NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 6, 2003

Carlos Zambrano

CARLOS ZAMBRANO: Well, you know, you're going to be nervous but as long as you can control being scared -- be nervous, you can control. Being scared, it's hard to control. Right now I feel relaxed. It's another game that you have to throw and you pitch the game and go out there and have something that you have to do.

CARLOS ZAMBRANO: Well, yes, of course. Atlanta for us was a hard team to beat. I don't think the Marlins is easy. We consider them a more dangerous team than Atlanta. We have to play kind of like the same that we did against the Braves. We had to keep those little guys off the bases and face carefully Pudge Rodriguez and the other players.

CARLOS ZAMBRANO: Oh, yeah, for me it's okay. I like the players who are lefties and if a righty comes, it's something that you have to be in control and you have to pitch the game be it left-hander or right-hander. I have some pitches for left-handers and my sinker for righties. Just mix your pitches and go out there and try to have the more relaxed game and the most easiest game possible and get high in the count. If they don't have a left-hander -- I like to pitch against both hitters, lefty and righty.

CARLOS ZAMBRANO: Well, sometimes I do it in both. Sometimes I talk to myself in English. Most of the time I talk in Spanish, my language. You know, it's no time to be that kind of emotion on the mound. This is not a game for a baby. This is a game for a man and that's already in the past. I leave that in the regular season. You don't want to see it this time, how Carlos Zambrano throwing a glove off the mound, kick the dirt. You don't want to see Carlos Zambrano in that situation. They get a hit, they get a soft hit, a broken bat hit, that's part of the game. We're already here and we have to take that as a part of the game. Like I said, you don't want to see that kind of Carlos Zambrano on the mound again.

CARLOS ZAMBRANO: I learn a lot from those two special guys. They are star pitchers; great, great power. Every time when I go out there, I like to go watch the TV the first four innings, three and watch where they locate their fastball or slider. Not only I watch them, I watch Martinez, Kevin Brown. We know from the other pitching all of the mistakes they make; I try not to do that. I try to keep myself on the same page with the catcher and go aggressive and do kind of like the same they do, but in my own opinion and my own job.

CARLOS ZAMBRANO: They have more, like you say, publicity than me, because Kerry Wood is like the baby and Prior is the other baby. I think they are better than me. I just try to do my job and just in spring training, I try to give a good season like I have. I am glad to play with those two pitchers. They help me a lot on anything that I don't know. They taught me about the game.

CARLOS ZAMBRANO: Well, I didn't come here to the ballpark. I went separate to my house. I had my car at the airport. But I saw the news on the TV. You know, like I say all year long, we feel good about our fans. Everywhere we go, Arizona, Atlanta, they are there for us. It's good when you feel the support and you feel more comfortable that you have somebody to wait for you to do something for them. That's why we play hard and that's why we play good baseball for them.