 Hi Aaron Hicks has only taken three at bats in the postseason. Can you talk about a little bit? What went into the decision of having him here in church today? Well He started the other day And had it in that bat in the in-game two, so I think he's had maybe five or six now I just liked what I've seen feel like it's very Aaron Hicks type of bats as far as controlling the strike zone and You know his normal discipline And just like him up in that spot as a as a you know guy that can Potentially get on base a bunch and create traffic there at the top of the order And with with having again three lefties in there tonight Just trying to keep the proper spacing as far as Space in our lefties and righties far right in the back Yeah, Stanton was Testing out is like earlier today. What did he tell you and with him not being in the lineup? What does that mean going forward? Today I feel like he was better And probably for the first time like saw some improvement today, so you know whether he's running at 60% or whatever You know don't feel like he's ready to be an option in the field for us I think there's a possibility of that kind of DH roll now So, you know is a little bit of a decision for me. He certainly wants to be in there But I thought today overall was encouraging as far as taking a little bit of a step forward and do feel like he's more of an option now and Again, he's he's an option off the bench for us certainly as a hitter Meredith in front row on the right Erin you've been very aggressive with your bullpen so far this post season Does the way you manage it change at all knowing that you could potentially be playing forestry games? um I mean I think I've said we you know We've got to get some some certainly some innings out of our starters and and feel like we have that capability with with Masa and certainly Paxton tomorrow So hopefully they'll they'll be able to You know give us some quality innings and set a good tone for us, but You know that said we're gonna do all we can to win and and in our bullpen still gonna play a big role in that and and feel Like all those guys are ready Ready and and loaded to go Andy down here on the left. You have a number of guys in your lineup that didn't get to play a lot in September Because of injuries. Are you seeing do you think in the postseason the challenge for some of those guys of? Trying to hit against some of the best pitching and baseball when you were not playing, you know what I I feel like So you're asking about rust a little bit. Yeah timing and whatever why ever yeah, I don't I don't feel like that's so much an issue You know We played six games now in the postseason We've had you know four really good offensive games and two where you know In the Verlander and Cole starts where you know, we struggled to score runs, although Had a fair amount of opportunity. So you know this time of year It's gonna be more difficult, especially when you're up against an opponent that can pitch like the Astros, but I feel like our guys are in a pretty good pretty good place and don't feel like rust is playing a huge role You know and us being held down a little bit the last two games State that you're on the left Aaron a couple of the Astros players mentioned to us there The everything they do takes on a different feel when Altuve is producing Do you notice that in the opposing dugout and what makes him so tough to deal with in the postseason? I mean he's a you know Kind of an MVP candidate caliber player that and they have a few of those guys so You know there Top of the order is a load and you know that you have to make quality pitches You know if you're gonna have a chance to hold them down and and Jose is one of those guys that's Can certainly change the game You know with his bat the ball skills, but also His power that that's a factor if you make a mistake as we saw In game three, so he's somebody that you've obviously got to pitch carefully to and pitch smartly to and Certainly be aware of the first row on the right Barry Hey, Aaron Paxson was in here and he he said that Looking at video whatever you guys did He felt that wasn't tipping pitches in his first outing What's the process of that and what do you guys look for to see if he was or he wasn't? It's just part of something we do all season long and You know we're confident that you know We're buttoned up and in a lot of ways, and I'm not really I really don't think it's much of an issue Okay, right behind the job on the right Aaron when you say that John Carlos an option on the bench Are there situations that you already have in mind where that would come into play because? Obviously to use him in the field you it's a two-person change right? Yeah, there's a couple scenarios where I could envision him You know play in a role absolutely Yeah In the front right here Bruce Aaron this is the first time that you're trailing in a series in the postseason. How do you expect your ball club to respond? Well We got a we got a tough group Focus group In a group that I feel like all all season long whatever we've been going through in the course of the year as has been really good at Rolling with whatever happened previously and coming in as new day with that right kind of edge and focus and hunger It's what I've loved about this team all year, and we get a chance to Hopefully answer that again tonight In the middle there on the left Brad Aaron, I know you've been getting asked the last couple of days a lot about Tipping in signals and whatnot And you've your responses have been it's part of the game you guys stay on top of it. Are there boundaries to? How that kind of information is shared when teams pick up on that kind of thing they're sure there's there's boundaries you know yeah, I mean I Think there's boundary, you know We could have a conversation for days on that so yeah, there's boundaries There's things you're not allowed to do and things that are perfectly within the context of the of the game. So yeah on the right in the middle When you say Stanton may be available going forward in the DH and not the outfield is it because there's some quick stops and different types of turns and the outfield because you'd have to Run both why he could he hit not play outfield? I Think I think outfield is still potentially in play moving forward not yet. I would not Feel great about throwing them out there yet in the outfield and especially here in a big left field You know when we get to Houston, you know Temperature control obviously a smaller left field that may change a little bit But I think you're talking about a defensive position where you've got to be able to move and make plays Whereas, you know offensively you know You're banking more on the bat and the quality of the at bat and and the ability to kind of hopefully run in a controlled manner And and you know what that's going to look like whereas in the outfield You got to go catch a ball or you got to make a play and you're going to be limited and that's I Think a little bit different It take one more here on the right in the middle with all that anticipation going into this series through three games Is it played out pretty much as you expected or is anything surprised you from what you've seen so far from either team? I Mean I was hoping we'd be up at this point But yeah, I think it's been you know, we you know, we had a really good first game where we took control Obviously a back little bit of a back-and-forth kind of pitchers battle Extra innings in game two and then they got an early lead and we're able to hold on to it in game three so I think we all anticipate this being a tough series that could kind of go either way and You know so far they've got the upper hand that hopefully we can we can even things up tonight, but yeah, I guess so Thanks, Aaron