|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NL DIVISION SERIES: DODGERS VS METSOctober 14, 2015Zack GreinkeLos Angeles, California - Workout Day Q. Before your start earlier in the series, I know you mentioned about how you like third start better than any other start, that you might have been a little too amped up for the playoff games and that might have hurt you. You're going to go into a winner-take-all fifth game here. What do you tell yourself or do to keep your nerves at bay? ZACK GREINKE: I mean, I guess I don't really know. I just try to keep it as simple as possible. I mean, sometimes it's not possible, but that's what you try -- that's what the goal is. Q. It sounds like Yasmani kind of evaluated that shoulder injury he's been dealing with. Are you equally confident with either catcher, and how does the two catchers you've worked with this year, how does that affect your ability to make pitches? ZACK GREINKE: They both have different strengths. I think I've pitched equally to either one. A.J.'s probably the best pitch caller and working with a pitcher on what's working and stuff similar to that in the game. And Yas works really well with me, and his physical skills and baseball skills are as good as anyone in the game, with framing and blocking and throwing. So they both have some strengths. Q. The couple times that you've faced the Mets this year you've thrown a lower percentage of fastballs. I'm wondering where do the Mets rank among the best fastball hitting team you've faced this year? ZACK GREINKE: I mean, there's a lot of good fastball hitting teams. I feel like, in general, lefties hit fastballs from right-handed pitchers better than right-handers hit fastballs from right-handed pitchers. So if you look at how I pitched them last time, I threw more fastballs to their righties and less fastballs to their lefties. And they had more lefties on those teams. So it ends up being more off-speed to that team because of the amount of lefties they have. But, you got to probably make somewhat of an adjustment because you can't just keep doing the same thing to a team, or else they'll make the adjustment and get a couple runs and it will be too late. So I have to find a way to mix more fastballs in against them this next time probably. Q. In the three years that you've been here, sort of the bridge between you and the other starters, and Kenley has always seemed to be in flux. I'm wondering two things: Number one, if you think that's still a work in progress even today, and number two, as you look at teams, I guess the Royals sort of set the standard now. Knowing how much you look at talent around the league, do you think it's more normal to have basically a bullpen in flux, or do you think it's reasonable to be able to identify guys in the 7th, 8th, and 9th? ZACK GREINKE: Sorry, that's a little tougher question for me to understand to be on the phone. But I think I understood what you meant by it. Just since I've been here, the first year in the playoffs with Wilson and Kenley and the 8 and 9, I felt like those probably as good of an 8, 9-inning guy there was that first year. Last year we had a little more issues in the 8th inning. This year I feel like Hatcher's been pitching pretty amazing as of late. So I feel pretty confident with those last two innings with those guys. Q. Do you think -- who are the exceptions? ZACK GREINKE: It's more the rule than the exception, is that what you said? Q. Yeah, when you look around the league, do you think it's harder to find guys for that role now or do you think it's easier? ZACK GREINKE: I guess I don't really know. I think in baseball, as a whole, bullpen had a higher ERA than it has the past couple of years. But I could be way off base with that. Q. My question is, first you faced Syndergaard, then deGrom. Now what is the difference for you? ZACK GREINKE: They both have amazing fastballs, and I just think deGrom might have a little more location. I don't know. They're both really fast, and they both are good hitting pitchers. So they're about as similar as you're going to get, I guess, with overall skill set. So that's pretty similar match-up. Just a little more experience from deGrom maybe. Q. When you face a team in two starts in a row, A, how do you like that, and B, does it require more thinking either going into the game plan or going into as the game sort of moves along? ZACK GREINKE: I mean, that's a really tough question too. It seems like in my experience usually you have one good game and one bad game. But the better you pitch, the better your chances are. So my plan is just to pitch as good as possible and hopefully it works out. Q. After your last start, I kind of asked you a little bit about your time in L.A. and it might be coming to an end and what you thought about all that. Since you kind of look back at these last three years and your experience here in Los Angeles, how closely has that matched up with what you expected when you signed here? ZACK GREINKE: I haven't thought about it too much, but everything's been great so far. I really can't think of anything not positive to say about the whole experience. It's all been good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|