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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS v BREWERSOctober 4, 2011Randy WolfPHOENIX, ARIZONA: Game Three Q. Does it feel like a month since you last pitched? What have you been doing with your downtime and how has that gone? Have you had to change your routine or anything? RANDY WOLF: It does feel like I haven't pitched in a while. Especially for me, because I'm a routine guy. All I did was a few days ago I had a long bullpen, treated it as if it was a game day. And then started my routine after that, just try to stay in that five-day routine, and just kind of prepare for tomorrow. Q. What is this like right now? You don't even know if you're going to pitch tomorrow. And I assume you probably would rather not. RANDY WOLF: Yeah, it's probably one of the few times in my career where I don't want to pitch tomorrow. If it happens, I'll be ready. It's exciting. I want to get out there and I want to pitch and I want to contribute. But at the same time we've been playing great baseball and hopefully we can kind of sew things up tonight and move on. Q. Looking at the Arizona lineup, what jumps out at you? RANDY WOLF: They have a good balance. They're one of those teams that once they get the ball rolling, you have to really slow them down, because they're pretty tough. They like to get on base. They like to steal. They have a good balance of contact guys and power guys that can really do some damage. And there's really no soft spots at the end of their lineup. So they're tough. They're a tough team, especially in this ballpark. They're one of those teams you really want to keep off base. You want to slow the game down because they have the tendency to bring the intensity on their side, and you want to slow that down. They're a good team, you've got to respect them. Q. What role does experience play in the postseason? In other words, once you get that first game under your belt, does it make a tremendous difference as you go forward? RANDY WOLF: It did for me in 2009. I pitched Game 1 of the Divisional Series with the Dodgers. It was one of only two or three times in my career where I was actually really nervous. I remember thinking that day -- it was probably the first time I can remember being nervous since my Major League debut. When I was out there my control was off a little bit. I probably tried a little too hard. I started Game 4 of the NLCS, and I felt totally different. I felt like it was just another game. And I was able to slow the game down. I gave up a first inning home run to Ryan Howard. If it was the game before, I probably would have let it get to me a little bit more. I think that experience, at least for me, really helps out. Q. You said there were two or three times you were nervous, what were the other ones? RANDY WOLF: Those are things in my private life I can't talk about -- I'm just kidding (laughter). Q. I'm asking this on behalf of someone else. What are your impressions of the impression of the baseball that's on your media relations director's forehead today? RANDY WOLF: It's a definite improvement. If you've seen his face, it helps him out. It's something redeeming that wasn't there before. He's almost as red as my goatee right now. Q. Ron talked about how his approach of keeping things loose and fun that he got from Mike Scioscia. How much did that help you guys stay loose on and off the field with his approach? RANDY WOLF: I think it really plays into the kind of team we are. We're a loose team. A lot of these guys came up together, they've known each other since they were kids. We're the kind of team that other teams don't like it and I'm pretty sure of that. I'm pretty sure if I was on the other team I wouldn't like some of the antics we have. But when you're in the clubhouse and you're with this group of guys, it's a great group of guys. No matter what happens there, the personnel we have, we're not trying to show anybody up. It's just the sign of a loose team. I think when Ron came in, I think he just embraced the kind of team that we are. And I had Bud Black in San Diego, and he came from Anaheim with Mike Scioscia and Ron, and it's the same kind of philosophy of keeping things loose. And the one thing that Ron just wants us to do is respect the game, respect our team and go out there and play hard. He allows us to do that. I think we've done that all year. Q. Your own personal season, what are you most proud of? RANDY WOLF: Well, I feel like for the most part I've been pretty consistent. I think that's what I want to do when I'm out there is day-in and day-out, you have a good idea what you're going to get. I felt for the most part I didn't have these crazy good streaks and crazy bad streaks. If I had a bad start, I felt like the next time out I was able to pitch well. And that's important. I want the team to know when I go out, I want the manager to know, the pitching coach and everybody else to have a good idea what to expect. There's nothing more frustrating with a guy that goes out and some days he's dominant and some days you're lost. I think managers and teammates, I think they get more gray hairs over that than somebody you have a good idea what they're going to do. Q. In Japan, as you know, they work baseball and not play baseball. You've been there. Help me with the English, when fellow Brewers say that we can't forget that it's a kids' game. What is that? RANDY WOLF: Well, it just means that when we were kids we were playing Little League baseball, we did it because we loved it. It's what drove us. What we do now, there is a part of it that is our profession. There's a part of it that's a business side. But when you're out there on the field, that's gone. You're not going out there, you're not trying to get a hit because it's going to help you in arbitration. You're getting a hit because you enjoy the competition, you want to hit a guy that's a really good pitcher. If I'm a pitcher I want to get a guy out that's a really good hitter. Everything that you've done in your life is very gratifying when you succeed. And that's the enjoyment you get out of it. And you can't lose sight that it's hard to sometimes, but it is a game. There's a lot riding on it sometimes. But you have to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy something, it's really not worth doing. Q. Along that same line, you've been in a lot of different clubhouses with a lot of different teams. I'm guessing this is different than any other one you've been in. Have you enjoyed that and would you have it any other way? RANDY WOLF: No, I definitely wouldn't. This team is incredible to be around day-in and day-out. I've been on some teams where it's not enjoyable to come to work every day. It's really hard for people on the outside to understand that we're around our teammates more than we're around our family for however long you're playing. And if it's a great environment it's a fast year, you have fun. And if it's a bad environment it feels like the season is five years long. I just remember a couple of years, you drive to the park and the closer you get to the park, you feel like there's this knot in your stomach because you're not excited to go to the park. Whereas this year and a couple of years in the past, you enjoy going to the park, you enjoy seeing the guys. And you feel like you're going to win that day and you're going to have a fun time doing it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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