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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DODGERSOctober 3, 2014Zack GreinkeLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One THE MODERATOR: Who has the first question for Zack Greinke? When you look at your guys' rotation, everyone's talking about Clayton Kershaw, how great he's been and Ryu gets a lot of attention because his injuries and stuff. You're in between those guys just going out and winning games. Does it bother you that you don't seem to get the attention you deserve? ZACK GREINKE: I guess I haven't really thought about that. I don't know the level of attention I'm getting at the moment, so I don't have a good way to respond to that question. Q. You had about a week rest from your last start. Do you think that might affect you, your timing, your rhythm? ZACK GREINKE: I got normal rest. These questions are going to get better; this is a normal rest for me. Q. You had a great deal of success against St. Louis last year in the NLCS. What did you learn from that, how do you carry it over, does it even mean anything as you're preparing for starts this year against them? ZACK GREINKE: My experience with them, I pitched pretty well. Some of the games I've done good, though they have hit the ball hard a lot and just somehow got outs. I don't really know how to explain it. They always hit a lot of line drives and in the playoffs they had bases loaded, no outs and got out of it somehow in the first inning. Then had a couple balls hit really hard to center and just because they're center, just stayed up in the air long enough that it didn't hurt too much. Wasn't like I pitched bad, but I think I got a little lucky along those lines also with some big situations a ball being hit at someone. They're really a tough team all the way, because they just are real deep through their lineup. Q. To follow‑up on that, as far as seeing them as much as you have, do you have to fight yourself to try and overthink your game plan against them and try not to outthink yourself? ZACK GREINKE: No, it's probably easier ‑‑ I guess with their team it's not necessarily easier, because they're a smarter team than most. But the fact is I've faced them a bunch, so I kind of know some of their holes and where I like to pitch them. But then they also have a couple guys on their team that are really smart hitters that make adjustments faster than other guys. Like Jon Jay's an example. One year we were getting him out and the next year he was hitting and then the next year we were getting him out, he was like chasing off speed, and then now he's good at off ‑‑ so, I don't know if he consciously does this, but he's just an example of a Cardinal player that makes adjustments better than most other teams do. Q. In late August you had a little bit of an elbow issue. You mentioned you thought you would be able to pitch at less than a hundred percent, but still at a hundred percent effectiveness. A, were you able to do that to your satisfaction the rest of the year and have you had any problems with the elbow since then? ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, it's slowly gotten better as time has went on. So it's better now than it was two weeks ago and then two weeks ago it was better than it was a month ago. Q. Is there any extra motivating factor for after the Cardinals beat you guys last year, revenge at all? ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, I mean, it's the playoffs, so there's plenty of motivation. But the Cardinals have knocked me out both of the times in the playoffs, so it's not any more motivation, but it's kind of tough losing to the same team twice. Q. How different is this Cardinal lineup from the one you prepared for in the playoffs last year? ZACK GREINKE: I don't think it's that much different. I guess they got some new outfielder, I guess. I never faced him, so I don't know much about him. Wong at second and Peralta, that might be about it. But, I mean, Peralta's a pretty good hitter in the middle of the lineup, so that is pretty tough. But Craig was really good last year, so I guess that might even out a little bit. I think Kozma might have played against me, so having a lefty like Wong is a little tougher for someone like me than a righty. Q. What do you remember about that Game 5 of last year where you guys were a 3‑1 hole and you pitched the team back to St. Louis for Game 6? ZACK GREINKE: I remember it was just a tough series and they were swinging the bat good. I guess I don't remember it too well at all. I haven't thought about it a bunch. I know Kelly seemed to pitch pretty good it seemed like against us and I guess that's all I remember. Q. I know you pitched in Kansas City in a while, but I don't know if you've had chance to watch a couple playoff games so far or if you have any thoughts on what that might mean for Kansas City and if you would have liked to have pitched for that team that they have got going this year. ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, I mean they got ‑‑ it is exciting. They got the best defense in the history of baseball, maybe, so that would always be good to pitch with that behind you. But it's been fun watching them play. I've been watching them whenever we were home and they were playing. That game against Oakland was pretty awesome. I don't know, it's been a good game and it's tough they're playing the Angels, Angels/Royals now, so I played with both those teams. But Kansas City, I'm pretty happy for them. Q. Is there a difference in the way you approach the post‑season as opposed to the regular season? Is it the same approach, you just go out and go through your regimen or is there something that you do special? ZACK GREINKE: It's pretty similar. I guess you're just a little more focused, I guess. The guys usually say something about like experience in the playoffs is good and after being in a couple times, I think that's true, because the first time you kind of don't know what to expect and I know the second time I felt a lot more comfortable out on the mound and just kind of staying with your normal pitching and like get a couple guys on base on some blew pitch you don't necessarily try to strike out the next three guys, you just stay with what you do. The first time it's kind of tough because you're like, man, this might be, I mean you might just try a little too hard and it's been better, the second time was easier and hopefully this time will be even better. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, Zack. ZACK GREINKE: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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