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NL DIVISION SERIES: PIRATES v CARDINALSOctober 3, 2013Carlos BeltranAdam WainwrightST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game One Cardinals – 9 Q. I understand you pitched today, but could you talk about that walk? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: I didn't walk anybody. Q. The walk you got to start the rally. ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Yeah, as a starting pitcher, anything you do offensively is a bonus, so I knew right there leading off an inning I could be an automatic out and go out and not put up any kind of effort or really try to grind him out. He was pitching well. He had his pitch count where he needed to be, and no runs on the board and not much happening. So as a starting pitcher, your job is to try to make something happen. He's very tough, and I was lucky to work a walk there. Q.  When you get to seven runs like that and all of a sudden you have a big lead, how much different does it change how you good about your business for the next four or five innings? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: It doesn't. Aside from trying to stay out of big counts and stuff. But when you get a big lead like that, the key is to not change anything. It's still a 0‑0 ballgame. If you take that mindset, then you still attack hitters and you stay out of big counts. Usually you stay out of lots of ducks on the pond. A dangerous team like that, it's happened to me against them before, actually, where I had a big lead and they ended up scoring a bunch of runs on me. So past experience tells me you keep grinding the exact same way. Q. You had to wait a long time to go back out and pitch again. How did you stay sharp during the middle of that rally? Do you have to do something extra to maintain there? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Our offense did an amazing job. I got two at‑bats, and it kept me kind of hot. But, yeah, I made sure in the dugout I was kind of‑‑ you don't want to do too much because you feel like you're showing up the other team if you're out there throwing warm‑up pitches on the side. But I kept my body loose. Stretched out a little bit, and just enjoyed that rally. That was amazing. Q. We've seen this team's offense and ability to put up big innings. What is it with that? How much more difficult is it on a stage in the playoffs where it's usually pitching dominated? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Well, our offense, seemingly, once we get something going, it's very hard to stop us. We score a lot in bunches. So when we get one of those innings going, nobody wants to make the first out. We just keep everything going and try to ride that no‑out train as long as we can. We get two outs, we try to ride the two‑out train as long as we can. So I don't know what it is, but our offense just pieces things together really well. The pitchers that have had success against us find a way to stop that train going. Q. You saw in 2011 what Carp meant to this team in terms of I think he made six starts, was pretty much a dominant guy the whole postseason. I know you don't want to say it's yourself, but how important do you think it is to have a signature or dominant starting pitcher within the postseason tournament like this? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Well, I'd like to say we're going to have three or four dominant pitchers in this postseason, yet to be determined. But you can definitely count me in. I'd love to be that guy. Chris Carpenter, if I'm ever compared to him, I'll take it as a huge compliment. It's important to have somebody go out there that you can count on for sure. But I believe we have more than just me out there that can do that. Q. The one mistake pitch, the home run, what happened during that? That was the first pitch to lead off the inning. What happened there? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: First pitch, fluttering changeup in the middle of the plate. That's just me trying to set up his next at‑bat. I wanted to let him hit a home run there (laughing). No, he's a very good mistake hitter, and I threw a‑‑ I mean, I think if I remember how I described it to Lilly, it was just a disaster of a pitch to throw there, first pitch especially. He's very good. That's probably one of the better ones I've ever given up. I don't know how far it was. I'm sorry I let him upstage you there, pal. CARLOS BELTRAN: That's all right. ADAM WAINWRIGHT: But those are the first two balls I've ever seen hit that upper deck facade there. Yeah, tip your hat. He crushed it. That's what good hitters do. They hit terrible pitches. Q. Carlos, what was A.J. showing you guys in the third inning that allowed you guys to be so effective against him? CARLOS BELTRAN: Well, you know what? All year long we've faced A.J. and he has pitched good games against us. Today was a game where he wasn't locating pitches. He was falling behind, and we were able to put ourselves in a hitter's count. So every time as a hitter you put yourself in the hitter's count, you're going to get something to hit. So it all depends about trying to be able to put in a good swing, and that's what we were able to do today. We put good swings on the ball and we were able to score early for this guy who was able to pitch a good game for us. Q. Could you just talk about that home run? Kind of got everything going. And you're a postseason home run‑hitting kind of guy right up there. Just tell me about that. CARLOS BELTRAN: Well, you know what? In the first at‑bat he was pounding me inside with a lot of sinkers, and actually he got me out with sinker inside. In my second at‑bat I told myself he probably was going to pitch me the same way. You know, he fall behind, and he threw me a sinker that basically he was trying to throw at the front door and it kind of ended up in the middle of the plate, and I was able to put a good swing on it. Q. Just to follow‑up on that, you've heard this question for ten years now. But what is it about October and you that you have so much success in this month? CARLOS BELTRAN: For me, it's simple. For me, it's God giving me the opportunity to play in meaningful games and hard work through the years. I think as a ballplayer you always dream to be able to play in postseason games and try to win a World Series. You know, there is no other explanation. Just God gave me the opportunity to be in this situation and me being able to come through. But that doesn't really come with nothing. It comes with coming to the ballpark every day and preparing yourself to try to go out and have a good game. Q. Adam, two‑parter. First of all, why do you think someone like Carlos, who is a great player, can find that extra gear in the postseason? And what is your theory on that? Also, you were on base when he hit that home run, just your initial human reaction to the way it was crushed? I mean, what were you thinking at that time? ADAM WAINWRIGHT: Can I do 2 first? Q. Sure. ADAM WAINWRIGHT: When I was on second base I almost got just caught up in the moment. I threw my hands up in the air as soon as he hit it. I knew it was gone. Then I just watched it for a minute, because I knew it was very gone, and then I realized I had to run. You know, so way to go, dude. Crushed that ball. Yeah, just I knew against a very tough pitcher that runs are hard to come by, and you just cling to every one you can get off a very good pitcher in the postseason. I knew that was a big swing for us right there. But to speak about Carlos, we've played against him, now we've played with him. He's been such an amazing player during the regular season, it's really not that surprising he does it in the postseason. But I think when you have the experience that he's had and the moments to look back on just the‑‑ I mean, this guy is just a post‑season monster, like you said. That just adds to your confidence level. He has a lot of confidence going in here, I would say. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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