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NL DIVISION SERIES: DODGERS VS METS

October 13, 2015

Clayton Kershaw

Flushing, New York - Postgame four

Los Angeles Dodgers 3 New York Mets 1

THE MODERATOR: First question for Clayton.

Q. Clayton, what was going through your mind seventh inning and the first ball tips off your glove, looked like you were a little bit frustrated out there. How did you get through all that?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: That's really the first question I'm answering? I don't -- I mean, yeah, it was frustrating to give up a hit like that. That's all I got for you. Good question.

Q. Clayton, you said yesterday you were happy Donnie had the faith to send you out there on short rest. You wanted to make him look good. Do you feel like you did that tonight?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: It felt good to get a win tonight. Absolutely. Definitely wanted to send this back to LA. I feel confident with Zack going in Game 5 back home. So really just wanted to push it. I really wanted to win tonight, definitely. For a lot of reasons, but obviously most important was just to give Zack a chance.

But yeah, it felt good to prove Donnie right, I guess, and get that opportunity.

Q. Given how the seventh inning went for you in some of your previous playoff starts, how important was it to go a complete seven tonight for you?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Glad I did it, I guess. I don't really -- I mean, there's no curse or anything. Just gotta get through the seventh. So I don't know.

Q. Clayton, haven't seen of the breakdown yet but it seems to the naked eye you might have used a higher percentage of fastballs in Game 1. Was that a conscious thing? Was it important just to change your approach facing them the second time?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: Yeah, it really wasn't by design but I think I probably did end up throwing more fastballs tonight, less sliders. Probably give A.J. credit on that. He felt confident throwing the heater tonight with a lot of guys and able to get some outs behind in the count on it, which was great. Able to get some jam shots and some pop-ups, which was big. But throwing fastballs will either get you in trouble or keep your pitch count down. So fortunately for me tonight it kind of kept it down a little bit.

Q. What did you know about Justin Turner when he showed up in your camp last year? And what have you enjoyed about playing with him?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: I knew him from playing in the Minor Leagues. He's with Cincinnati. I played him a lot in Low-A, faced him quite a few times, and he was a very good hitter in Low-A; tough guy to get out. And even when he was with the Mets he always was pinch-hitting against lefties. I think he started against me a few times and a really tough at-bat.

Honestly, I never thought he'd be this good of a hitter. You know, he's one of the best hitters in the game. So it's really, really impressive to see what he's been able to do since he got to us. We thought he'd be a great utility player, and he's turned out to be our three, four-hole hitter and our starting third baseman. So can't say enough about him.

Q. Last night was pretty loud here. Tonight at the beginning was pretty loud. Did you get a sense after you scored those runs that the place quieted down? How important was it to keep them quiet?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: Definitely. Anytime you get runs like that, you want to shut them down the next inning. This crowd is ready to erupt at any second they had any chance of a rally. So definitely get the first out. That was huge.

Yeah, it did quiet down when we got three runs. And you guys get back on and they started erupting pretty quick. It was a fun environment. Definitely happy to be going back home to LA, though. They like us a little better there, so it's good.

Q. Going back home with Zack on full rest and having survived tonight, do you feel like you guys now have the upper hand in the series?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: You know what, it's probably dead even, to be honest. As good as Zack is and has been the whole year, deGrom has been the same. So there's really no home-field advantage when you're facing a guy like deGrom. We saw that in Game 1. He's just very impressive, you know, just very tough to square up. If you can get strike outs on heaters like he can, it's really tough.

So definitely glad to be going home, though, you know, just to have the fans behind you is important, if we can get a rally going or something, and just the conformability of 0being home. But other than that, it's probably pretty dead even.

Q. Is there a different mindset, different strategy going on short rest? Are you more cognizant of the pitch count? Is there anything else different for you or are you basically the same?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: Not for me, but I think you're probably working with less pitches, just you know, there's no cognizant pitch count. But I know Donnie was probably -- I was probably on a little bit shorter leash tonight, I would bet. But for me, once today gets here, it's the same. It's just a regular start day. Obviously the days in between you have to shorten, but yeah, once you get to today, it's pretty much the same.

Q. Clayton, you clearly take your at-bats seriously. How big was that single? What did you see? And are you out there trying to start a rally there?
CLAYTON KERSHAW: I mean, honestly, I'm just trying to be annoying. I mean, that's -- once I get to two strikes, he threw a curveball that I buckled on, and to get to two strikes, and then I just kind of spread my stance out and just tried to foul pitches off, tried to be as annoying as possible. Barely nicked a fastball, and he happened to throw a strike curveball again and for some reason I got a hit. I don't know why or how, but I did. And I didn't end up scoring, but I think that maybe got the guys going a little bit, which was -- you know, that was the inning, so that was huge. I might do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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