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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: CARDINALS v GIANTSOctober 16, 2012Matt CainST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Workout Day Q. What makes the St. Louis lineup so dangerous? MATT CAIN: Well, I mean, I think from top to bottom they have a bunch of guys that can hit home runs. But they're not all trying to do that at the same time. They're all trying also to hit for decent average and really good average for a lot of those guys. So they don't go up there with the same plan of trying to hit home runs. They can work counts and do different things and move guys around the bases, too. Q. On a day that looks like it may be impacted by weather tomorrow, does that change any part of your preparation or do you just take it as the conditions prevail? MATT CAIN: Yeah, I'm going into tomorrow like the game is going to be at 3:00 like normal and we'll just play it from there. That's really all you can do. Q. For whatever reason your numbers against the Cardinals haven't been great. I think your ERA approaches 5. Are you aware of that, and is there any recollection you've had over ‑‑ about your starts against the Cardinals in the past that stands out? MATT CAIN: You know, I know that I have ‑‑ I think my first start here, I think that was in '06 or '07, I think I was about two innings, gave up eight runs, and Pujols took me to Big Mac Land. I remember that one was not good at all. I haven't had a ton of starts in this ballpark, but have faced the Cardinals at home. But I think the biggest thing is just making good pitches and at times I didn't make good pitches against these guys. Q. It's a relatively small sample size, but you had more success pitching five days rest this season than in the past. Is there something about in the routine that you perfected or was that coincidence? MATT CAIN: I guess it was just coincidence. I didn't even know about that. Q. How important has Scutaro been to what you guys have done the last few months? MATT CAIN: He's been very instrumental in what we've done as a group, ever since he's come over here. He's really helped us out. Starting out playing at third when Pablo was down and moving over to second where he's more comfortable. What he's done with the bat has really picked us up a lot. He's driven in a lot of 2‑out runs, and gotten rallies going for us, as well.  He's been really, really big for us. He's a great clubhouse guy. The guys really gravitate to him and ask him questions and try to pick his brain. Q. You look at the American League series, you got Sabathia and Verlander, guys who are known for taking the responsibility, putting it on their shoulders, and almost willing their team to win. Do you feel a similar level of responsibility here, whether it's the contract or the perfect game or what have you? MATT CAIN: I think that's what all of us starters do, especially over here with the Giants. All of us expect to win the day we pitch. And I think that's the role we want to take. And we want to try to, in a way, put the team on your back and lead them to victory. Those guys are going to have to help us out in ways, too, and they've done it big time. They've done that a lot for us this year. Q. Just to follow up on Scutaro. Your teammate said last night he was inspirational about the way he hung in and got the hit even though he was hurting. That episode, does it carry over into tomorrow's game? MATT CAIN: I mean, it was yesterday, so I don't know how it would carry over. I'm not sure, what are you asking? Q. The feelings that came out of that game. MATT CAIN: With what he did? Yeah. You know, he did a great job of being able to stay in that game for as hard a hit he took on second base. It was hard for us to see him come out of the game. And we were worried about him. Hopefully that little bit of rest at the end of that game and today will pay off where he can be in tomorrow. Q. Even from your first Big League start you've had a lot of tangles with Matt Holliday over your career. You've had a lot of success against him recently. What do you take overall with the confrontations? MATT CAIN: No, there's always been a challenge, because I've been a guy that's always going to challenge him and he's a guy that's going to challenge you at the plate. He's not afraid to swing the bat. So sometimes it depends on if you throw the ball where you want to, because if you don't, he swings hard and he's going to take advantage of it. And it's usually not going to be for a little sloppy single, it's going to be something that is going off the wall or over it. Q. I was curious about your strongest trait as a pitcher, what do you consider that to be? MATT CAIN: I think it's, for me I feel like it's more just the will to win. I want to go out there, even the days that I don't have my good stuff, I feel like I'm going to try to find ways to get through that. And I think that's something I try to do and hopefully the guys can feed off that and pick me up the days that you don't have the good stuff. Q. As a staff, you guys have been waiting for that quality start. What kind of lift did you get out of what Vogelsong did last night? MATT CAIN: That was big for us. We haven't been pulling our weight as a starting staff. And Vogey really did a good job of that yesterday. We all definitely needed that. And hopefully that right there sparks us to all pitch as well as he did. Q. On that subject Vogelsong has had two really good starts. The rest of the rotation hasn't been indicative compared to what we've seen during the regular season or in 2010 in the postseason. Do you chalk that up to good hitting or just a small sample size or what? MATT CAIN: I'd like to say it's more of us not making good pitches and not really executing things that we need to get done. We feel like we can, even a good hitting team, if we make good quality pitches, that we can beat those guys and keep our offense into it. We've made a lot of mistakes over the past, what is it, six games or seven games. Vogey didn't yesterday, and it showed. Q. Do you see any similarities between these two teams, just in terms of it seems like you're a couple of hard‑nosed teams? What similarities do you see between yourselves and the Cardinals? MATT CAIN: No, I think that's definitely the big similarity that we see with the Cardinals is we look over there and we see the guys doing the same thing. With what they did against Washington even to get into the playoffs, what they did. They fought to the very end. And they did that the year before, as well. And that's the way we look at ourselves. We feel like we're never out of the game until it's over. And guys are going to do what they can to try to win games until the end of it. And I think that's why this should be a very fun series. Q. Going back to Holliday for a second. Knowing what happened in the last game and knowing he's a guy you have to pitch in and out, do you have any trepidation about going in knowing if you miss more might be made of this than maybe your intent may be? MATT CAIN: No, you have to go out there and pitch your game. If something gets away from you inside, that's kind of part of the game. But you've got to be able to pitch inside and you've got to be able to pitch away. You can't have a fear with doing that. Q. One more Holliday‑related thing. Since you faced him so much, he knows what you're trying to do, you know what he's trying to do. Do you try to trick him or go with your strengths? MATT CAIN: It's tough to say. A lot of times you're reading him from pitch to pitch or at‑bat to bat. Your first at‑bat he might totally change up the next at‑bat. So you just really have to read it and go with whatever you feel at the time and worry about making good pitches and hopefully that pays off. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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