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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RED SOXOctober 11, 2013Jon LesterBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Workout Day Q. How much time did you give yourself to enjoy the Division Series victory by the Red Sox before really focusing on what you've got coming up? JON LESTER: I don't know. I mean I guess until yesterday. We came in yesterday, had a pretty light workout. And I think guys were still enjoying the fact of what we just accomplished. But at the same time realizing that today we've got to start focusing on our next challenge. Q. John Farrell was telling us that you guys get more information in the postseason from your advance scouts. How much are you able to personally put that to use when you're preparing for a team? JON LESTER: I don't know. I mean, I think ‑‑ I think you've got to take each individual differently. For me, I look at the same stuff that I've looked at all year. And I'll go back and I'll watch the two games that I threw against them this year and try to get some information from that as well. But I don't like to overload myself with too much information. I try to rely on our coaches and our catchers to really kind of hammer that stuff home to me out on the field. So I'll look at the usual stuff that I've looked at all year and then go from there. Q. Can you talk about the challenges that this Detroit lineup brings? JON LESTER: I mean, obviously very tough lineup. We've seen it kind of go both ways as far as them come in and score some runs. But at the same time, the games that they don't they're still tough outs. I think that's what makes them very similar to I think our offense is. You know you're not going to have three pitch outs. You know you're not going to have at‑bats that they just give away. So you have to be on top of your game from pitch 1 to however long you're in the game for. And try to execute down in the zone. Keep them in the ballpark, that's a big key. If they are able to score some pitches up and hit some home runs, hopefully you've kept guys off the base paths, so it's just solo shots. Q. What do you remember about Anibal Sanchez from 2005 when you were together in Portland? JON LESTER: I think we were probably completely different pitchers back then; naive, young, stupid, you know, throwers. But obviously watching him over the past couple of years in Florida and now Detroit really mature and figure out who he is. I think that's everybody's kind of nemesis when you get called up is figuring out who you are as a pitcher. You try to model yourself off of a lot of people growing up and Minor Leagues, and when you get to the big leagues you have to figure out who you are. And I think he's done a good job of that. Obviously his stats speak for themselves. ERA title winner this year. You know it's going to be tough. Just like the rest of their pitching staff. You know you've got to keep them within reach and just hope they have a bad game. Q. You've obviously had a lot of success in the postseason before. What do you have to do during the year to keep your body ready so that come October you could be throwing your best? JON LESTER: I don't think you really can do anything. It's just a matter of now you're running on adrenaline. You don't really care how your body feels anymore. You're just trying to keep that ultimate prize in front of you and think about that, don't think about how your body feels, just go out there and whatever you have that day. You look at Wainwright the other night, he pitched Game 5, he didn't have the fastball velocity he had in Game 1. He made the adjustments, pitched with a lot of cutters, a lot of breaking balls. If your body is not doing good that day, you figure it out. You go on the fly and adjust your game from there. Q. Is there a way you can put into words what the journey has been for you, going to Spring Training not knowing the team you had, and now getting to start Game 1 of the LCS? JON LESTER: I think one word that sums it up for me is fun. I've had more fun this year than I ever had in the Big League level. Obviously you walk in that first day and like you said, there's a lot of questions about: Are we going to be good again? Am I going to be good again? But as soon as that first day hits you've got to put it all behind you and go to work. And I think that's what's made this team pretty special is that from day 1 when we ran out on that field guys worked their butts off, from the stretch to being the BP. Guys were focused on these days right now that we're going through. And I think that's what makes our group pretty special. And it's just been a fun ride to this point. Q. You had an uncharacteristic year last year. Was there some point, whether it was Spring Training or early in the season, where you felt like I'm back to being the pitcher I know I can be? JON LESTER: Well, I think when you have a year like that, you have to ‑‑ like my normal routine I do, I sit and evaluate and figure out what went wrong. And obviously there was a lot of wrong. And try to evaluate that, and try to bring some positives from something. And once that happens, then you have to put it behind you. You can't sit there and woe is me or worry about the next year or anything like that. I have to take the mindset that it was just a blip on the radar and that I'm still a good pitcher, and when I show up to Spring Training day 1 I'm going to be ready to go, throw my first bullpen and put 2012 in the rearview mirror. Q. One of your most memorable starts was the one against Detroit here and Scherzer. What stands out to you on that start looking back on it? JON LESTER: I think obviously going against this team, the atmosphere that we had that night. Obviously going against Scherzer is probably going to win the CyYoung this year. It was a lot of things ‑‑ it was a big series for us, keeping the momentum going for us. And it just ‑‑ it had that feel of, hey, we've got a chance to play these guys in another month and let's set the tone now. And we were able to do that I think in that series. And hopefully we can carry that over now. Q. There have been some three and a half, four‑hour nine‑inning games recently. Both mentally and physically, is it easier or harder to be on the bench and on the mound for three and a half hours than it is for say two and a half? A.I'm a nervous wreck when I'm not pitching. Tampa was miserable for me. But when the guys are on the field, when I'm on the field, you don't pay attention to time. Time doesn't matter. You're worried about executing this pitch or executing this at‑bat or whatever you're doing. But when I'm not playing I can't sit there. I have to move around and try to keep my mind off what's going on. When you're on the field you can't worry about, oh, it's only the 7th and we'd played three hours. I don't think anybody cares this time of year how long it takes, as long as at the end you're on top. Q. Just talking to some of the guys, talking about baseball IQ, and Jonny Gomes's baseball IQ is off the charts. What does that mean to you or any individual when you're surrounded by guys that know the game, think about the game, and maybe help you to think about it in different ways, has that affected you this year? JON LESTER: Yeah, absolutely. When we're on the plane, we're not sitting back there goofing off. Most of the time guys are talking baseball, talking shop. I had plenty of conversations with Jonny in the back of the plane ‑‑ I've had a lot of at‑bats with him when I was younger, and figuring how do right‑handers approach me? How do I make the adjustment when something is going wrong or listening to him talk to somebody about running the bases or what do you look for in a takeoff move? Different things to enhance your ability to be a better baseball player. And a lot of times those conversations can't ‑‑ don't really interest people. But when you have the group that we have that explains things and really makes it easy for guys to understand, you can sit back there and talk shop all day, and it makes it fun, and guys have learned a lot of stuff this year. I know I have from position players, which is a little weird for pitchers to sit back there and talk to those guys and get information that might help us. They're pretty tight lipped about that. It's been fun. Like I said, usually when you're not at the field you don't want to talk about baseball, but that's not the case with this group. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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