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AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS RED SOXOctober 8, 2018Rick PorcelloNew York, New York - pregame 3 Q. Initially, I guess, before you came in relief, you were going to start today, then they moved it to tomorrow. Did that affect anything in terms of your preparation? RICK PORCELLO: No, not at all. Just kind of seeing how everything shapes up. Especially in the short series, you got to be ready for anything. I was prepared to pitch Game 1 and ready to pitch Game 4 now. Q. How much are you looking forward to pitching Game 4 against the Yankees? RICK PORCELLO: This is what it's all about. You get an opportunity to have the ball in Yankee Stadium, Game 4, this is the culmination of the entire season leads up to your opportunities in the postseason. So I'm definitely looking forward to that and giving us a chance to win. Q. There's been a lot of talk about David Price's struggles in October and then against the Yankees. What kind of support have you as a friend and teammate been able to offer him the last couple of days? RICK PORCELLO: The same as we offer each other at any point during the season. That's what good teammates, good clubhouses, that's what it's made of. We're all in this together. Anything happens over the course of a game. It's easy to point fingers at an individual, but over the course of any game, we all have something that we can do to help us win or do better, especially when we take a loss. So none of this is ever entirely on David's shoulders or one player. We all can do something better. We can score more runs. We can play better defense. We can pitch better in relief. We can do a lot of things better. It's not just on his shoulders. We all take responsibility for wins and losses, and that's how we move forward. Q. Rick, it's hard to pitch better than you did against the Yankees in that game at Fenway in August. Can you take anything from that game into this one? And what was it that night that maybe you can apply again? RICK PORCELLO: I just think attacking their hitters. That's the biggest thing. These guys are very good hitters. They're very well coached. They have a solid approach. If you fall behind guys, you give them the opportunity to see pitches in the strike zone. That's the only way you can get back into the count because they're disciplined and they don't chase a lot. I think attacking, being aggressive, and go from there. Q. You mentioned after Game 1 that for starting pitchers, creatures of habit this time of year, a lot of that is out the window, and you have to be ready for anything. Did you have to learn that at any point, or did anybody else teach you that when you were younger? RICK PORCELLO: I think some of my experiences in Detroit, I started postseason games in Detroit, came out of the bullpen. Just seeing what transpires, especially in a short series in five games, each game is essential. I mean, it's not a seven-game set. You've got to do whatever you can. If you have the lead that night, you've got to do whatever you can to win, and if that means starting pitchers pitching, that's what it means. I saw that in Detroit a little bit, had some experience coming out of the bullpen. I think that helped me a little bit with my preparation and just understanding different mindsets as a starter to come out of the pen. Q. Rick, how will you watch the game differently tonight knowing that you're not going to come out of the pen versus the first two games? Do you do anything differently in terms of how you view the hitters? RICK PORCELLO: I'm not going to watch it any differently than I would watch any other game. We play these guys a lot during the course of the season. There's a familiarity there that you know what you got to do. It's just a matter of going out there and doing it. So I think the postseason's more about channeling yourself, trying to get -- whatever's going, your adrenaline, your blood pressure, everything's kind of pumping and being able to take a step back, deep breath, and execute pitches the way you know how. To me, that's the most important thing. They're not doing anything that we haven't seen them do the entire course of the season. They're hitting home runs. They're swinging the bats well. That's what they do. I'll obviously watch tonight and watch Nathan and how he's going about guys, but we have different game plans, we have different stuff. So the way he might get somebody out isn't necessarily the way I'm going to get them out. It's just for me kind of staying in my own mind of trying to stay locked in and execute the pitches I need to execute. Q. Rick, as somebody who grew up not too far from here, to pitch in a postseason game in the Bronx in October, how many people do you think will be coming? And how much is this something you probably thought a lot about when you were a kid? RICK PORCELLO: First of all, I learned how to say no, so there's not that many people coming today or tomorrow. Yeah, I have a lot of friends that are envious of the position I'm in right now. I get the opportunity to pitch against the Yankees in the postseason with the seasons that we've both had and kind of the -- I guess the energy between us. It's been exciting playing these guys this year. I couldn't think of a better spot to be in as a big leaguer getting the opportunity to have the ball for Game 4 in Yankee Stadium. That's what it's all about. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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