AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 17, 2021

Eduardo Rodriguez

Fenway Park

Boston Red Sox

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. How are you doing? Obviously, Alex had a couple choices to pitch this game tomorrow. How excited are you that you are getting the ball for this one?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: Just having the opportunity to start this game tomorrow is huge for me to be here and know that he trusts me to start the game tomorrow. It's huge. It's really big for me.

Q. Eddie, just what has impressed you about the Astros lineup through the first couple of games? What makes them challenging?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I mean, they can hit. If you make a mistake, they can hit the ball out of the ballpark every time you make a mistake, so that's something we got to really be ready for tomorrow. Just go out there tomorrow, execute the plan that I make with Vázquez tomorrow and go out there and do the best we can to keep the game in position to win the game. That's all the plan for tomorrow.

Q. What do you think you need to change from the first two starts against him this year, and how do you think you're different now than you were then maybe?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: The difference, I will say, I can start against a team four or five times in the regular season. Everything goes in the command and control. If I've got a really good command that day, it's going to be a good game. If I don't have it, it's going to be a bad game, no matter who you are starting, no matter what team is it. They're in the Big Leagues, and that's the way I see it. If you don't have your command, you're going to get crushed all over the place.

Q. Do you have to shape your curveball differently to the different righty batters that Houston has? They have so many good right-handed hitters. I wonder how different of a change-up do you have to throw one hitter to the next because of that?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I will say I really never do that. I just go up there with what I have in that game. If my change-up is working, I use it no matter who the hitter is. The slider, the cutter, the four-seam. If it's working, no matter who is out there, I use it. I don't really change the shape of my pitches on any hitter.

Q. You've played in a few postseason games at Fenway now. Can you talk about the difference in the environment in '18 versus now, and, also, how much weight do you put into the whole home-field advantage, especially when your home field is Fenway Park?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: Difference from '18 to now, I don't see that much difference because it's postseason, you know? I will say just how crazy the people will be every time we play here.

And home-field advantage, you always have to have that when you play in the postseason. For us it's amazing to play here and hear all our fans cheering for us over here. It's perfect. That's the atmosphere we want, especially as a starting pitcher. You go out there, and everybody is cheering for you. Every time you throw a strike or strike out somebody, that's a feeling that I love to hear every time out there on the mound, you know?

Q. Obviously, last year was tough for you and you got a lot of attention too. Do you feel 100%? Do you feel like you're fully past that?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I've been throwing 30-plus starts this year. If you ask me that -- that shows you everything. I'm 100%. I got two starts already in the postseason. I'm 100% on everything. Last year was last year. It's already in the past. I'm thinking about this year and helping the team to win the World Series this year, which is the whole goal.

Q. COVID still remains a big factor in our world, right, and do you get bothered when people say, oh, it's only older people who get impacted by it, or do you pay much attention to any of the debate back and forth?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I just feel like everybody has their own -- choose to see the way they want to see everything. Even with the vaccine, if you want to get or not, it's your choice. Everybody has the right mind to do what they want, and that's the way I see it all the time.

I just want everybody to be safe because I know how it is. I know how it feels, and I just got to send thanks to God to be here because a lot of people are dead already because of that, and I just am glad to be here.

Q. Alex has, obviously, been very aggressive in how he has used the bullpen so far this postseason. How does that affect you from a mental perspective knowing that he could go to the bullpen second, third, or fourth inning if things aren't going the way that he likes?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I will say that as long as I can be out on the mound and he give me the opportunity to get guys out even if it's just three outs, five innings, three innings, four, seven, eight, whatever, I just do my job as long as I'm out on the mound. That's the way I see it. That's the best way to see it because I feel like if you thinking go eight innings all the time and he takes you out in the fourth, you're going to get mad. I feel like the only way that you can get to this is just go out there and get the outs that they give you the opportunity to get. That's the way I see it.

Q. Do you remember how old you were the first time you met Jose Altuve and how important is Altuve to the Venezuelan baseball culture?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: That's the little guy of Venezuela, man. He is just a special player. That was my first, yeah, 2015 when we played in Houston, that's the first time I met him. I was with Pablo Sandoval that day, and he called him, and I met him, and after that we have a really good relation, good friends. We talk every time we play each other, and even in the offseason too. I can't wait to play in the WBC with him, next time we play together and having him as a teammate.

He is a tough guy to get out. Really tough guy to get out. I just got to find a way to get him out two or three times tomorrow, and I'm going to be glad with that.

Q. You seem really relaxed. How much pressure are you putting on yourself in this pivotal Game 3?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I'll will say a couple of years ago if I was in this position, I had a lot of pressure, but now I just take every game as a game. You have to go out there and pitch even if it's the first game of the season or the last game of the season or World Series or whatever. You have to think, go out there and think it's a regular game, you know? That's the way I see it. That's the way I see it all the time now, go out there and do my job and don't think too much. That's the thing that's the best way to take the pressure away from your mind.