THE MODERATOR: First question for Jarrod Washburn.
Q. What does this start mean to you? It's the epitome of baseball, isn't it?
JARROD WASHBURN: Basically, yeah, that's it. It means I get to start Game 1 of the World Series. It's a dream come true. You dream as a kid to play in the World Series, and I get to throw the first pitch of Game 1 this year. I can't wait. This has been an awful long week and I'm glad it's almost done.
Q. What's your opinion of pitching to Barry Bonds or not pitching to him? How much input will you have in deciding if you want to pitch to him in certain situations or not?
JARROD WASHBURN: I'm not sure if I'll have any input (smiling). Scioscia and Buddy, they pretty much let us know what's going to happen. I think it's just going to dictate the situation -- the situation is going to dictate how we pitch to him. Hopefully, he'll come up with every time with nobody on base and we get to go at him. That's ultimately what I would like to happen. So I'm looking forward to the challenge. He's the greatest hitter in baseball today and one of the best to ever play the game. So I've never faced him, I'm looking forward to it. I hope I get to go after him. But at the same time, if the situation calls for pitching around him, I have to swallow my pride a little bit and be smart.
Q. Does a lack of World Series experience in your ballclub make any difference at all?
JARROD WASHBURN: No. No. I think everybody said our lack of postseason experience would be the difference coming into the postseason, and I think we've showed throughout the playoffs that no experience doesn't bother us at all. We go out, play baseball the way we have all year, and we'll continue to do that in the World Series.
Q. What are your earliest memories of a World Series, how you watched it, who was in it?
JARROD WASHBURN: Probably the ones I can remember the best from my childhood were the Twins, because I was close to -- I grew up close to Minneapolis and the Metrodome. So, '87 and '91, the Twins, Kirby Puckett, Viola, Hrbeck, that jumping catch against the wall that Kirby made, then Gagne faking the guy. Those were some great World Series to watch. Since then, there's been a lot of other great memories, but those are the earliest ones I remember.
Q. Where were you when you were watching them?
JARROD WASHBURN: At home. I was watching them on TV.
Q. Kenny Lofton is on center stage right now. When he's on his game, he can create the small-ball situation. Are you guys prepared for that? Do you have a special plan for attacking Lofton to make sure he doesn't get on?
JARROD WASHBURN: I think just make pitches. Definitely, we don't want to walk him. He's a guy you don't want to put on base unless you want him to beat you to get on base, you don't want to give him free passes. That will be the first order of business, is to make him earn his way on, not give him a free pass. But other than that, just make pitches just like every other guy in the line-up. Try to make pitches and get him out.
Q. What is the staff's working relationship with Bengie Molina? Does he pretty much guide you guys? Do you find yourself trusting his calls implicitly? What's the relationship, I guess?
JARROD WASHBURN: Well, I think it's an extremely good relationship. It's awful close. I know me, personally, I do a lot of talking before starts with Bengie. We go over the hitters, decide what we're going to do against each guy, what our plan is, and throughout the game, we also talk and try to make adjustments if we see something that we didn't plan for or if something's changed. So, I think it's a combination of trusting him and him knowing us so well that he knows what we want to throw. I know me, personally, there's times I don't throw sliders or change-ups too often, but there's a time in the game he'll throw change-up out there, and I'll be like, "It's exactly what I was thinking," I don't know how he does that. It's like he's inside my head. I can't speak for all the pitchers, but I know me, personally, we work very well together and he takes an awful lot of pride in knowing each individual pitcher and knowing what they want to throw when.
Q. It seems to be your nature to challenge hitters. Have you had many intentional walks?
JARROD WASHBURN: I thought early in the week I had zero, but somebody told me I had one this year. I don't remember it. Probably chose to not remember it (smiling). But, no, I don't look forward to having to pitch around somebody, but at the same time, all we want to do is win. If the best way for us to win is to pitch around Barry Bonds in a certain situation, then I'm willing to do that. I'm not going to try to be a hero and get him out. If the situation calls for me to walk him, I'll check my ego at the door and do what's best for the team and what's best for the team to win.
End of FastScripts...
