MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS v WHITE SOX

October 24, 2005

Jon Garland

JON GARLAND: I throw more on the side. I take it in stride. It's one of those things you have to deal with, you have to overcome. I went out and threw against some of my own hitters again, just so I could see somebody standing in the box, rather than a bullpen when nobody is there. It's tough. Nothing is like the real game.

JON GARLAND: I've actually thrown here before in 2003, I believe. We came here for Spring Training, we finished up Spring Training for the game. It's nothing new. It's one of those things where you might have to keep away from some of the lefties and some of the righties, pulling down in the corner with the short porches there, and hopefully you're guys are out in the outfield.

JON GARLAND: For me, it really doesn't matter if I'm pitching, I'm not going to try to pitch somebody different because a short porch or a deep porch, something like that. I've got to go out and make quality pitches, regardless. If I'm not doing that, it's not going to matter where I'm at.

JON GARLAND: I think in Anaheim that was one of those things, I had a lot of lefties and I wanted to bust them in with the four seamer, and stay away from the sinker. I'll get my scouting report, and if it calls for throwing a sinker, that's what I'll go to.

JON GARLAND: I think it's because we're going out and playing the game. Towards the end of the season we ended up clinching and we had the three games in Cleveland and we were able to relax and get back to playing baseball like we were at the beginning of the season. And going into the playoffs we took that same mindset. It doesn't seem like anybody is trying too hard and guys are coming up big.

JON GARLAND: He's not at all, by any means, with anybody, not even to a pitcher. If he sees somebody out in the field he'll do the same. And me as a pitcher I've had to do it to him a couple of times. It's one of those things, during the course of a game you get intense. You're out there competing, and it's one of those things that takes over.

JON GARLAND: I don't need to see any of his starts. I hear what hitters say about him. That's enough for me. The guy is a great pitcher, he goes out and competes, he wants to win. There's nothing that holds him back when he's on the mound, he brings it all.

JON GARLAND: That he's got some of the dirtiest stuff they've ever seen. I've never really met him in person, but they said he's not that big of a guy, but when he's on the mound he's throwing 95, 96, that's with the curveball he's got, breaking some knees.

JON GARLAND: I don't think we're -- that's basically what you want to do when you're pitching, you want to get ahead of the guy and put him in the pitcher's count and stay out of his hitter's counts. We're just competing. We're throwing the ball well, and feeling comfortable on the mound, following up that last week of the season where everybody kind of put it together, it's just one of those things where we're going out and we're attacking the zone and we're getting the calls.