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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GIANTS v PHILLIES

October 18, 2010

Matt Cain

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Workout Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Matt Cain.

Q. Typically, you know, you being a second starter on the Giants, talk about coming into Game 3 here at home and how psyched you are to go against the Phillies at home here.
MATT CAIN: It's definitely exciting to be able to start off these three games at home. It will be fun to be able to get this thing started in front of our home crowd.

Q. What did you learn about pitching in the postseason, in the last start?
MATT CAIN: To really try to take it as a normal start, try to get the same routine in between the start, as normal. And just try to relax and try to almost enjoy it and soak it all in, to try to take the nerves off a little bit.

Q. Did you notice that between innings you stay in the dugout a little longer because the breaks are a little longer? I noticed Timmy did that his first two starts. Is that something Dave told you or something that you figured out standing out there on the mound, it's too long?
MATT CAIN: Yeah, that's something you do on your own. You'd rather sit in the dugout out for maybe 45 seconds or so instead of just standing out there in the middle of the field instead of doing nothing.

Q. The Phillies talked a lot about changing their approach against Sanchez. Do you imagine they stick with that same approach, or they go back or what do you think? They were very clear that they have completely sort of changed the way they went around things.
MATT CAIN: I don't know. I think it just all depends on how I go out there and attack them. If I'm not throwing strikes, you know, they're probably going to try to be patient. If you're attacking the strike zone, you kind of put the pressure on them.
So I think it's always good to kind of get out there and make sure you're throwing strikes and make them get aggressive.

Q. You've had so many games through the years where you've struggled to get run support. How has dealing with the frustration of not getting runs, maybe not getting results that show how well you pitched help you grow as a pitcher?
MATT CAIN: You get used to pitching in tight ballgames like this. Cole is going to go out there, throw the ball well, and you're expecting that to be a tight series and a good pitching matchup. So you get used to pitching in close ballgames and understanding that when the big pressure parts of the game kind of come about.

Q. You've had a long stretch here between starts. What have you been doing? Have you done anything different, because it has been I think ten days.
MATT CAIN: I've thrown a couple bullpens in between and just been focusing on tomorrow. Just really the same routine, just pushing stuff back a bit and maybe repeating a couple things, but just really doing the same routine I've always done between.

Q. Matt, you've put up some decent numbers on the road this year but how much more of a comfort zone, I guess, have you built up pitching here at home over the years?
MATT CAIN: It's obviously nice. You know the ballpark, obviously, and you just feel comfortable always throwing at home maybe a little more than you do sometimes on the road in different places.
But to be able to pitch at home is definitely going to be exciting especially being on the road a couple of days and having the fans excited about the NLCS.

Q. How about day versus night here, do you approach it differently as a pitcher or not?
MATT CAIN: Not really. Some of the hot, hot days, the ball carries a little bit more. But usually on a normal day, the day games here are usually similar to the night games. Maybe a little more hitter favorable but not too much.

Q. The Giants have done a tremendous job developing pitchers like yourself from inside the organization. Can you tell us about the philosophy of the organization, how that's helped you guys become successful and how much of a factor that's been in Buster stepping right in as a rookie?
MATT CAIN: It's been great. When I first got drafted, for a couple of years there it seems like we kept drafting arms and arms and arms, we had a ton of pitchers. And a lot of us are here now. Now we've got some of the hitters as well. And Buster is one of those guys that came up through the system real quick, and for him to be able to kind of lead us through pretty much the whole season has been great.
And he's done a great job of just stepping up and really taking advantage of taking over the catcher spot and really taking and doing a great job of hitting in the 4 hole and really filling in that spot.

Q. When you beat the Dodgers, it was right around the trading deadline as I remember. How much did that do for your confidence as a big-game pitcher?
MATT CAIN: I think it did a lot considering I hadn't beat them in forever (laughter). That helped me a ton to kind of get that confidence and pitching against those guys.
Obviously, with the rivalry we've always had, you know with the Dodgers and the Giants, is definitely something uplifting. You think back to different games and maybe one of those games as well when you go into games like this.

Q. Is that something that you've been able to build off of in the pennant drive and also into the playoffs, do you feel?
MATT CAIN: You know, you try to build off the last start all the time. So it's maybe not thinking about that start if it was a little ways back, but you try to think about any other good things you've done throughout the season, use those to your advantage.

Q. You said earlier when you pitch in a lot of tight ballgames you get experience and learn how to do that. What specifically do you learn, do you do differently when you're pitching in a tight game?
MATT CAIN: I think you just learn to maybe slow some of the key situations in the game down. You try to take advantage of taking control of the game when you know you may have guys on base. And counts aren't in your favor or whatever. You just try to figure out ways to slow the game down to get back to the pace that you want it to be at to try to get the momentum back on your side instead of the hitter's advantage.

Q. Does anything change for you if there are changes in the lineup and you have different players behind you defensively, if Pablo versus Mike is at third base or Aaron is out in the outfield as opposed to Andres. Does anything change for you depending who's on defense?
MATT CAIN: No. I think we're all comfortable with anybody playing defense behind us. We're confident in anybody to make the plays behind us. So we're confident no matter what.

Q. You guys went into Philly, got Game 1. Has it been surprising to you at all, so many guys on your team who were first-timers to this NLCS, just the way you guys have been able to respond in the playoffs?
MATT CAIN: No, not at all. We feel like we have guys that have stepped up big during the season and they've done the same thing now.
We feel like we've got a group of guys that find ways to get stuff done. And with a couple of guys that we do have that have the experience in the playoffs, they've kind of rubbed off on us that haven't, to try to keep us calm and having fun with it and go out there and just enjoy the whole experience.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Matt.

End of FastScripts

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