NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v ASTROS

October 12, 2001

Roy Oswalt

ROY OSWALT: Well, I mean, hopefully, you know, I can last six or seven. That's what I'm shooting for, just to stay in as long as I can. Hopefully I can get in a rhythm early in the game and just kind of run off that. If we can put up some runs early, that will give me a lot of confidence. But just like any ball game, you have to go out and get in a rhythm quick. Given the fact I haven't been out there, it's going to probably take a little longer than usual. I mean, I feel good. So hopefully I can get out there and put us in a position to win.

ROY OSWALT: I mean, you can pull as many bullpens (sessions) as you want. Until you get out there and face live competition, it's a big difference. I faced some of our hitters back home, and I felt good against them. And you'll know how you're pitching by the way the batters react to the ball. It's gonna take one or two innings to get right back in synch, I think. But hopefully I get some ground balls early and just kind of work off that.

ROY OSWALT: Well, I mean, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. It will be a learning experience for me. It's the first time I did this. But I've been in some situations where it's the last game in the Minor Leagues, even in the Olympics. So it's some pressure. But I take it as a chance, and that's all I ask for, is to a chance and go out there and compete. It's a dream for me to be here. It's a dream for me to be playing this year here. Any time you get a chance, you try to take advantage of it.

ROY OSWALT: I was just looking to go in. The way they brought me up, I thought it was good. They put me in the bullpen to start out. It kind of gets your feet wet. Some of the guys that we have here, they teach you along the way how to pitch certain batters and how to approach the game and how to play the game. I took that as a learning experience coming out of the bullpen, and, you know, going out every game and just going one or two innings and doing the best you can. You learn the hitters that way a lot quicker than if you just get thrown out there on your first start. I love starting. I did it all my life. Just something about it, you going out there and you playing, it's pretty much your game. You either win it or you lose it. I like being in that situation. Just like I said, it's just a dream for me to come up here and achieve what I did this year. I'm not satisfied yet. Hopefully, we can make it to the next round and just go every day, day by day.

ROY OSWALT: Yeah. I've always been a guy where it's not how you start, it's how you finished. No one cares if you start out great and you finish weak. I always look at the goal as not just to win a division, that's just the first thing you've set. I always went into spring training looking to win the whole thing. If you don't, that's a bad attitude I think. If you get satisfied winning just something that's lower than the World Series, you shouldn't be playing the game.

ROY OSWALT: Pretty much they just told me to go out there and pitch the best game you can. If you feel strong, we're gonna leave you in, as long as you want to be out there. I'm the type of guy, I want to be out there the whole game. So hopefully, if I can get cruising pretty quick early in the game, hopefully I can last six, seven, eight, maybe the whole game. But probably it's gonna be around 100-pitch mark or maybe a little more, just according to how I'm pitching.

ROY OSWALT: Actually, it is. I was coming up through the Minor Leagues, I didn't want to correct everybody on the way (laughing). I just kind of went with it. We finally got it corrected. It's good.

ROY OSWALT: That was where I was born. Actually, that was the town I was born in. The town I grew up in was Weir, Mississippi.

ROY OSWALT: Close to the hospital.