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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS v BREWERS

October 3, 2011

Shaun Marcum

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Workout Day

Q. Can you talk about getting the Game 3 start ahead 2-0. Obviously you're in position to win the series, when you're one away, what that means and if you think it will be way more difficult being on the road than at home?
SHAUN MARCUM: No, I don't think it's going to be difficult. They've got a great team over there, whether it's Game 3, 4, 5, we're still going to go out and play baseball, make pitches, locate, keep the ball down.
With that being said, though, it is a playoff game. So every single game is important. We've got to go out there and keep doing what we've been doing all year, and that's playing approach baseball; having fun, being laid back, and being aggressive. And so that's what we're going to try to do tomorrow.

Q. What's been different with this team that you guys have had so much more success the last month and a half or so as opposed to earlier to season?
SHAUN MARCUM: You know, I think coming out of All-Star break, we started playing pretty good baseball on the road. We came here, Colorado, and San Francisco, we lost but we played good. We were in the games, we weren't giving things away. We were playing hard all the way through.
Early on in the year it didn't seem like we were getting the big hit or making quality pitches when we had to. And since All-Star break I feel like we have. Pitchers have been going deeper in the game, the guys behind us have been great defensively, and we've been scoring runs. I think if you put that altogether it accumulates to having a better record in the second half.

Q. You're pitching in some pretty intimidating atmospheres in the AL East. How do you think that prepares you for something like this?
SHAUN MARCUM: I think it definitely prepares you, any time you go into Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park and get yelled at by a bunch of 8-years-old and grownups cussing at you, it definitely prepares you.
Whether we're playing Yankee Stadium or playing here or Milwaukee, it doesn't matter. You have to put that all aside and go out and play baseball.
Like I said, doing all that, locating pitches, that's my main priority. I can't let the atmosphere or the fans get to me.

Q. Did you find any fundamental difference being in the National League as a opposed to the AL East?
SHAUN MARCUM: Just the philosophies are a little bit different. I know coming from the American League East, it seemed like facing New York and Boston, they could hit home runs at any time. Obviously we got the pitcher hitting in this League. You can't take anything away from Arizona's pitchers, they have really good hitting pitchers.
So the main thing is just, like I said earlier, keeping the ball down and locating. In the American League East, definitely Fenway and it seemed like any park in that division, there's a lot of home runs flying out left and right. I know in Toronto it seemed like we had eight or nine guys hitting home runs. It's definitely a hitter's division.
But we've still got to be ourselves, being able to pitch in that type of atmosphere and those lineups, facing those guys. You learn real quick that if you can't keep the ball down and locate you're not going to be there very long, you're going to be back in Triple-A or Double-A trying to figure it out.
That was one thing I learned real quick when I got up there is you have to locate and keep the ball down. For the most part I've been able to do that, especially on the road. Not so much at home. But luckily we're not playing at Miller Park right now.

Q. We were talking yesterday and asking Zack again why he's so much better at home than on the road. Can you put a finger on why you've been better on the road than at home this year?
SHAUN MARCUM: I can't. It's weird. People have different years. And I know last year lefties hit like 180 off me, this year they're hitting 100 points higher; and righties are the same. I don't know what it is.
You can go back and point your finger at certain pitches here and there. I gave up the grand slam to Crawford, the rookie from San Francisco, threw a homer from the pitcher from St. Louis, all at Miller Park. But if I make pitches, those probably don't happen. Those are just mislocated pitches.
You've just got to go out and locate. If I was locating a little better at Miller Park those numbers would probably be a little better.

Q. So many years in the same dugout with Hill and Overbay and Ryan Roberts, can you explain what it's like being here with those guys and then facing them finally in a playoff atmosphere?
SHAUN MARCUM: Yeah, it's fun. I'm glad to see those guys over here. They play the game hard and play the game the right way. I got drafted with Aaron and Ryan, and we all came up together. Lyle and Johnny Mac [John McDonald], they were obviously in Toronto when I got there, and kind of took me under their wing. They're great guys.
To see those guys on the other side to get a chance to play in the postseason and experience this, you wish them the best of luck. We are friends, but not right now. We've got to win. And that's the most important thing right now.

Q. The national audience and media is getting a look now at how much fun you have together and what a good group you are together, and aside from playing baseball. You seem to really assimilate well in that atmosphere. And a lot of teammates say you're the one guy they're afraid to turn their back on. Can you talk about how you fit in with your personality now?
SHAUN MARCUM: Getting back to Jordan, if you ask Aaron and those guys over in Toronto, I just had fun over there. We play a kids' game, might as well have fun and enjoy it. That's how I've been. Ever since I got here, that's the way I've taken it. The guys in this clubhouse are great. Their personalities are a lot like mine. We're happy to be here. Obviously we want to keep going and playing. But baseball is a game, we're supposed to have fun doing it, so we're going to go out and keep enjoying it.

Q. Do you have any one prank this year that you're most proud of that you can tell us about? They say your list is long.
SHAUN MARCUM: It's long. I know it is. I know I got Garth, who works this year, with the eye black in the helmet, our first base coach, he didn't realize it until he was out on the field in the second inning. But that was one of them when he came out to the dugout with a black forehead. That was just one of them. That's one of those things. I think I did that after a losing streak, too. So it was trying to keep everybody loose and having fun.

Q. You pitched here last year with the Jays, I think it was a sunny afternoon. What do you remember about the ballpark. And how does your style conform to the parameters of the stadium here?
SHAUN MARCUM: I think it went five innings, a couple of runs. It's just one of those things. Any ballpark for me, because I'm not a power guy. I've got to make pitches, I've got to locate. If I don't, it doesn't matter what park, they're going to be able to square balls up and hit them far.
I do remember the infield and the outfield, the grass being short and the ball being fast. With that being said, I still want to throw ground balls, I'm not going to go out there and throw fly balls and let these guys bang it all over the baseball park.
I've got to go out and keep doing what I've been doing. Try to throw strikes, keep the ball down and attack these guys. They do have a great lineup. You look at Montero and Upton and what they've been able to do this year.
Getting back to Ryan Roberts, the year he's put together, the type of player he is, I know him very well. And bringing Aaron Hill over, he's the same type of player, play hard, don't give at-bats away. Obviously we saw that the other night with Bloomquist at-bat, I believe it was a 13 pitch at-bat.
This team reminds me a lot of our team. They're scrappy, they're grinders, and they're going to go out and play hard all the way through.

Q. One more about Ryan Roberts, can you have imagined back at the time when you were coming up with him that he'd be this Tat Man in Phoenix, and have that kind of breakout year?
SHAUN MARCUM: The tat thing, he had that coming up. But I played with him right when we got drafted, we played A-ball and Double-A together.
I don't know why -- I thought he was a really good player. I think he got moved obviously with Aaron Hill coming up. They moved Ryan to second. But with having Aaron Hill there, he was blocked there a little bit. He's a great player. He really is.
Just to see what he did, obviously playing with him in the minor leagues, and what he's been able to do this year. And even in the past, you know, when he was up, even for the short time in Toronto, and a little bit with Texas, he just plays the game the right way and you've got to respect that.

Q. You were his roommate in Double-A?
SHAUN MARCUM: Yeah, in Syracuse we were roommates, and I don't know -- I don't remember if we were in Double-A or not. But in Syracuse we were. But he's a good kid. I like him a lot. He definitely plays the game the right way.

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