|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DODGERSOctober 9, 2009Joel PineiroST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Workout Day Q. When you were a younger pitcher, you were more of a power guy and now you're more of a sinker guy. Can you talk about the transformation? And was this the year that you finally put it all together? JOEL PINEIRO: Definitely. I kind of told myself why didn't I learn that sinker eight years ago when I started coming up? It's just a learning process when you're young, you think you just throw hard and blow it by people. Once in spring training, Dave Duncan kind of told me, "I want you to trust this pitch. I want you to enjoy throwing it at any time in the moment in the count." He goes -- even in my bullpens in spring training, he's like, "Just throw it and see what happens." And it turned out to be an okay pitch for me. Q. What are the nerves like for tomorrow night? JOEL PINEIRO: I think I'm okay so far. I don't want to get too much in my head. I don't want to start thinking too far ahead. Tomorrow when I get here to the ballpark, you say your game face is on. Right now you just do a little homework, video, and scouting reports and stuff. I feel good, I'm all right, I'm very excited. We're going to be ready to play tomorrow. Q. What kind of message, what is the message from Tony or from Dunc or whoever about how you make this just one game instead of looking at the circumstances? JOEL PINEIRO: One thing all the guys in there, they've been around long enough that they know to take it one game at a time. Obviously it's a big game, and myself and the other 24 guys in that clubhouse are going to be prepared, ready to play and play hard, and I think the fans deserve it. Us as a team need to go out there and -- like you said, go out there and play hard all the way through nine innings. Q. The last month of the season your results were off a little bit. How do you factor that or explain that? JOEL PINEIRO: I was just hoping I took the kinks out early before the postseason. I think it all evens out. I had a pretty good stretch for about two, two and a half months, in June, July and August. It all evens out. I think the one thing is I'm healthy, I'm strong, and I feel ready for tomorrow. Q. How surprised are you to be going out there down 0-2 in the series as opposed to 2-0? JOEL PINEIRO: We haven't had a couple breaks go our way, so maybe a ball bounces fair here and there or ground ball finds a hole and then it kind of goes from 1 and 1 or 2 and 0 to 0 and 2. We're not thinking about that. We just know we need to come out and play hard, and it's going to be an exciting ball game tomorrow out here for our fans. Q. Do you feel like this is the game of a lifetime for you? JOEL PINEIRO: Not that I feel it, it's just everybody knows it. It's not just a matter of me or my family or coaching staff, whatever, the fans. Like I said, we've got to take it one pitch at a time, one inning at a time. It's going to come down to execution. They're going to have a game plan, I'm going to have a game plan, so whoever executes it right is going to be out in front. Q. When you were talking about your transformation before, can you kind of describe that period in between when you were still trying to be a power pitcher and it wasn't working? How frustrating was that for you? JOEL PINEIRO: It was very frustrating. Usually I'm a guy that wants to challenge hitters and not walk anybody, but sometimes you try to overthrow the ball and then you start getting guys on. You go from one man on base, two men on base, then a big hit comes around and you're down 2-0 or 3-0 early. That's when you take your step and you pitched to contact effectively. Try to get them out early in the first three to four pitches, keep your pitch count low. Obviously I'm a guy that trusts my defense a lot. I'm not going to go out there and strike out 10, 12 hitters. I trust my defense. Q. What was it about Duncan's approach or how he said it that clicked with you? JOEL PINEIRO: He just told me to basically go out there and trust it. This is going to be the one pitch I think that's going to help you out during the year and in your career. He kind of made me throw that pitch every day in my bullpens and every day I threw it in spring training, and it seemed to work out okay. My pitch count was low. It's nice to go out there seven, eight innings. It's just trust it and have confidence with it. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|