	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v PADRES

October 8, 2006

Jake Peavy

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Four

Q. Jake, Bruce was just in here and said you had the option to go home, chose not to. Can you maybe walk us through that decision and what would be your attitude if you're called on to pitch tonight?
JAKE PEAVY: Well, you know, I'm ready to go. Obviously this is my fifth day, and I can, you know, give the team whatever they need tonight.
Hopefully that will not be the case, but you know, first off, I didn't want to take that scenario out of the equation.
I have my spikes on, ready to go if anything was to happen tonight, and Boch knows that as well. So we'll do all we can do tonight to get through tomorrow. And the managers know I'm not leaving the boys. I don't like to do it in the regular season much less the post-season. Really was never a decision to me. Just gave me the option today about noon, or 10:00 this morning. Really wasn't much of an option for me.

Q. Jake, what have you learned in the first two post-season games last year, this year, that will benefit you for game five, if there is, in San Diego?
JAKE PEAVY: Well, there's no doubt you've -- you're watching these games. You understand who is hot and who is not in their lineup. And you have seen them for the last, you know, three or four days, and three games.
So I'll have a chance to see them tonight as well. So you'll know tendencies. All comes down to me making pitches. I made pitches for three innings the other day and two innings I didn't. If I get in the game, if I get the ball tomorrow night or tonight, I think I'll be better prepared to make better pitches on a consistent basis. If I do that, you can't let No. 5 beat you for them, you'll be all right.

Q. Jake, is it possible to try to copy what Chris Young did yesterday, if you start, or are your styles too different to even attempt that?
JAKE PEAVY: No, you can't do it. There's nobody that can do what Chris Young does. The guy's amazing. When somebody walks out of the game and goes if I had to pitch down the zone today, I could not. My back is hurting and I could not throw the ball. But at the top of the zone and higher.
Nobody can say -- there's not a pitcher that I know that talks like that. I mean, David Wells looked at me and he goes, "Is that amazing?"
It's just different. He throws 88 at the top of the zone, and guys just can't get on top of it. And at times, you know, it's like me and Brocail. Brocail, goes, man, I'll throw 95 at the belt and they waffle it. So you can't.
Chris Young is one of a kind. His size, obviously, gives him a deception that makes us pitchers who watch what he does just in awe.
But Chris was outstanding for us. And I hope we do all we can tonight, and we have our hands full with Chris Carpenter going. But if we can somehow give him a couple more post-season starts, we'll be all right.

Q. Were you puzzled at all when you found out you weren't starting this game?
JAKE PEAVY: No. I was in part of the decision on not starting. We gotta win two games. The guy's been as big of a game pitcher for us all year going all night. He beat Chris Carpenter a couple weeks ago. He beat Brandon Webb his last two regular season starts. The guy's been outstanding. He deserves this opportunity that he's going to get tonight.
He was ready to pitch game four. And you know, I think he deserves that. And an extra day has done nothing to my career but benefit me.
We have got to win two games.
Boch, you know, knows that I want the ball whenever I can get it. And if that's on short rest, normal rest, an extra day, it doesn't matter.
So you know, I wasn't surprised at all. We all kind of talked through it and they made a decision and I'll stand behind them 100 percent and be ready to go tonight behind Woody or however it works out.

Q. Two questions, Jake. Was there a meeting that took place yesterday with Boch and the coaching staff and also --
JAKE PEAVY: Yes.

Q. -- how difficult is it to be in this situation where you're powerless, just sitting there, waiting for a potential game five?
JAKE PEAVY: Well, there's no doubt I would love to have some say-so in tonight's game. They know that as well. Like I just said, I think Woody Williams is a -- deserves this chance that he's going to get tonight. I think our team gets excited to play behind Woody.
They know Woody is going to go out there and give us everything he's got tonight. And we've won behind him in some big games down the stretch. Like I said, he won his last three starts in the regular season in absolutely must-win games and pitched against Brandon Webb -- Chris Carpenter and Brandon Webb. And we won all those starts.
So Woody is capable of winning a big game and I think our team knows that. I know that. Obviously it's not fun to sit and not have anything, not being able to do anything to help your team win.
But if that's patting Dave Roberts on the butt when he scores or keeping Woody in the game mentally, I'll do all I can do.
I'll have my spikes on as well. If I'm needed to get some outs, that will be no problem as well.

Q. Bruce mentioned that Dave Roberts is a very popular teammate. Can you give me examples why he's popular?
JAKE PEAVY: Well, I mean, Dave is just a quality individual. And Dave is a pleasure to be around. When Dave Roberts comes to the ballpark, he's got that happy-go-lucky attitude that Sully (Sullivan) and Kras (Krasovic) and the boys who are around us every day, they'll tell you this guy is just a positive -- just brings positive energy.
Great baseball player. Had a career year. And you know, I can't imagine us not signing him back and I know there hadn't been a whole lot of talk about it.
He's going to have some value and I hate to see a guy like Dave go away because not only is he a good friend of mine, but the guy is just positive. Man, he loved people. He loves his teammates. He loves his family. The guy's an incredible human being. And he's going to get paid somewhere and I hope it's here.

Q. Jake, as many innings you pitched this year, plus the WBC, are you on fumes at this point? Do you feel similar to what you felt last year this time before you hurt your rib or different?
JAKE PEAVY: Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, I think everybody's body at this time of year, if you've played a full season, you're not running on much, but you do get a little extra momentum. It's kind of a second wind so to speak because of the post-season and all the energy that will be brought to the table.
But it's no doubt I'm tired. But I think I kind of factored into the decision as well. I took a dose pack right back there over the last six days. A dose pack kind of knocks down the inflammation and makes you feel probably a little bit better than you should at this time of year.
So hopefully, that has a few days to get into my system, and I have felt a lot better just playing catch the last couple of days.
So like I said, we gotta win two games. And I know that Balsley looked up some numbers, and I've been quite a bit better, noticeably better on five days' rest instead of four days' rest in my career. So I think they're banking on that if we go tomorrow that we should be all right.
But like I said, it was tough not to be in there tonight because obviously they have Carp going. Whoever goes for us after Woody, we're going to have to put zeros up to win this game. I think we know that.

Q. Back to Woody Williams for a second. He had a rough year last year and opened the year this year, he wasn't in the four-man rotation to start the year. As a teammate, what have you observed from him that's allowed him to have a bounce-back year and the success that he's had?
JAKE PEAVY: I think we all know what Woody went through personally last year. It was not an easy situation. This game is hard enough to play with your mind and you're totally focused on your job at hand.
When you've got all kinds of stuff going on like Woody had, I'm not sure the extent that you guys know what went on, but I think those close to us know it was not an easy situation, a lot more than just a death in the family, so to speak. So I can't imagine him taking the ball every fifth day.
Woody was flying, you know, home, having to take care of this and that and then flying in the day that he was to start and pitching. I think a lot of us saw, you know, the guts he had, the kind of teammate he wanted to be at that time.
So I really ruled out last year for Woody. This year I think, because of last year and why he's pitching so good in Spring Training, that he kind of got ousted out of the rotation.
But for a guy to come back in, not say a word, put his spikes on every night, go to the bullpen, to not really be used and have a chance to come back in the rotation and to pitch the way he's pitched, I think it shows a lot about his character.
Woody Williams is as stand-up of a guy as I've ever met in my life. And a lot of times me and my wife have conversations -- and I'm probably going a little too deep right now, but I tell her all the time I want to be thought of like this man is thought of around baseball.
You go in the Cardinals baseball, Tony La Russa has got a Jersey of Woody Williams in his office. That tells you how much he thinks of Woody. The two years that I've known him, we now own property together, so we're pretty tight.
But this guy -- Ben Risinger, our catcher, calls him Big Game Woody. This guy just knows how to get it done. He's been there and he's going to empty the tank for us tonight. And I'll be excited to high-five him when he comes off the field. And our team knows that going out there behind him tonight is going to be fun.
So I just hope he can put up some zeros to Carp and we can get the game, Cla Meredith and Linebrink, and have a chance to win it.

Q. Jake, being with the team as long as you have, to see where they've gone and you being part of that success, how important is it to you and the team to be able to take this back to San Diego on Monday?
JAKE PEAVY: Well, we're going to do everything we can. The boys are excited. I think that, you know, when we look back on it, we feel like we -- game two was just a huge game now looking back. We mustered up only four hits and couldn't really get to Weaver in that bullpen.
But you know, we came here. We had a day off, and we let it go. You know, yesterday our backs were against the wall. Man, nobody expects us to do anything. We came out yesterday and still didn't play a great game. Left a lot of base runners out there, but did enough behind Chris Young to get it done.
So this team has been resilient all year. We don't care. Just got a bunch of guys out there love to play the game and love one another. We'll let it all hang out tonight. It's a fun situation for me to be in, because, like I said, this is my fifth year with the Padres. It's been awesome years, but we got our butts kicked early on in my career.
To have a chance to get to the post-season the last year for the first time, compete in '04, in the last series of the year to make the playoffs, and then to come to the playoffs. And I'm telling you, this team, I promise you, if this team gets in, if we can somehow figure out a way to win the next two games, we'll give New York a run for their money. We can match up with these guys. We can swing the bats I think versus their pitching. And we've got the pitching to kind of take away their big bats.
Losing Cliff Floyd last night I know was a big blow for them. So we have our work cut out for us tonight. But if we win tonight, I'm going to empty the tank tomorrow night and do all I can do in front of our own fans to get this team into the playoffs or into the next round and we'll see where we go.
But we've got a good bunch of guys and I really would like a chance to get back out there tomorrow night.
MODERATOR: Thanks a lot, Jake.

End of FastScripts...

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297