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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: CARDINALS v GIANTSOctober 18, 2012Matt HollidayAdam WainwrightST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Four St. Louis Cardinals – 8 Q.  Adam, what does it do to you and mean to you when you're getting ready for the game and Stan Musial rolls by rolling around the track in a golf cart and people are going crazy? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Normally when I'm doing my pregame warmup I don't really pay attention to anything that's going on. But I stopped and made sure I slapped and acknowledged Stan the man. What a huge figure in this town and this city and for the sport of baseball. And I have so much respect for what he did here. Q. Can you talk about how satisfying a win this is for you, especially after Game 5 in Washington and just to come back and just basically throw lights out tonight? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: You know, it's all part of my plan in Washington (laughter). No, it was very satisfying. A little part of me wanted to reprove it to myself that I could go out there and pitch great when we need me to. I knew I could. I was very confident in my ability and my stuff. I just needed to trust it and go out there and make pitches and tonight I was able to execute. Q. For both of you, what is it about this team? Last year you were the last team in and you came back and you had a tremendous postseason and won the World Series. Same thing, it's like you're repeating yourself this year. Last team in and now you're on the verge of going back to the World Series. What is it about this team? MATT HOLLIDAY: I think, first of all, we're not taking the last game to get into the World Series for granted. The Giants have proven they're a great team and they have with their backs against the wall came back against the Reds. But I think our team is a good group of guys, that I think the leadership and the camaraderie that we have have a lot to do with it. We had a lot of injuries and key figures that aren't a part of the team anymore and we've found a way to get back to here. I think it goes back to the organization and the Cardinals, and we expect to win. Doesn't matter who is on the team or who's hurt. There's an expectation that young guys come up and fill the void and veterans step up. I think that's probably the biggest thing that I've seen. We have guys like Carp and Waino and Skip and guys that were here long before I got here that provide that Cardinal way and they teach us and the young guys, hey, we're the Cardinals and we're going to play in the playoffs. ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Well said. Q. In particular, this is for both of you, if you could talk about Matt Carpenter, Daniel Descalso, Pete Kozma. You mentioned the young guys, but in particular what these guys have been able to do this postseason? MATT HOLLIDAY: Well, I think they've come up, Pete, in his case, he's swung the bat great. We needed somebody to come up and play defense and he's done that. Just young players, you know, really stepping up and having big success in the postseason has made our lineup even tougher to deal with. I think when you can score runs in any inning, because the bottom of the lineup is swinging the bat's well, Matt Carpenter is feeling it, getting on base, it makes it harder on the opposing pitcher and it's allowed us to get where we are. Without those guys we're probably not here. ADAM WAINWRIGHT: I would just ‑‑ just to take it a step further about Descalso and what he did last year and so many big moments came up, getting big knocks for us, game‑winning hits left and right. And what Matt said about Kozma, he's not afraid of the big situation. And I think that's bred in us over here in St. Louis from the bottom up, the organization, just makes you believe you're a winner from the very first level on. Q. Matt, I was wondering if you would comment about knocking Lincecum out of the game before the end of the 5th. The sense of their strategy was Lincecum today, Zito tomorrow, and what it means to you guys. How you got to him and what it means to you guys to knock that strategy out a little bit that you got to Lincecum today and now you'll be facing Zito with a chance to clinch tomorrow night? MATT HOLLIDAY: I think getting a couple of runs early off Tim allowed Adam to settle in a little bit with a two‑run lead. It gave us confidence that we can score off of him. A lot of times with great pitchers like Tim if you don't get him early, you look up and it's the 7th inning and you haven't scored. For us to get his pitch count up and start to work some counts and hopefully get him to start making some mistakes in the middle of the plate and hit the ball hard, you know, a couple of tough at‑bats on him in the 4th inning, 4th or 5th inning, to eventually get him out of the game was big for us. We've got our work cut out with us for Barry tomorrow.  He's a great pitcher. He's won 15 games this year, and it will be a tough task for us. But beating Tim Lincecum, he probably hasn't had the season he wanted, is always quite a challenge. Q. How big was it for John and Allen, Yadi, guys that haven't swung the bats this postseason to get it on the act in beating Tim Lincecum? MATT HOLLIDAY: In the postseason the stats don't always look great. You're facing the toughest pitchers in the League. And the reasons these guys are in the playoffs is because of the pitching usually. And so a lot of times the stats, guys feel better about their swings than the stats show. Obviously hits helps with confidence. And all of us getting some hits today and contributing to a victory and scoring eight runs hopefully will carry the confidence over into tomorrow. Q. Adam, this is your first postseason win as a starter, does that have some significance there? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Yeah, it does. I feel like I've got a lot more than that, for some reason, but I don't. I realize that. I've won as a reliever, but it feels like I've been placed in postseason moments a lot. As a starter we won the last two games I pitched. Tonight was my first win. But I feel like I've thrown some quality games, we always go up against another tough pitcher. Tonight it was special to get a big win against a very tough pitcher and a tough team. Q. Matt, this is a little bit like the question that was just asked, but it was so obvious tonight that the key hits were coming, which you haven't been able to do a lot in some of the previous games, and especially the middle of the lineup. Was this a concern for you guys? MATT HOLLIDAY: I don't think you're ever concerned. Obviously you'd like to get those hits and build stretch leads or get back in games. But like I said, you're facing the toughest pitchers in the League right now. It's a battle. It's a grind. You're facing good pitching. And you're trying to have good at‑bats. But, yeah, it was good that we broke through with some big hits and some RBI situations and allowed us to stretch the lead and gave Adam a little bit of a cushion. And then we were able to build on that lead as the game went on. It's never easy, particularly in the postseason to get those runs home. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Q. Adam, obviously every postseason is different. '06 you stepped in for Isringhausen and had a great run as the closer, last year you were out. This year you're back and contributing. What does this season feel like, after all the experiences you've had? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: This season has gone so fast to me. I just can't believe where we are right now. I don't know, when I missed last year, you know, I just ‑‑ in the off‑season I was just like, can we please do that again next year? We have a good chance to do that this year. We have to go out and win a few more games. But we're putting ourselves in a good position and I'm so excited for that, to be back and contributing. As a competitor I just wanted to be out there so bad last year when we were going through that great run and I couldn't do a thing about it. As painful as it was not to be able to help last year, I feel like I'm a major contributor this year and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. Q. Adam, when you came up in the 6th inning were you anticipating all along hitting in that inning, kind of walk us through where you were at in that whole process? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Until I give that ball to the manager or he takes it, my goal when I start the game is to throw the first pitch and to throw the last pitch. I have no thoughts of coming out. As soon as you start letting those thoughts of coming out of the game creep in, that's when you find yourself out of the game real quick with a few ducks on the pond and a reliever coming in. I had made sure I maintained my focus. I was going to pitch as long as he left me in there. I was going to pitch all night. Q. Was there any thoughts of you pinch‑hitting, did he say anything to you about that? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: He didn't say anything to me. Yadier came over and said this is your game. And he gave me a big boost. We had guys on ‑‑ two guys on base there in the 6th inning, and I come up to the mound and Buster Posey is up at‑bat. And Yadi looks at him and says, this is your game. And I felt so much confidence run through my veins. It was just a perfect time for that. And after that I knew I was going to get him out. MATT HOLLIDAY: I think Adam and I would like to send our prayers to the Lane Goodwin family. I don't know if you guys know all about that. But I know he passed away. And he's a kid that loves St. Louis baseball. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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