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AL DIVISION SERIES: ROYALS v ANGELSOctober 1, 2014Jered WeaverANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: Workout Day Q. How valuable is your experience in postseason play for an assignment like this? JERED WEAVER: I think it helps out a little bit. Obviously, the atmosphere and the way the game goes about is a little more exhilarating, I think, than regular season, just as far as how amped up the crowd is and how amped up everybody is individually. So to have a little bit of experience is, I think, a plus. But at the same time, that is the great thing about baseball, nobody knows what's going to happen, and you just go out there and try to treat it‑‑ I know it's cliché and everybody says it, but try to treat it like a regular season game and try to get as deep as possible and go from there. Q. How do you handle a team that runs as much as they do? JERED WEAVER: Try to keep them off the bases, I think (laughing). I think first and foremost. No, but obviously saw what they can do last night in the game they played where they have seven stolen bases and five of them scored. You just try to mix up times, try to mix up how long you hold the ball for, just the little things to try to put a damper in their running game as much as possible. I'm sure Scioscia's quite familiar with people stealing bases, not only as a player but as a manager. When I first came up that was a big part of our game too was stealing bases. So we got a pretty good guy on our end who will help out with that as well. Q. You've had to wait several seasons, obviously, between postseasons. Talk about that and how much you crave getting a chance to get back in the postseason as a player? JERED WEAVER: Well, yeah, it has been quite some time, I guess. A lot of people have waited a little bit longer than we have. But five seasons is long overdue, I think, for our organization. We've always strived for extending our season into October, and not having it happen over the past couple seasons has been pretty frustrating, especially with some of the acquisitions that we've gotten. I think there were a lot of high expectations for us throughout these last five years. So it's a profession though, I think, as far as getting key guys. We've gotten some guys that I've been with some teams for quite some time as well, Hamilton, C.J., Pujols, guys like that, Joe Smith now, a lot of those guys. So it doesn't click all at once, I don't think. It takes a little time for everybody to get adjusted and get comfortable, and I think that those high expectations, I think we're seeing that now as far as what this club has done this season. Everything's starting to click. Everything's starting to come together. Getting a guy like David Freese that's got postseason experience, guys of that nature. So it's nice to have it back. I'm sure the city of Anaheim is excited just as much as we are, and we're looking forward to it. What was the second part of your question? Q. I think you answered it. JERED WEAVER: I got it all. All right, thanks. Q. Regarding the Wild Card game last night, did you watch the whole thing, and were you able to watch it with more than just the eye of a scout or could you get caught up in it like a fan? JERED WEAVER: I was watching it as much as my little boy would allow me to. I was kind of chasing him around and watching the game at the same time. You try to take the fan part out of it. I think if you get too caught up in the fan thing you start to overthink things and get away from keeping the game as simple as possible, and that's what I try to do, keep it simple. But at the same time I was definitely dissecting what was going on during that game, what hitters do in certain situations as far as swinging with runners on, maybe what counts the runners were stealing in. It was fun to be able to sit back and watch a game like that and have something to play for after. I've been on the other side of it where we don't get to play and you're sitting back hating teams that are in the playoffs. So it was fun to be able to watch the game and whoever wins that game that's who you're going to be playing. So it was pretty exciting. Q. Your family situation has changed a lot since the last time you were in the playoffs. How have you changed or matured since the last time the Angels were in the postseason? JERED WEAVER: Oh, am I mature (laughing)? No, I think family is unbelievable. I don't think you realize how unbelievable it is until it comes into your life. Obviously, your mom and dad have always said before you have kids, just wait until you have kids, and now it's here and they were right. But it's a blessing. I think in a perspective of it's not all about you anymore. You come home and you're dad at the end of the day, and that's all I want is to do what I do on the field, and when I step away from the field, I'm not Weaver or Jered Weaver, I'm dad and I'm a husband. So it's pretty cool how it's come full circle. Q. How would you describe your relationship with Jason Vargas pitching? It's kind of ironic that five‑year wait and two Dirtbags on the mound. JERED WEAVER: On the field Dirtbags. Don't take that the wrong way, guys. But he's one of my best friends. We formed a really cool and special bond at Long Beach. It didn't take us long to become friends. He's a mellow guy off the field. I feel like I'm a mellow guy off the field. But once we get on the field, we're competitors and we want to win. I think that's shown throughout our careers that when we do get on the mound, it's all about winning. He's one of those special guys that comes into your life, and I don't really talk to too many people that you come in contact with away from playing baseball. You kind of lose relationships and things of that nature, but that's one relationship that I've held on to through the years. It's nice to be able to call him and talk to him. I had a chance to just see him here for a little bit, and I didn't know if I was supposed to give him a hug and say hi or not. But he's a great guy. We actually have a vacation planned together after the season's over. So it's pretty funny, like I say, how it's come full circle how we're playing together and now here we are battling against each other in the postseason. But I'm facing the Royals, and he's facing the Angels, so we'll try to keep it at that. Q. You guys and the Royals have had pretty opposite paths the last couple weeks. You guys got a comfortable lead and they went through what they went through last night. Does that make a difference when you get out there tomorrow? JERED WEAVER: Yeah, I think definitely it does. I've been on the end of it where we've waited a long period of time to get to the postseason. I've been at the other end where you've had to battle to try to get there as well. It's nice in the perspective that we've had some injuries and some guys that were banged up to get them healthy, as far as Hamilton and Shoemaker and a couple other guys with some nagging things they've had throughout the season. It's nice to get guys healed up. But at the same time, if you look at it from the other perspective, it's great to have the momentum moving forward that the Royals do. So that's something that we have to look out for. We can't get complacent in what we do. We have to go out there and not take anything for granted and go out there and try to pick up where we've left off, and that's playing great baseball and battling as a team like we have been all year. Q. I was just wondering about the family thing. How often do you talk to your brother, Jeff? Does he give you any input on pitching? How often do you talk to him? JERED WEAVER: At least two or three times a week, I think, whenever he's not on the golf course we try to stay in contact. That's not very often. No, but he's always been a big factor into where I am today, even as far as going to college and going back that far. He's been somebody that I've looked up to forever. He's had some pretty good postseason experience as well as far as winning the deciding game in St. Louis there in the World Series. He's always been somebody that I can go to to talk about anything, not only off the field, but obviously, on the field. It's nice to have that kind of knowledge from a veteran like that to, if you have a bad game, to rely on him to get your mind back to where you need to be. We talked yesterday, and he had some very good things to say as far as taking things one step at a time and just trying to stay within yourself. He's always been big on helping me out not only off the field but on the field as well. Q. How tough has it been to not think about what if with Garrett Richards and what kind of inspiration has he been for you guys being around and seeing what you want to accomplish so far and want to get to? JERED WEAVER: I think, obviously, it's first and foremost a pretty tremendous loss for us to have a guy like that, to having a season like that go down so unexpectedly. But that just shows the resiliency that we've had in situations like that. I think that everybody picked themselves up and realized that we've got to do some things to get over that, to overcome that. We've played some pretty good baseball since then. Things like that are going to happen in the course of the season. Obviously, we didn't want to see that happen to the guy that was our main guy as far as getting out there and throwing every fifth day and getting deep in the game. Obviously, a tremendous loss, but we've kept pushing on and tried to deal with that loss. We've had the bullpen come in and do a tremendous job in the games that he was supposed to pitch in, and just, like I said, it shows the resiliency in our team and what we're capable of doing, even losing somebody as big as Garrett. Q. If I'm not mistaken, you were scheduled to go in a Game 7 at Yankee Stadium in '09, that didn't happen, came close in college and didn't quite get there. Do those experiences of having been so close to winning it all sort of whet your appetite to take it the distance here? JERED WEAVER: I appreciate you bringing that up (laughing). I think that just means that I'm the bad luck charm in everything. No, like you said, I've been really close in a lot of situations. College we were one game away from going to the World Series. Even getting as far as playing the Yankees there and losing in that Game 6. I think that it just makes you strive for more. I mean, obviously, the only thing I play for is to win, and that's all I've played this game for is to win and the competitive nature of it. Whenever you fall short being that close it pushes you to work harder for the next season and pushes you to get to the next level. We had that opportunity again to extend our season, and it's up to us to try to decide on how far we want to go with this. I think everybody in that clubhouse wants to win a World Series, and that is the mentality you have to have. We've got a great group of guys. Like I said, it's been a fun clubhouse to be part of this whole season, and we're going to try to push on to get to our main goal, and that is to win. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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