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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: CARDINALS v BREWERS

October 13, 2011

Zack Greinke

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Four

Q. Zack, I don't mean this question in a critical way of umpires, but the pitching thus far in this series, the starting pitching has not been spectacular. Is there anything that in your observation that changes in post-season in terms of strike zones; do they tighten up in the post-season a little bit?
ZACK GREINKE: This is one thing I've been meaning to talk about. I think the home plate umpires have been, I mean, amazing so far I think. It's the best zones, better than it is during the regular season. Even the guys I've had, they are not perfect, but in the post-season, the two games I've thrown, I thought were perfect zones.
There has been some mistakes in the field, but calling balls and strikes I think is as good as I've ever seen umpires calling right now.

Q. Given that the Cardinals have a really good offense like we all know, have you been surprised that the pitching has struggled, compared to the way it was during the regular season for the Brewers?
ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, a little bit, but I guess a lot of it is some of the guys are really hot right now. Jay is swinging really good and Freese, I thought he was probably the most underrated hitter in the League maybe, but I've never seen him swing like this before. And Pujols is swinging as good as he's ever swung.
So just their lineup is already good, and they have -- usually it's just like one guy is hot, and they have at least three. I might be leaving some out, but at least those three are swinging as good as I've ever seen them swing. Makes it tougher.

Q. Do you think too much is made of your home-road splits this year and do you feel compelled to remind people that you had three quality starts on the road in September?
ZACK GREINKE: The big thing is I've had some really bad games on the road, which, the Chicago Cubs game and the Yankees game were really bad. I guess the Pittsburgh game I was cruising the whole game and all of a sudden, I think it's the seventh inning and I gave up four or five hits in a row.
Besides the two games, the Yankees and Cubs game, I felt like I've pitched just as good everywhere, but those two games I haven't pitched like I should pitch and it wasn't because of being on the road. It's just because of bad games.

Q. No matter how tonight turns out, Game 5 is going to be a highly pressurized situation, as a starting pitcher, do you look forward to that kind of role, the post-season, the pressure, the attention?
ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, there's a lot of real important games during the regular season, but post-season, a little bit more. They are all important. If it's 3-1 it's important, if it's 2-2 it's important, if we were up 3-1 it could be just as important. I can't really imagine a game situation no matter what it is that it wouldn't be an important game.
Every post-season game is pretty important, because you've got to win three-out-of-five or four-out-of-seven. You can't really give away any games.

Q. I was going to ask you about your 2006 season in Wichita, just the importance of that, and also, do you remember your complete game in Springfield that year?
ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, I don't think that season was that important for anyone really. But it was just a regular season in the Minor Leagues, and the Springfield one, our manager, Frank White, who I thought it was our best game he saw me throw, I thought I just did normal stuff and they were really bad that game. Just the Springfield team wasn't really that good I didn't think. (Laughter.)
So I thought that like 80 percent of it was their team and 20 was me pitching good. (Laughter.)

Q. Obviously every pitcher wants to finish everything they start. Realistically, that's usually not going to happen. What kind of goals do you set for how far you have to get with this team in order to hand it over to the bullpen in good shape?
ZACK GREINKE: I mean, with our team, it's almost bad, but like once you get through like five or six, you almost think that the bullpen can do just as good a job as you, if not -- and it's really amazing how good we have been back there.
For the most part, I want to at least go six usually, and if things are going good, then you want to do more than that. I guess some pitchers try to go nine right from the get-go, but if I -- but for some reason, if I come out trying to go deep in games, I end up throwing a lot more pitches. If I just try to worry about getting one out at a time, it works better a lot of times.

Q. When the signal comes from the bench to intentionally walk a guy, does that bother you as a pitcher do you always want to throw, or do you sometimes understand the strategic advantage of doing that?
ZACK GREINKE: I don't know if I've had to intentionally walk anyone this year, but usually you don't want to, but sometimes it just makes sense. Like right now, we are walking Albert a bunch because he's swinging so good. And if there's an open base, and two outs, it kind of makes sense.
I mean, if it makes sense, you don't even think twice about it usually. The only times I've ever wanted intentionally walks are like weird situations, where like Asdrubal Cabrera or Placido Polanco is up and you're like, this guy is going to get a hit for sure. But most of the time when you face the really big hitters, I feel like I'm going to get them out.

Q. Did you get much feedback from your remarks about Carpenter and do you wish you had not gone there?
ZACK GREINKE: I guess I didn't get a whole lot. My wife likes to read stuff, and then she gets mad, and she's mad that I said it.
But it just happened and don't need to talk about it anymore.

Q. Trying to explain good hitters versus good pitchers and why they are successful, etc., how often do you, when a guy is successful against you, is it a case where you didn't get a pitch exactly where you wanted it, or didn't throw the pitch you wanted; or is it -- in other words, how often does a guy hit the exact pitch that you wanted to throw?
ZACK GREINKE: I think a lot of it is just some guys see better. Like Miguel Cabrera, I think he's the best hitter in baseball. Sorry to everyone else that's really good, but right now I think he's the best hitter in baseball.
Over the years, I've gotten him out pretty good, and I still think he's the best hitter. Even though I've had good success -- and there's other guys like Scott Podsednik, and he's good, but he's nowhere near Pujols, and I can't get him out no matter what I do. It's hard to explain sometimes. Like it's just, I think how they see it out of the hand sometimes.
Like Holliday, it's happened, he's hit me real well, where I make my pitch and he still hits it good, I don't understand it sometimes. A lot of it, I think some people just see you better than others.

Q. We talked about before your first NLDS start that being it was your first time in the playoffs, it was kind of the biggest of your career; has it maybe been strange or exciting for you that every time you come out to pitch now it's even bigger than the last one?
ZACK GREINKE: In all honesty, it's just another game kind of. I thought it might like be a lot different, but it's really just a normal game, and you just get as ready as you can and do what you can.
First two games I've given up some runs but I've been really happy with how I've pitched. So tomorrow, I'm just going to do what I can do, and if I throw good, I'll be happy, happy with how I throw.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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