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MLB WORLD SERIES: RANGERS v CARDINALSOctober 21, 2011Matt HarrisonARLINGTON, TEXAS: Workout Day Q. Can you tell me what kind of impact Nolan Ryan has had on the pitching staff. MATT HARRISON: You know, since he became president, he's been a big influence on us. He came and talked to us in Spring Training when he took over and was talking about how he wanted to get us in better condition to be able to go deeper into games. He made sure we changed our throwing program to more long toss, more running. He made sure -- he wanted the starters to kind of be the backbone of the pitchers, and I think that's been a big influence on us. Just seeing his presence every day, it's a big help for us, and to know that he's behind us, it helps a lot. Q. Talk to me about how you might have been inspired by the way Colby pitched last night, and particularly with the situation with how with Texas the starting pitching has struggled throughout the postseason and what did he do for you? MATT HARRISON: I think he was going to get us back on the right track, you know, because in the regular season when a guy, one of the starters did that, it seemed like we went on a run, and everybody wanted to do the same thing that the guy did, whoever pitched that good game. He did a great job last night. He was matching Garcia the whole game, and unfortunately Craig got us again last night. But he kept the game close, and we were able to come back, and that's why we play nine innings. We were able to score two at the top of the ninth and take that game, which was a huge game for us, and to bring the series back home at 1 and 1 instead of 0 and 2. Q. How satisfying or rewarding is it to be where you are starting Game 3 versus last year's World Series you weren't even on the roster? MATT HARRISON: It's a big difference. Just sitting there on the sideline being a cheerleader last year, it wasn't my favorite thing to be doing at the time, but they were still my teammates, and I was going to be there for them and celebrate with them and stuff like that. But this year I'm getting an opportunity. They gave me the opportunity in Spring Training to come back and make the rotation, and I was determined not to let it slip away this time. And I was going to keep that spot the whole year. Hopefully I was able to stay healthy the whole year, so that was a good thing. I was determined to make that postseason roster, if we made it back, and I would have been happy just to make a start in the playoffs, but I'm getting a chance to make a start in the World Series now. It's like a dream come true and I couldn't ask for more. I just hope I can go out there and do a good job and give us a chance to win tomorrow night. Q. When you study the St. Louis lineup, what's the impression that strikes you? MATT HARRISON: I think they're pretty comparable to our team. They've got a lot of guys with a lot of power to the opposite field. I saw some guys doing that at their park. It was a little bit colder there, so the ball is not flying as much. But Freese and Pujols, Holliday, they've got power, and the ball is going to carry a little more here at our park. So I've got to make sure I keep the ball down. They've got a good lineup 1 through 9, so I just try to keep the guys off the bases ahead of the guys in the middle, and just go out there and try to execute my game plan as best as possible. Q. Everyone has asked you about being back home. We hear from your players how inspiring it is. Can you put into words what it does to play here in front of your crowd. Does it make a difference? MATT HARRISON: It does make a difference. You're more comfortable in an environment that you're used to playing in all year. We had never been to St. Louis. We're in a new territory, so we had to get comfortable there, and we were able to pull one out. It seems like now it's just a five-game series, and we've got three at home. We've got our fans behind us, which have been great all year. It's going to be a big confidence boost for us, and we're more comfortable playing at home. I think all around we're going to start picking it up a little bit. Q. Talk about being in the Rangers organization. I know you didn't start off that way, and the fact that you got two teammates that both came from the other organizations because of the Teixeira trade. Do you need to maybe say thanks to Tex? Talk about being here. MATT HARRISON: I thank the Braves for giving me the opportunity to play baseball in the Minor Leagues and stuff, getting a chance to play pro ball. But in that trade, it was kind of weird being traded. I was only 20, 19 or 20 at the time, and it was a little bit different being traded. But Texas gave me the opportunity to pitch in the Big Leagues and I couldn't ask for more than that. They brought me up the right way, brought me up slowly. I spent a year here in the Minor Leagues, but they taught me the right way. They had some great pitching coaches here coming up through the system, and barring a couple injuries I've had, it's been a great experience. I love playing with these guys. We've got great chemistry on this team. I look forward to spending a few more years here. Q. C.J. of course pitched Game 1, and as another left-hander, how much can you draw from what he did, what types of things in general, and how do you do that if you do draw things? Are you looking at videotape or is it just what you see in the dugout? MATT HARRISON: It's hard to see from the dugout, but I'll go back and look at the video of the game and get some feedback from him, too, and he'll let me know some things that worked for him. We've got kind of similar pitches, but there's a couple guys that he was getting out pretty easily on a certain pitch. He'll let me know. I'll go back and look at what he did and some other lefties throughout the season, the regular season, how they pitched these guys. I have my game plan and there's ways I like to pitch, too. I love listening to the scouting reports and everything we have, but I'll go with what's working for me that day, and if I get beat with that, I get beat with that. Q. When we talked to Ron yesterday, he said the one thing he'd like to see from you is maybe go another extra inning or two. You went five good innings your last two starts. Is there anything looking back on those last two starts that you can do to facilitate that or make it happen? MATT HARRISON: Definitely not walk three people each game. You know, the two lineups we faced, the first time was a little bit of jitters in the playoffs when I pitched against the Rays, but the Tigers have a good lineup. They had a lot of righties, and they made me work a lot of deep counts. Hopefully I can get some quicker outs this time, maybe put some more balls in the strike zone but in a good spot in the strike zone and get some quicker outs. That would be a big key to getting deeper in the game, and I think that's what I have to do. Q. You guys have done a pretty good job of neutralizing Pujols in the first two games. What is it you guys are doing so well? MATT HARRISON: You know, sometimes we've been pitching around him. We walked him a couple of times. But with him and any of the guys in the middle of the lineup, you have to be aggressive with them, you have to get ahead of those guys. You fall behind 2-0, 3-1, you're in fastball counts with them, and guys like that aren't going to miss fastballs, it doesn't matter how hard you throw. So the big key is being aggressive, mixing the pitches, mixing in and out, and I try to keep them uncomfortable. Q. There was so much talk coming into the series about the two lineups and the Cardinals have an AL-type lineup and it seemed like the pitching was being overlooked. Were you offended by the fact that the people were overlooking the starting pitching on both teams? MATT HARRISON: I don't think it offends us. I think it kind of motivates us a little bit when people aren't behind us or people aren't thinking we're doing our job. I think it's just going to help us listen to criticism and help us be a better pitcher. I think we'll take that into our starts. We've been doing our best so far, but I know the numbers haven't really showed quality starts. But a few of those games we were able to keep us in the ballgame, and that's what we're supposed to do. It would be nice to have some deeper ballgames, but if we keep doing our job and just keep going after guys and keep being aggressive, I think we'll get more quality starts out of the series. Q. How much do you think Elvis is becoming one of the better shortstops in the game with all the things that he can do? MATT HARRISON: He did a great job last night especially, but the guy has some of the best range I've ever seen of a shortstop. He's mature for his age. He seems to always read balls off the bat so well, and I think he's come into his own. As long as he stays focused, he'll do a great job and just keep away from the mental mistakes. But the guy has got great range, a great arm, and he's going to be a big help to his team for a long time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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