AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES VS ASTROS

October 19, 2022

Justin Verlander

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Houston Astros - 4, New York Yankees - 2

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions for Justin.

Q. How important was it to get your breaking ball going there in the middle innings and when did you feel like you really had it moving forward?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Vitally important. It was a little loose early in the game. I was able to, particularly the slider, was able to make some adjustments, though, and kind of get that pitch where I wanted it to be, thank goodness, because the Yankees lineup is hard enough to face when you are on. When your stuff's not working, it's incredibly difficult. So I was really able to lean on it later in the game and obviously have some success with it.

Q. Why do you think you were able to get your stuff kind of rolling in that 4th inning forward and what are you telling yourself early in those innings that you're kind of trying to work through trouble?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Just telling yourself to keep making pitches. Stanton hit that one really hard to right, but there really weren't a ton of hard hit against me, so it was one of those things where I just kept telling myself, just keep making your pitches. And we got in that situation and had to go to the well there and just kind of let it all hang out because in the playoffs, in the regular season I might be okay giving up a run right there, maybe trying to just get a ground ball or whatever that early in the game, not trying to be so intense.

But in the playoffs, you don't have that luxury. So I gave it everything I had to try to get a couple strikeouts and was able to do that. Then from there, that kind of mentality, just keep making your pitches and a couple adjustments that I was able to make fairly quickly on the off-speed stuff really paid off.

Q. (No microphone.)

JUSTIN VERLANDER: No.

Q. You seemed to pick up steam after you got past maybe 80 or so. Can you talk about, did you feel something different or did you know it was like you got your second wind or how did you feel?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Well, I think as the game's going along, you just gain more confidence as you start making better pitches. Once I started being able to execute my pitches the way I wanted, I feel like my confidence just kind of built upon that and was able to, I felt like they had the momentum early as an offense against me, but I felt like I was able to kind of bring it back on my side and just kind of keep the pressure on them once that happened, and thankfully our boys came through with some big hits and the bullpen did their job like they usually do. That's how we win a lot of ball games.

Q. You've obviously been in a lot of playoff series. Would you be able to just discuss the importance of being able to come out and win the first game to kind of get the series off to a good note?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Yeah, I think you ask anybody in the playoffs would you rather win or lose Game 1, I think everybody has the same identical answer. You would rather win.

In a seven-game series, I think it's a little less important because you have a little bit longer than a five-game series. But obviously, getting out on a good note and winning the first one is, you kind of keep the momentum going. After we also had a few days off, it's nice to get back in the flow of the game and win one. I think I've said this before about our team. There's just zero complacency, ever. Just because we won Game 1 we understand that there's a hard road ahead of us still. We expect everybody to come out tomorrow just like it was, like we lost this game. That's the sense of urgency that we always have, particularly in the playoffs, but that's why I think these guys are so special because we do that in the regular season as well, but in the playoffs it's taking it to another level.

Q. The bottom of the second and third Rizzo with the shift on is almost halfway down the line. Is that disrupting at all? Do you think is there a chance this guy is going to try and steal home on me?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: I mean, yes, once we got to two strikes and Bregman shifted to the shortstop position, I did change out of the full windup to the stretch for that exact reason. I haven't seen somebody test it yet, but if he got much further off than he was, I feel like we have a foot race to the bag. I'm not the fleetest of foot anymore. I mean, I haven't, I don't know if Anthony and I, if he would, if him and I would like to be in a foot race. It wouldn't be very entertaining, I don't think.

But, yeah, I mean, I think had that not become part of the game of baseball this last few years with how many shifts have come into play, then, yes, it could become distracting and it would be something that I would probably concern myself with. He gave a couple juke moves. I did pay attention to him. But I've gotten used to that. I've gotten accustomed to that. I think a lot of pitchers have in today's game because it happens fairly regularly.

There was a brief moment, though, where he got pretty far off, and I was like, you know this is a foot race. And I thought about it. But instead I just went to the, I went to the stretch and decided to, I mean, do what we should do, which is focus on getting the hitter out. And what he's trying to do is take my distraction away from that, which I totally understand and have no issue, obviously no issue with.

But, yeah, to answer your question directly, it was not distracting for me, but it is part of the game now that I'm glad I've gotten used to before moments like this.

Q. What can you say about what Jeremy Peña has been doing, the poise that he's performing in the postseason, good at-bats, coming up with big hit after big hit?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Yeah, just a special kid. He's been doing it for us all year. It seems like in big spots he comes up. Even when he was struggling a little bit there for a little bit in the middle of the season, if his number was called in a big at-bat, it seemed like he came through for us.

So he's got that, I don't know, that "it" factor or whatever, that he seems to always rise to the challenge, and that's the type of players that you want in the playoffs, and he's showing why he's such a special player.

Q. I think you went through a stretch where you strike out seven of eight and it's almost like the crowd gets into a rhythm with you and then you feed off them, you energize them. What are you hearing on the mound as the crowd is roaring with every strikeout, and do you get energy from that, does your energy level raise up as that builds?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: I mean, I do hear it. Quite honestly, I try to just keep my same level, though. I try not to feed on it too much. It's gotten me in some trouble in the past. Just kind of go like hair on fire and not really pay attention to what I'm doing, what I'm seeing. I feel like what has always made me a great pitcher is just kind of taking in all the information I see and adjusting on the fly.

Sometimes when you get too caught up in the moment, you probably don't pay as much attention as you should to the little details. So I really just try to keep an even flow and just keep executing pitches the way I have been because I'm in a rhythm.

Q. Not asking you to share the mid-game adjustments you make, but what enables you to so effectively make them at this stage in your career?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: I mean, I think just being in this stage of my career. I think it's difficult for younger players to make adjustments so quickly, but I think that's what veterans do. We've been around long enough, we know ourselves well enough that when something's not working, it's, like I've got a checklist of things that's like, All right, try to fix this, try to fix that. Did it work, did it work, did it work.

Then you try those pitches out or if it's a certain pitch or if it's a mechanical adjustment, you, particularly if it's a pitch that is not quite working the way you want it to, like one particular pitch, I think you try to find situations that you can work on it and try to fine-tune it that aren't high-leverage situations.

Like, you know, 0-2, 1-2, if I want to throw the slider that wasn't working today, I can take this opportunity to bury it under the zone where hopefully it won't get hit, but see if I can find the feel and the shape that I want from it and the reaction that I want from the hitter.

When it's going really bad, though, you try to do that and it still ends up over the plate and it gets hit like it did a couple times early for me tonight. But I think you just got to continue to try to sharpen your craft all the time.