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MLB WORLD SERIES: GIANTS v ROYALSOctober 20, 2014James ShieldsKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI: Workout Day Q.  You've faced this Giants team in August - complete game shutout. How much do you draw on that experience for this preparation? JAMES SHIELDS: I mean, I probably draw a little bit, but not too much. Obviously the postseason is a different beast, and they're on a nice roll right now. So I'm definitely going to look at some video and see how I pitched against them last time, and make adjustments as the game goes on. Q. 11 days between starts, how have you stayed sharp? JAMES SHIELDS: You know, just resting. Resting and some bullpen, some bullpen action, and just trying to repeat my delivery in my bullpen sessions. I think this late in the year almost too much throwing is too much. So I've just kind of rested my body up for tomorrow. Q. You have thrown a lot of innings again this year, like you do every year. How much did you need this rest? JAMES SHIELDS: It's always good to have some rest. But my body feels great. My body has felt great all season long, and I feel like this is what we train for, to be able to last this long. Everything feels good right now, and shouldn't be any issues. Q. How much pride do you have and your teammates have about not only that you're here, but how you've gotten here, just the 8‑0 and establishing some extra special place in baseball history? JAMES SHIELDS: We definitely take a lot of pride in it. I think this city has been waiting for this for a long time, and the fact that we're doing it in the fashion that we are is tremendous. I mean, it's definitely a special, special moment for us to be able to do that. With that said, this is our goal in Spring Training. This is our goal in Spring Training, and we had one mindset, and that was to go to the World Series and win it. And to be able to be here on this big stage is exactly what we've been working really hard for all season long, and we're really happy to be here right now. Q. This is a little off topic: At the media session today your teammates, I asked a bunch of your teammates who the best dressed person on the team was, and most of them answered you. They said on travel days you're all about style and everything. Can you address that? JAMES SHIELDS: (Laughing) I don't necessarily call it style, but I wear my suit when we go on the road. I mean, I guess that's an honor. I don't know (laughing). I'm not really too prideful in the way I dress. I like to look halfway decent. Q. A lot of your teammates say one of the things you brought with you here was not just pitching ability or teaching ability, but the mood, the aura, relaxing each other. What are the things you've learned over the years that you've tried to give to them? JAMES SHIELDS: I've had a lot of good teammates in my career. I definitely thank guys like Eric Hinske, Cliff Floyd, Jonny Gomes. Guys like that, they've really paved the way for me to be able to experience the things that I've experienced. When I got traded over here, my mindset was just to be myself and have fun, and I feel like I take every single day like that. I think every game is precious, and as a little kid this is what we dreamed about doing, so there is no reason why we can't have fun out here and enjoy the moment. Q. What are the things you do to make it fun for them? JAMES SHIELDS: Just keep the clubhouse loose, really. I feel like everybody's a leader in their own way, and you have just got to bring it out of them. I think the guys have really adapted to that. I think that our clubhouse is as loose as it possibly can get right now, and I think it shows out on the field. Q. A couple of guys have said you've got a great move, a great pickoff move, great move to first. What type of pressure does a team put on a pitcher that when they come in, you know they're a running team, they take pride in being a running team and want to put pressure on, what type of pressure does that put on a pitcher? JAMES SHIELDS: I mean, if you're able to control the running game and you understand the running game, and you're understanding your ability in how to control the running game, it doesn't put any pressure on a pitcher. I believe if you have a good time to home plate, I believe you can identify leads at first base. And that is one of the reasons why I kind of dip down, so I can identify a lead. But I feel like if you know how to control a running game over there, it makes your job a lot easier. I take pride in my running game, and I feel like it's a fifth pitch of mine. I feel if I can keep them at bay at first base, it sets up double plays. They're not in scoring position, and you're going to get more outs that way and less runs. If you don't know how to control the running game, I would imagine it's definitely a little harder than normal. Q. Obviously when they acquired you here a few years ago, it was maybe a little uncharacteristic move for them. Obviously, they felt like they really had a chance to win here. I'm just curious, when you came over, did you feel maybe a different kind of pressure to deliver on that or maybe take on a little bit different responsibility in terms of from the leadership standpoint than you did in Tampa? JAMES SHIELDS: Like I said before, I came over here with one mindset and that was just to be myself. I can only do so much out on the field. I pitch once every five days, and my job is to go out there and try to get a win every five days. With that said, I also feel like I'm a leader in this clubhouse. I feel like I'm a leader on the pitching staff, and I have high expectations of our starting rotation. I believe that if we go deep in the game, we save the bullpen. We're going to be good all season long, and I think that helps everybody out. I didn't have too much pressure at all. Q. The Giants have a lot more postseason experience than the Royals do. Do you think the Royals can overcome that just because of the way you've played in this postseason and the momentum you've generated and just how much the team has grown in these last eight games? JAMES SHIELDS: I've had that question asked of me quite a bit. They do have a lot of experience over there, but I feel like over the last couple months we've gained so much experience because we did have to play playoff baseball in September. We had to play against the Yankees, the Tigers. We were playing playoff baseball since September started. So I think the roll that we're getting on right now and the confidence we have in our clubhouse, and the character that we have in our clubhouse is going to take us a long way. So we're not too worried about the experience factor. We're just more worried about winning games and trusting our ability. Q. If I could follow up on that, have you wrapped your minds around 8‑0 in the postseason or do you try not to think about that? JAMES SHIELDS: We'll probably think more about it after the season is over, after this World Series is over. But, yeah, guys understand what we've gone through and what we've done. But I think these guys are so focused right now. The willingness to win is at an all‑time high right now. So I don't think that we're really too worried about what's happened right now. We're just worried about winning these next four games here. Q. Overall how would you assess how you've pitched in these playoffs? JAMES SHIELDS: I mean, not to‑‑ I haven't pitched the way I wanted to. There is no doubt about it. I feel like I definitely could pitch better. But with that said, I feel really good. My bullpen sessions have been really good, and I feel as good as I can feel right now. So I'm a big believer in amnesia. I've been doing it my whole entire career, and I've had a bunch of bad outings, and I've also come back from them, so I'm not too really worried about it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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