MLB WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES VS ASTROS

October 31, 2022

Cristian Javier

Citizens Bank Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 3 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll get started with questions for Cristian Javier.

Q. Most of the Phillies have not faced you before. Considering the way your fastball sort of gets on hitters pretty quickly, what kind of an advantage do you think that is for you that these guys really haven't gotten in the box against you for the most part?

CRISTIAN JAVIER: I think I'm just going to continue to stay positive, just continue doing the same thing I've been doing. The plan is going to be continue to throw a lot of strikes and attack the strike zone.

Q. Following off of that, when you kind of knew you were going to pitch later in this series, what did you do during Games 1 and 2 to look at that Phillies lineup, one you've never seen before, and how both Verlander and Framber and some of the guys that came out of the bullpen attacked them?

CRISTIAN JAVIER: I just continued watching the game just seeing what things they were executing, just seeing how they got ahead of hitters and attacking the strike zone, and I think that's going to be the biggest key to have success tomorrow.

Q. Since you've been with the Astros, what has the coaching staff and the analytics staff taught you that you didn't know about location of pitches and pitch selection?

CRISTIAN JAVIER: The only thing I've been taught is to continue to attack the strike zone. They have told me that all my pitches have been pretty good. As long as I attack the strike zone, I'm going to have a lot of success in my career.

Q. Any particular quadrants of the strike zone they have told you to emphasize and de-emphasize?

CRISTIAN JAVIER: No.

Q. How special is this moment for you to get this opportunity?

CRISTIAN JAVIER: It's really special for me, and like always, always thanking God for giving me this opportunity. And also super grateful for the team also giving me this opportunity, and this is an opportunity that I just need to take advantage of.

Q. You pitched in the World Series last year and didn't get the results you probably wanted. How much are you looking forward to maybe putting that in the past and having a better start this time around?

CRISTIAN JAVIER: I think that's already in the past. That was back in 2021. Obviously, we are here in 2022. So I'm just trying to look forward and just have good success here.

Q. To follow up on that, what did you learn last year that you're going to take into this game to better prepare you for this start?

CRISTIAN JAVIER: I think I've learned a lot in the last year. I think I've been able to control my emotions a little bit better, not let them get the best of me, and I'm going to put that into practice this next game.