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NL WILDCARD GAME: ROCKIES VS DIAMONDBACKS

October 3, 2017

Zack Greinke

Phoenix, Arizona

Q. Back in your time when you were with the Diamondbacks (Indiscernible)?
ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, had a good team and had pretty much the same team, so, yeah.

Q. How do you blockout the pressure of a big game like this?
ZACK GREINKE: I just focus on what you do getting ready and do your normal scouting report and just try to make good pitches and hopefully the results work out good, but can't guarantee that.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
ZACK GREINKE: Been playing good.

Q. What is the advantage of playing the Rockies at home from your perspective?
ZACK GREINKE: I don't really know. That's a very good question. They probably like cancel each other out. So if it's an advantage for one team, it's an advantage for the other team, so I don't know. I would say there's probably not any advantage and not any disadvantage.

Q. (Indiscernible) this Rockies lineup, just talk about the difficulty of navigating it, and how do you attack this group?
ZACK GREINKE: They're kind of deep. They have some good, pure hitters at the top of the order, and some good power hitters at the bottom. So I guess it's different type of hitters, but they have value all the way to the eight spot, and then most of their pitchers are pretty decent athletes compared to some other teams.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
ZACK GREINKE: Just started.

Q. What's made you so effective here in this ballpark, do you think?
ZACK GREINKE: I haven't looked at the numbers to tell you how effective or not effective I've been, but I guess looking back at it, there was only one game I can remember not pitching good and that was against the Marlins. So when you pitch good and you make good pitches, the results are going to be better. On the road, there's probably been like three or four games where I didn't think I pitched that good. So maybe just being more consistent at home this year.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
ZACK GREINKE: Just lucky that those are the days I felt good.

Q. My question is about facing the Rockies last year. You had some struggles especially early against that team and this year much more success. What, specifically, did you do differently, maybe just in looking at that lineup and doing things differently maybe this year to attack them?
ZACK GREINKE: I remember pitching bad the first game last year against them, and can't remember for sure the other ones. The results might not have been great, but I don't really remember the games off the top of my head. But this year, I mean, every game I've pitched against them I've felt really, really good this year to where after the game they got three runs or something and my mind was like, man, I should have done even better with how good I felt. So I felt really good in the games pitching against them so far this year.

Q. As you mentioned, with the pitching staff in particular, a lot of the guys that were here this year were here last year. Yet almost to a man everybody has better numbers, and in some cases dramatically. What can you point to being the factors for this staff-wide improvement?
ZACK GREINKE: I think throughout the year we've talked about some of this, but last year everyone pretty much everyone underachieved. Didn't pitch really good. As the season went on, the first month I thought we didn't pitch that bad but the results were bad. As the season went on, it kind of just kept getting worse. Maybe just because we didn't see the results the first month, and it kind of made us try to change. I'm not positive. This year it worked out good from the beginning, and just kind of continued.

Defense has gotten a little bit better, and we have a different game plan this year with a different person giving the scouting reports. I don't know how much that has contributed, but a couple different things. Pitching could just kind of go off of keeping the momentum going.

Q. What's gone on the last two starts against Miami and Kansas City?
ZACK GREINKE: Just pitched bad against Miami, and then Kansas City, did all right. Just kind of fine-tuning some pitches. The home run was just like a decent pitch. The guy hit it good.

The rest of the game I wasn't really that upset with it, so feel good going into this game coming up. But Miami was bad. It was one of those really bad games and just felt bad. Didn't make good adjustments. Their offense is really good, and just was a really bad combination.

Q. When this franchise brought you here, the expectations immediately were raised. They brought you in for situations like this, games like this. What's it like to be in this situation? Is this a role that you relish?
ZACK GREINKE: I mean, it's nice being in the playoffs and in big games, but I guess I don't really think about the situation too much. I mean, it would be nice to have a good game and win, and it would be bad if it didn't go that way. But I've just got to prepare, do what you can, make as many good pitches as you can. I don't know.

I feel good going into it. I feel pretty prepared. All my pitches feel good, so I'll be doing as good as I can do. We'll see how it is, but it will be as good as I can do.

So I'll be at least knowing going in that I did everything I can to get ready and pitch in a good situation, and hopefully it works out.

Q. What are your thoughts on who you may have behind the plate tomorrow, and how have you worked with each of those guys?
ZACK GREINKE: Was there another question of who is catching tomorrow? I mean, that's not my job who is catching tomorrow, I guess. Was that your question?

Q. I'm just curious how you worked with them?
ZACK GREINKE: They've both done good. Worked really good with Jeff, and then I've worked with Chris for a while now. We're working good. So they're both good.

Q. How do you personally handle the pressure of pitching in a one-game win or go home situation?
ZACK GREINKE: I guess we'll see tomorrow. I don't know. One game I kind of remember was St. Louis in the playoffs when I was with L.A. I think they had bases loaded and no outs, maybe, in the first inning. I was like, man, this is a bad situation, but I made good pitches going into it.

I made one mistake, if I remember right. I hit John Jay who had like 25 hit by pitches that year, and I tried to throw a fastball in and it missed by two inches and he leaned into it. Afterwards I was like, man, I knew going in I can't miss off the plate in. So that was one mistake I made to get the bases loaded. Once I had that, I was like, trust your pitches, make your pitches. That's all you can do. If you try to strikeout the next three guys, that's not doing what you normally do. So just got to keep making your pitches. That was just my mindset, and that's my mindset going into this game too.

Q. If I remember correctly, didn't you have deGrom in Game 5 last year or two years ago? That was a pretty tight game all the way too.
ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, I pitched as good as I can that game. It didn't work out Murphy was on fire. Maybe he didn't realize how hot he was, but the plan going in was not letting Cespedes beat you, and I think Cespedes was behind him.

So Murphy got a home run. He got a double the first time, and then he also walked someone and he went like first to third because there was a shift on.

So I pitched as good as I could that game, but he was -- I mean, he was just beating me that game and I made a mistake not covering that base, which was a weird play. I don't know if I've seen it ever besides then. That was a tough one.

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