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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DODGERSOctober 7, 2009Clayton KershawLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One THE MODERATOR: Questions for Clayton Kershaw. Q. Everybody figures you'll be nervous tomorrow. You'll be a wreck, you can't handle this. What do you say to that? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I'll probably be nervous for sure. I'm nervous every time I pitch. I think it's how you handle the nerves, how you channel it, how you can use it to your advantage sometimes. Get the adrenalin going. Maybe throw harder or have better break on your breaking balls, just depends on how you use it, I guess. Q. Is that what happened in the clincher? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I don't know. I mean, I felt good that day. I was nervous that day, too, but, like I said, I'm nervous every time I pitch. It's if you care about what you're doing you'll have nerves out there. I'm not going to sit out there and say I've never been nervous or anything like that. But maybe it did have something to do with it, I don't know. Q. Clayton, did you feel maybe got some momentum from the last time you pitched against Colorado and you were so dominant, do you feel you've got some momentum from that outing? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I mean, that's a regular season. So post-season obviously is a lot different; I can't really comment on what's it like to pitch in the post-season are start a game. I have never really done it. I don't think it carries over too much. This is a whole new season. There's got to be a sense of urgency, three games and you're in or out. So that's the way it goes for us. Q. I assume you have a standard preparation routine. With a 3:00 start, which is a little bit different, how does that affect that? CLAYTON KERSHAW: It's really a strict routine. No, just moves everything up three hours, that's about the only -- or four hours. That's the only thing it does. I'm not too specific on what I do every day. It won't affect me too much. Q. Refresh my memory, what happened to you last year, in regards to the playoffs? Did they overlook you, not use you, too young? What happened? CLAYTON KERSHAW: We used three starters. I came out of the bullpen. I didn't have a big role. I didn't really do anything. You remember, though (smiling). Q. Yesterday Joe said that for the last two years they've pretty much insulated and protected you because you're just a kid. What advice has he given you about your first post-season start? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I think he hasn't really come up to me and said anything too different, and I think that's how he wants it. He wants me to treat it like it's a regular start. I don't think he's going to come up and give any words of wisdom or anything like that, just because he doesn't want me to think any differently. And that's all I'm going to really do, think of it as a regular game with maybe a little more implications involved. Q. Because everyone always points out your age and how young you are and Joe calls you a kid a lot, do you feel you have a little bit more to prove given your age? CLAYTON KERSHAW: Well, I think any time you're given the responsibility to start in the post-season, there's obviously some added expectations there. I don't think that has anything to do with age. I think if you're given the responsibility of starting Game 2 of a post-season series, there's going to be some expectations for you to pitch well. So I don't think age has a whole lot to do with it. Q. How much confidence do you have being named the starter for Game 2 of the NLDS? How much confidence do you take away? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I'm glad I get the opportunity to do it. That doesn't add any confidence or anything to what I would normally have or anything like that. Just the same, same every start for me really. I don't look at it too much any differently. Q. In your preparation for this start, which start against the Cardinals from the regular season have you paid more attention to, the win -- not the win but the one that went well or the one that didn't go well? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I don't look at it a whole lot. I take what I did well out of one and what I did bad out of the other. That's about it. I don't really focus too much on what I do in the past. They've changed a lot since then. Two months is a long time for a hitter and two months is a long time for a pitcher. I'm sure they've changed a lot of their strengths and weaknesses, just like I have. It's just a start-to-start basis for me. Q. You spent a lot of time with Derek Lowe. In the post-season last year, did he give you any kind of -- did you watch the way he conducted himself and what did you learn just sitting there watching last year for the most part? CLAYTON KERSHAW: Derek, I have a lot of respect for what he does. He has the same mindset every time out and he works hard at what he does to be prepared for this type of situation. And verbally or talking with him, I didn't -- not a whole lot was said, but just watching him how he goes about his business, there's a lot to be said for how he handles it. And I really liked watching him. I liked his attitude on the mound and you could tell that he wanted to pitch. So that's kind of the mentality that I'm hoping to get. Q. He would stay loose, talk all gabby and everything at day. Did he do that during the playoffs? Did you see him change because of the situation? CLAYTON KERSHAW: I think he was -- I don't really remember a whole lot. But I think he was the same. If you start changing stuff that's when you get in trouble. And I don't think he changed a whole lot. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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