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NL WILD CARD GAME: CARDINALS v BRAVESOctober 4, 2012Kris MedlenATLANTA, GEORGIA: Workout Day Q. We talked to some guys in the NBA, and they said for the playoffs or the NBA Finals you need to go down the floor a couple times to get hit to get in the game. Talked to guys in the NFL, and they say you have to go to the line of scrimmage and get hit the first time and say all right, my nerves calmed down. What do you on the mound when it's just you? KRIS MEDLEN: I think it's the anticipation part of it that gets me. The drive to the field and all of that, that stresses me out a little bit. But once I'm on the field and on the mound, it's kind of like riding a bike and everything feels normal. Like I said, it's the anticipation of the whole thing. Q. How did you first develop your changeup? How has it evolved over the years? KRIS MEDLEN: My first year of instructs they kind of made me throw them. I was just a four‑seamer and curveball kind of pitcher, reliever. Yeah, they just kind of force med to throw it, and I kind of developed it on my own. But they force med to throw it. Q. (No Audio)? KRIS MEDLEN: No, it's a four‑seam change. I have the same grip from the start and everything. So I don't know. It's just a bigger stage, and people notice it a little bit better now, but it's pretty much identical to how I used to throw it when I first started throwing it. Q. Chipper Jones obviously has had a storybook career. There is an opportunity to have a Cinderella ending to it if more of this continues in the postseason. Can you take us inside the clubhouse? How much does it mean to this team to win for him given where he is in his career? KRIS MEDLEN: You can't take any of these opportunities for granted personally. You don't have that many opportunities in your career to play in the playoffs or to play in whatever this is called. But especially for him. Like you said, it's his last year. It inspires you to kind of want to get him a few more games under his belt, and let him go out on top which is where he belongs. Q. Can you talk about your relationship with Ross, and what it's like when he's catching? KRIS MEDLEN: I love Brian McCann too. But throwing to Rossi, he almost invents stuff in the middle of the game, which kind of fires you up. I mean, you haven't thrown a certain pitch the entire game, then when we need to make a pitch, he'll call an inside changeup to a righty and you're just like, okay? Are you sure? So it makes you want to execute it. It's great, he sticks every pitch for you. He got in my face one time in Colorado my first year. He's pretty intense when he gets the opportunity to catch. But like I said, he's great behind the plate, and I'm super happy that he's catching. Q. What did he get in your face about? KRIS MEDLEN: I think I started out and my first 25 pitches like 18 were balls or something. And in the dugout he kind of got in my face about being whatever, you know, words I can't use. But trying to just zone me back in and fire me up. I think it was a spot start for Javy Vazquez that one year. Q. I know you don't worry about much, but it is a strange start time tomorrow. So your day, your calendar for the day is it a little screwed up? KRIS MEDLEN: No, I don't have one of those. No it does not matter. It's how I've been my entire life. Give me the ball and let me go play, from high school, little league, whatever. I just love playing the game, and I want the ball. Whatever time it starts, it starts. It doesn't matter to me. Q. Can you remember those two first starts your first two games in the Major Leagues in '09, and how far you've come since then, and if there was a turning point after that? KRIS MEDLEN: My first start, I was ready 15 minutes before the National Anthem, like warmed up and ready to go. I kind of pooped myself out my first one. Memorable. You learn from some bad outings and stuff. But second one was against Lincecum, which is never too fun. So I made a couple of bad pitches in that game and gave up four runs in five. But overall, I don't know. I don't think the start was that bad for being a young guy. But you learn from bad outings, and you learn what your stuff looks like to certain hitters. The more you get around in certain lineups and all of that, you just learn yourself more within the league and how guys are approaching you. You can kind of learn that way. Q. (No Audio)? KRIS MEDLEN: What's that? Q. Are you conscious of the fact that you have not lost a start? KRIS MEDLEN: You keep reminding me, yeah, in the clubhouse. Yeah, I mean, some of you try to do it. It's your goal to win the game, no matter how. Like I said, this whole year it's not me by myself. I've given up four or five runs in a start and guys just pull it out for me. My name is in the books or whatever, but it's a team thing. I didn't do it all by myself. That's for sure. Q. Those two appearances against the Cardinals earlier this year were obviously a long time ago in a different role. Is there anything you take out of those appearances? Is it just a different role? KRIS MEDLEN: Yeah, I would say that. Obviously, I don't change my approach when I go to pitching. But the flow of the game is already decided as you come out of the bullpen. I'm excited to get a chance to face these guys. It's fitting that it fits them, especially how they caught us last year and they did their thing last year as defending championship. It's almost like it's supposed to happen for us to play against them. They got Lohse going, and he's a tough guy to get some runs off of, and the lineup is pretty good too. So I'm just going to approach it the same as every other start. I had 11, 12 start this is year, and they really don't matter anymore. It's a Game 7 thing. You just go out and don't talk. You just go do. Q. I think I saw yesterday in the dugout that you sat down, Uggla put his arm around you and said something to you, and I'm guessing it's about the game at hand coming up. KRIS MEDLEN: Good guess. Q. What did he say? KRIS MEDLEN:  He just said last game of the year, and he kind of reflected on stuff. He said good, year, man. He said good year. I don't know. Friendly guy. Q. In any other year you guys would be the top seed as the Wild Card. You play a five‑game series. How much does it kind of eat at you that maybe in the next series you guys advance and only face the nationals once or twice? KRIS MEDLEN: It's hard to even look past tomorrow. There won't be a next series if we don't get it done tomorrow. I'm not even approaching that, worrying about that at all. The Nationals are the team we faced all year. We know how to play against them. I think we played well against them but we're not playing them tomorrow. We've got to take care of business tomorrow and worry about that later. Q. I know you joked about this before, but you really don't have a game day routine? You don't have the same thing for breakfast or the night before? KRIS MEDLEN: I have peanut butter and honey like 30 minutes before I go out, sit in the hot tub and stretch out. I don't know. I just figure if you have so many certain things that you need done before a start, if they don't happen one time are you going to, you know struggle in your start? I just try to avoid that and mentally lock into what I need to get done physically for the game. It's a different day every single day. It just does not matter. You're facing a different team every time. It's all different. Why have the same thing every time when you have to approach things differently every time? Q. Why peanut butter and honey? KRIS MEDLEN: It's a light meal. It's good energy. I don't know. I randomly needed something to eat, and I'm not going to eat fried chicken. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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