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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS CUBSOctober 19, 2016Kenta MaedaLos Angeles, California - Pregame 4 Q. Your last four starts have not been to the standards that you had shown earlier this season. One would correlate that to being late in the year. Are you okay physically? Is everything fine? You're strong and healthy? KENTA MAEDA: It's the end of the season, but I'm feeling fine physically. Q. How do you feel your stuff responds when you have the standard four days of rest versus five or more days of rest? KENTA MAEDA: Not really. It just depends. Sometimes I have a good outing or feel good with four days of rest, five days of rest, six days of rest. And there's days when I don't feel good with four, five or six. Q. You pitched in the Climax Series, which is postseason in Japan, twice. But this time around in the States you've been pitching a little bit longer in the postseason. How do you feel mentally? Do you feel nervous? KENTA MAEDA: I think it's a really good experience having to experience the postseason this long. In terms of whether I feel satisfied at this point, no, because I haven't been pitching well. So I'm looking forward to pitching well this time around. Q. I'm sure how you start pitching in the games that you start is very important. So what is your approach going to be this time around? Are you going to be more careful in the first few innings or are you going to go all out? KENTA MAEDA: I'm not going to be too careful, even though I haven't been pitching well in the postseason. What I'm going to be really focused on is just pitching well tomorrow and not worry too much about what I have done in the past. Q. Regardless of what happens tonight, that game tomorrow is going to be very important. Either it's going to be the game that sends the Dodgers to the World Series, or the game that it could be tied. Could you talk a little bit about the importance of pitching this game? Also, how you feel about pitching here where you have pitched so well all year? KENTA MAEDA: It's going to be an important game for the team, but it's going to be an important game for myself too. I haven't been doing well, so I really want to -- I have the desire to really want to do well, and that's what I'm going to try to do tomorrow. Q. Having pitched against the Cubs already, is there anything that you are more aware of, for example, are you going to be a little bit more careful against a certain hitter? Can you tell us about anything that you learned last time around? KENTA MAEDA: I'm going to be very aware of the hitters who are hot and who are hitting well. I think this time around I can, I think, better imagine how I'm going to get these guys out. I remember how each hitter reacted to a certain pitch, so I'm going to base off that when I pitch again tomorrow. Q. Your former team has advanced to the Japan Series. How inspiring is that? And how much would it mean to be playing for a championship here while they're playing for a championship there? KENTA MAEDA: I think for myself and for our fans in Japan, I think it's a good thing that the Hiroshima Carp and the Dodgers are deep into the postseason. I do feel it's a very complicating feeling that the Carp have made it this far without myself. But I'm very happy for them, and I really want to win it for the Dodgers, and I'm wishing the very best of luck for the Carp. Q. I've heard about the wristband that Yasmani wears that allows you two to communicate during the course of games. How helpful has that been to you this season? And what is your favorite phrase that is on that wristband? KENTA MAEDA: What's written on the wristband is just signs in general. Yas makes an effort to try to communicate by speaking Japanese to me, terms that are more familiar to me. So it helps a lot to have that. Q. Is it motivating to pitch after having Kershaw and Hill pitching well? Is it motivating for you to be pitching after that, or do you kind of cut that off and not think about that? KENTA MAEDA: Kershaw and Hill pitching well is very stimulating for me and very good for the team, and so I want to continue that success. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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