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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS ROYALS

October 22, 2015

David Price

Kansas City, Missouri - Workout Day

Q. You tweeted earlier today that you were concerned about the media twisting your words. What's that about? Who twisted what?
DAVID PRICE: I'm not upset with how things have transpired throughout the playoffs. The situation that we've been in, we're a man down in the pen, especially with Cecil going down, being our main left-handed pitcher out there. Then Loupy, whatever is going on with him right now. So we don't have a lefty in the pen.

And I understand that, I get it, and at this point in the season you've got to be ready for whatever. I mean, if I would have gotten in that game yesterday, I'm sure Stroman might have pitched Game 6 and I'd be ready for Game 7. I didn't see it to be a big deal.

Texas might have been a little bit weird, but we've definitely moved past that. There's good communication, they definitely keep me in the loop with what could happen, the type of situation that I could be in the game, and I'm open for that.

Q. I heard you were just out there throwing a couple pitches off the mound and in the outfield. You said you don't usually throw between starts. Was that just stretching out?
DAVID PRICE: No, I just played catch, like normal. That was Stroman that was throwing off the mound. He's about two feet shorter than me (laughter).

I just played catch, just like day before the start you want to go out there and play catch, so that's what I did with my catch partner.

Q. A lot has been made of your Postseason numbers, especially a pitcher of your caliber, you're in the Cy Young discussion this year, you had a phenomenal regular season, and Postseason, even your last start, six glorious innings and the seventh inning fell apart. What do you attribute that to, your struggles?
DAVID PRICE: You know, trying to be too good, trying to be maybe too fine or whatever it is. I know what I'm capable of doing, I think everybody in this room knows what I'm capable of doing. And I think I just kind of want to do it too bad.

And it's been long overdue for me to get a win as a starter in the playoffs. And I'll be ready to change that story tomorrow.

Q. I think you said after the Goins play, you said that you could have recovered from it better. Considering all the success in your career and everything you've ever done, does this very small Postseason sample start to creep into your head at all? Do you start to think, Oh, no, it's happening again, or do you have to keep yourself from thinking that?
DAVID PRICE: Yeah, you have to continue to put positive thoughts in your head, and that's what I was doing. Zobrist's ball drops in and I had Lorenzo up first, and I wanted to get a ground ball double play. I moved on from it. Good piece of hitting, shot the ball in the right field, and then a couple more singles.

It happens. That's baseball. I definitely would have preferred not gotten how many it was in the seventh inning, but just go out there and make pitches. I know good things are going to happen for me.

Q. Do you feel out of rhythm considering the 11 days off, the three days, then relief and then throwing again yesterday, does that impact you at all?
DAVID PRICE: No, I don't think so. At this point in the season everybody kind of feels the same. But when you get to the playoffs it definitely gives you that extra added adrenaline or it just makes your body feel that much better. I don't think that 11 days off had anything to do with it or throwing out of the bullpen. If anything, it gives you more repetition, if anything it might help me.

Q. In that seventh inning they had a string of really great at-bats against you. When you went back and reviewed it did you think it's the pitch I threw, the execution or it was them just having a good run? And also I wanted to ask you the background of the Shieldsie sign you have in your locker?
DAVID PRICE: That's what Kansas City does. They don't hit a ton of home runs. They definitely have a lot of guys in the lineup that can hit homers, but that's not what they try to do. They try to string hits together, put the pressure on the defense with their team speed, steal bases, produce runs with outs, and that's what they've done really well. That's how they won the Central. That's how they got to the World Series last year, pitching and defense and timely hitting, and that's what they did in the seventh inning.

Q. The Shields sign?
DAVID PRICE: That's something that we had while we were in Tampa. We had a lot of the pitchers that sat -- I guess our lockers were all connected and we call it the row. And that was a sign that Shields had, I guess it's like a yield sign, right before you go into the food room. It says: If you don't like it, pitch better.

Q. As a student of the game, what do you feel about the notion it's happened with Kershaw, it's happened with you, pitchers of your caliber get defined by your Postseason performance. Is that fair?
DAVID PRICE: Sure. I guess this is the time that counts. What I did in the regular season doesn't matter. I get it.

But I know I'm a good pitcher. I know I'm a very good pitcher. Good things are going to happen. Everybody is going to say whatever they want to say and write what they want to write. And I completely get that, but I know good things are going to happen.

Q. You hadn't seen a lot of the Royals lineup at all in your career until really this year, this is the fourth time you start against them this year. You talked earlier about what they do. Specifically what are the tough parts of the lineup or is it tough top to bottom?
DAVID PRICE: They got Alex Gordon hitting in the 8-hole. So it's a pretty good lineup. And you've got Rios hitting in the 9-hole. He's been a top-of-the-order guy, at least a middle-of-the-order guy for his entire career. It's a tough lineup. They use their speed. They're not going to beat themselves. And that's what you've got to do at this point in the season. Right now in baseball you have to go out there and be defensively sound, pull together good at-bats. Whenever you do that you put the ball in play, you have a chance for good things to happen.

Q. You talked earlier this Postseason about maybe going through a little bit of a period where you didn't have the command that you normally do. What are some of the indications that you've had or look for to tell you that you're getting it back?
DAVID PRICE: First six innings from five or six days ago, I felt good. It's the best I've felt in a while.

But that happens. You're going to have those three-, four-game streaks where you don't really have it. And that's when you've got to be able to go out there and pitch better.

Any pitcher can go out there and put up good numbers or have success whenever they feel good, and they're commanding the baseball all over the plate with all their pitches. That's the definition I guess of a great pitcher, the ones that can go out there and win when they don't have their best stuff.

And I've done that many times. I did it this year. I've done it many times in my career. I know I can do it right now. I would love to have my best stuff tomorrow with my good command and being able to locate the ball all over the plate. But if not, I know my stuff is still good enough to go out there and compete and to win.

Q. Did yesterday's win change any kind of outlook going into tomorrow's game?
DAVID PRICE: No, no. We've got to win. We all know that. This is the same situation we were in against Texas in the Division Series. So this team does a really good job of focusing in on the task at hand, and that's the game tomorrow. We don't look ahead to Game 7. We're not talking about Game 5 in the clubhouse. Everybody has forgotten that game. It was a very good win for us. But we've moved on.

And that's what this team has done an extremely good job of ever since I've been here. It's been pretty impressive.

Q. Do you feel like you have something to prove?
DAVID PRICE: Yeah, I haven't got a win as a starter in the playoffs. I guess I have to prove that I can pitch at this point in the season in the playoffs. I get that. But I don't have to go out there and prove that I'm a good pitcher. I think I've done that over the seven years of my career.

So I'm just going to go out there, throw my game, have fun, have good things happen, get good results and good things are going to happen, I know they are.

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