MLB WORLD SERIES: GIANTS v ANGELS

October 23, 2002

Jason Schmidt

JASON SCHMIDT: I don't really look at it that way. That's the way the managers try to stack it up, left, right, left, right. Their lefties are very good, their righties are very good. Regardless of how they put the line-up in, we still have to make our pitches. Everybody knows they got a good hitting line-up, no doubt about it.

JASON SCHMIDT: I think the only thing is we've gotten a look at them now a couple times. Before, we really didn't have any idea. I shouldn't say "any idea," but we didn't have much of an idea of what we were going to do. We just wanted to challenge them and see what they were going to do. I guess we found that out so far. Once again, we underestimated them a little bit. They're really not doing anything special, they're just putting good wood on the ball and the balls are finding holes. They're doing their job and we're not.

JASON SCHMIDT: These past two, three games I've kind of tried to do that. You kind of look at the playoffs as every start is your last start, so you dig a little deeper. I'm looking forward to going out there tomorrow, no doubt about it. Especially knowing it probably is the last start of the year. Maybe it will be a little bit more there, maybe it won't. We'll find out. But I'm sure going to dig a little deeper.

JASON SCHMIDT: It's not really something that I try to do. Nobody likes pitching in situations with runners on. Sometimes it seems like that's when you find out a little bit more about yourself and the best stuff comes out in you. Obviously, you try to keep the guys off base, but when you get them on, you have to find a way to keep them from scoring. So far, I've been able to do that. That's not always the case. But definitely takes a little more pride when you get those runners on, on bearing down and making the pitches that you have to make.

JASON SCHMIDT: As long as it's not raining, it's not bad. I don't mind it here because you always know what you're going to get weather-wise. It's never going to be too hot, and it's a little chillier here than in the normal season now. But it's not so cold where you can't stand it. I can still go out there and pitch with no sleeves and really not think about the elements. For me, this is a perfect place to pitch.

JASON SCHMIDT: Game plan is always to pitch a complete game, keep your pitch count down and go as long and as deep as you can in the game. Obviously, it doesn't always work out that way. But if the bullpen's a little tapped, Dusty might have to leave you up there a little bit longer. But at the same time, for all of us, it could be our last few outings of the year. So we're all digging a little deeper, finding that little bit extra to go out there on days when we can't. I think that's just part of being in the playoffs. Hopefully, I can go out there and give them a good, long quality start and we won't have to worry about that.