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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v ATHLETICSOctober 10, 2006Nate RobertsonOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game One Q. Nate, when the first two runners got on in the 4th inning, Jim came to the mound, Jason and Jamie started warming up. Can you talk about maybe how either of those inspired you a little bit? NATE ROBERTSON: Well, to be honest with you, I wasn't really paying attention to who was warming up, just obviously the situation that I was in and Skip coming out and just telling me, bottom line, don't worry about the runners on base, just worry about making pitches. That's what you have to do in a situation like that. So I made some pitches and got out of the situation obviously. Q. When Ken Macha was in here he said he thought when you struck out the side there, you reached back for something extra. What's your view on that? NATE ROBERTSON: Yeah, I came up with a super fastball all of a sudden or something (laughter). You know, it's a situation -- I appreciate Ken Macha giving me a boost of confidence there. You have to make pitches. You know, you've got guys in scoring position with no outs, you have to make pitches. I've never backed down from a situation like that. If they beat me, they beat me with my best stuff, so I came right at them. Q. Did you know all along you were going to be starting this game? Was there a period of a day or so where he was going to change the rotation and go with someone else? NATE ROBERTSON: I think with the confidence that Skip has in not just myself but the four starters that we've been using here in the postseason, we don't see anybody as being like a No. 1 or 2, 3, and 4. We see four guys that can go out there and give us a chance to win, and I just had to go out there and make sure I didn't make Skip look bad tonight. Q. A lot of times we hear people, starting pitchers, talk about like getting a little bit of a lift off of the guy before that pitched well. This is four in a row now where you've had good starting performances. Did you have a little bit of that going on when you went out to the mound today? NATE ROBERTSON: Well, it seems like they come in streaks. We certainly, throughout the season -- you never want to be the next guy that goes out there and doesn't perform well after your teammates have set a tone. And really, with the dominating performances that Kenny and Bondo had against the Yankees, following suit there, I don't think that the approach has changed at all, even from Game One against the Yankees. Here it is; you know, if you're going to beat me, beat me. But the biggest thing is not getting too fine, going aggressive and going at guys. Q. Can you talk about how you approached Kotsay in the 5th with two on, nobody out, and what the pitch was for the double play? NATE ROBERTSON: It was a fastball that I tried to run in on him a little bit. I had shown him a slider and threw a couple to lead off that at bat. You try to change a guy's viewpoint and show him that you're just not pounding one zone, not just Kotsay but the whole lineup. They're so scrappy, and throughout the whole night they had me working. That was five of the toughest innings that I've pitched this year, easy.
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