telling him he’s got ‘dad strength’ now. I just that I had a couple texts from him. He wished me luck before the game. I told him ‘Don’t worry about me. You’ve got a child now.’ His life is fixing to change.”

On happy to fill in for McCann on such a special day:

“It’s nice to put up a win, when he’s not here. I know being a father is one of the most amazing things he’s ever going to go through and experiencing that. I’m just glad that we picked up a win and I did well so he doesn’t feel any guilt or remorse for not being here. That’s the most important thing any of us will ever do, so I was glad to play well for him and let him be with his family because it’s a cool experience.”

On what dad strength is:

“You know how your dad is always really strong? You instantly get a little stronger when you have a kid. Plus you’ve got to carry the car seat around for six, seven months.”

MARTIN PRADO

On putting up quality defense wherever the Braves put him:

“I prepare myself before in batting practice. Today Skipper came up to me and said ‘Hey, just take a couple groundballs at shortstop. You never know. Something could happen to Jack. You’re probably going to be the emergency one. I said ‘Don’t call me emergency. If you’re going to put me there, just put me there. I don’t want to be emergency one.’ We were just playing around. But we get in that situation today where he needs me, the team needs me. I feel good that I can help the team any way and contribute. I try to do everything I can to make all my teammates and coaches and everybody confident and real comfortable with the way I play everywhere. I’m going to do whatever I can, my best, anywhere I play.”

On if felt some butterflies when first got over there:

“I was scared to be honest with you because I knew when Martinez was pitching, I was like ‘Oh man, he’s a groundball guy.’ And then you’ve got O’Flaherty. He’s a groundball guy too. I was like ‘oh man.’ I was like ‘ok, I’m just going to try to anticipate things and I talked to Dan. ‘Let me know anything, just move me around because I don’t feel comfortable enough to put myself in the right spot so. They did a great job, Danny was talking to me the whole time, Chipper was talking to me. They made my job easier.”

TIM HUDSON

On if he didn’t have his good stuff:

“Yeah, it just wasn’t a very good night on my part. I wasn’t very good. They did a really good job picking me up. The guys scored some runs early. We were lucky for me not to give up the lead there in the fifth inning. Cristhian came in and did a really good job of getting us out of that jam, we had some tack on runs late. I’m obviously disappointed in my performance there in that fourth and fifth inning, but it was a really good win for us as a team. The guys really picked me up. That’s a sign of what good teams are supposed to do.”

On if longer layoff or ankle were factors:

“Obviously it was a little different routine than what you’re used to, but the ankle has actually been making some strides to get better. I’m not going to say that really had anything to do with it. I just didn’t make very good pitches. Little out of sorts out there a little bit. Made some pretty good pitches at times, but especially when I was ahead in the count with some guys, I just left some pitches over the plate, got some base hits. It seems when I did make a couple decent pitches they put a pretty good swing on it.”

On starting second half well as a team:

“It is. They’ve got the two best pitchers going tomorrow and the next day. So to get this first game under our belt with a W is really nice and hopefully we can get another one tomorrow and go for a sweep, if not hopefully have a chance to win the series.”

On if treated the power delay like an inning break:

“It was about the length of an inning when we’re hitting, 15 minutes or so. I don’t think that was too big of a deal for me. It was a little weird. It was nice going out there and only having to get one out.”

On Prado making the plays at short:

“He’s a jack of all trades. He’s one of our more flexible players and he’s really good at wherever we put him. I think we have confidence putting him anywhere. He’s that kind of player that teams, a lot of times you take for granted what all he can bring for you. Tonight was a perfect example of ways he can help you win.”

On grounder off his glove into shallow right center:

“I thought it was to me. Obviously I knocked it out of the way. It might have been a double play if I don’t nip it right there. I know they were stealing on the play. I don’t know if we would have been able to get him at second base but it was right to where Uggs was covering. I think I had him struck out the pitch before, obviously. If he gives me that strike three, then Jack don’t dislocate his finger on that play. (He’s laughing at this point.)”

FREDI GONZALEZ

On win with Martin Prado being forced to play shortstop:

“We got through it. Prado made a couple nice plays at shortstop. We are able hold on. Cristhian [Martinez] did a terrific job in the fifth inning (pitching out of bases-loaded, no-out situation), getting through that inning. … We were able to get a win with a minimal bench after the freak play on Jack Wilson there. Good win for us. We’ve got a nice little run here and tomorrow, hopefully, Tommy [Hanson] can get us deep in the ball game and we can win another ball game.”

On letting Kris Medlen hit:

“In that situation, there is the possibility of having to pinch-hit one more time. We were one hitter away from pinch-hitting again in the eighth inning. He’s a guy that you feel comfortable. He might get a knock. That was the case. You pinch-hit there and then all of a sudden you have to pinch-hit in the eighth inning and you have no one else. It all worked out, other than Jack getting hurt.”

On how the injury to Wilson occurred:

“It looked like he was chasing the ball and his pinkie finger went in [to the turf]. I think he’s going to be OK. I would be real surprised if there was a DL. Maybe a day or two and he’s back at it again.”

On needing to make roster move before Saturday:

“Yes, definitely.”

On Prado showing ability that he can play shortstop:

“I think in a short term I think he can, to cover five innings or an emergency for a day or two. I think he’s a good enough athlete to do that. I think if you run him in there day in and day out you’ll see some productivity. It’s a tough position to play and you can expend a lot of energy. If tomorrow we can’t get a guy here, you feel like he could do it.”

On Hudson’s early problems:

“I just thought it was one of those days, just a bad outing. Just a tough outing. I don’t know if he got anything going the whole game really. He battled. That’s one thing with him, he battled. He got two hits and kept us in the game. I thought the big inning, for me, was Cristhian Martinez getting out of that situation, facing those left-handers in the middle of the lineup and he got it done.”

- Compiled by Carroll Rogers and Chris Vivlamore