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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v PHILLIES

October 7, 2011

Chris Carpenter

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Five

Cardinals Â– 1
Phillies - 0

Q. This is a dream come true type of game. You pitched against your best friend, it's a clincher for you. When you look at what you've done, where does this rank and what was working well?
CHRIS CARPENTER: Well, first of all, it was an unbelievable night. You had to look at all kinds of things. First, Roy Halladay is probably at this time the best pitcher in the game, and we come out and were able to jump on him early and get a quick run, which was huge.
Secondly, I went out and was able to do the things that I wasn't able to do in Game 2, and that was get ahead in the count, control the strike zone with my fastball, and use my breaking ball when I needed to.
That being said, you look at our game, there's huge plays, Furcal, Punto, Molina throwing out Chase (Utley), Jon Jay catching that ball there in the last inning, Ryan Howard flying out on a 3-0 pitch. For me as a pitcher that's an enormous play for that game. You look at the whole game and everything that went on in that game, and it was just a tremendous job by our ballclub.

Q. Can you just talk about specifically what you were doing, what the ball was doing to produce all those groundballs which in a park like this is obviously key?
CHRIS CARPENTER: Yeah, keeping the ball down in the strike zone, sinking the ball down with my fastball, keeping my breaking ball down, staying ahead in the count. And when you do that, you get those guys who obviously are a fabulous hitting ballclub, you get them in swing mode. If you're aggressive and they know that, if they don't swing, you're going to be 1-2, 0-2, whatever it is early in the count or behind in the count, they're going to start swinging and that's when you can start expanding the strike zone and getting the ball down and getting them to swing at stuff you want them to swing at and producing good results.

Q. Did you know you had it early?
CHRIS CARPENTER: I'm not concerned about how I feel, it's about executing. My stuff is the same every single time I go out there.

Q. The team showed a graphic right off the game that this is only the third time that there's been a 1-0 final in a deciding game of a series. I think the other one was with Jack Morris. I don't know if you remember that game. Just talk about the magnitude of doing something like this, especially from where you guys were this season and what you faced in this series.
CHRIS CARPENTER: Right. I've said it all along, I said it when we had the opportunity to get into the playoffs, and I said it the other day, yesterday, I guess, when I was doing the interview here. The magnitude of this game has been the same as it's been for the last month and a half with our ballclub and for me. The magnitude of two Wednesdays ago in Houston was an enormous game. If I go out and get shelled and we lose, I have no chance, just like tonight. We've been dealing with that the whole time. I think that the looseness of our ballclub helps us go out and compete the way we're competing.
For me it's another game. I'm going out to do the best I can to get my team a chance to win and move on to the next round. If we don't, I can tell you one thing: Everybody in that clubhouse is going to look at me and know that I gave them 110 percent, just like I will everybody else. Fortunately, like I said, it was a nice win for us and we were able to come out on top and move on.

Q. In the fourth with IbaÃ±ez' shot to right field, when it went off the bat, what were you thinking?
CHRIS CARPENTER: I was thinking that this is a small ballpark, please stay in, and it did. I backed up my cutter there, and he put a good swing on it, knowing that that fence there creeps up on you pretty quick, I was hoping that it stayed short. I couldn't tell if Lance (Berkman) was trying to dig me out or if he was going to actually make a play on it. Fortunately he was able to make a play on it.

Q. Did it feel like a home run off the bat?
CHRIS CARPENTER: Again, in this ballpark you don't know. Did I think he crushed it? No. But again, you don't really know in this ballpark.

Q. Given the history of you and the Brewers, you guys and the Brewers have had this season, are you expecting some big excitement in the series?
CHRIS CARPENTER: Well, it's going to be a battle. Those guys can play, man. Those guys have some good starting pitching. They've got a really nice bullpen. Offensively they're really good. They've got two MVP candidates, never mind half the guys around, Braun and Fielder, that when you're looking at Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart and Nyjer (Morgan) and Lucroy and all these guys can swing the bat. It's going to be a lot of fun. We've played a lot of games against them. They've been a battle with us no matter if they were in the playoffs, not in the playoffs. It's been like that since I've been here as a St. Louis Cardinal since 2003, when we were winning 100 games a year in '04 and '05. These guys battled us every single time we played them no matter if we were at home or on the road, and it's been like that since then and it's still going to be like that. It's going to be like that this year. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a good series, I think. We've got some talented players on both sides that are showcase stars, guys that people want to watch play, and it's going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait for it.

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