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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RED SOXOctober 16, 2013Jon LesterDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four Q. John Farrell was just here talking about, since the All‑Star break how consistent you've been, he thinks it goes back to your fastball command. Is that how you've seen it, too, is that something that's been consistently good for you since the break? JON LESTER: I think anytime you have fastball command it sets everything up. That's the name of being a pitcher. You've got to have good command of your fastball down the zone on both sides. For whatever reason, whether it was just that little extra time after the break, just physically felt better within each game. So, yeah, I mean, I think that hits the nail on the head with that. Fastball command has been pretty good since. Q. Thursday you're facing the Tigers again, within five days. Who has an advantage, the pitcher or the batters, and will you have to change anything Thursday night? JON LESTER: I don't know about advantage one way or the other. I know we'll come up with our game plan, whatever that is, and try and go and execute it. And I'm sure they're going to do the same thing. So as long as you keep them in the ballpark and try to stay away from some big innings, give our team a chance to score some runs, and see what happens after that. Q. Maybe you're too close to all this, but as a baseball fan, do you have a sense of how special this series is from a starting pitching standpoint? JON LESTER: Absolutely, on both sides of the ball. Obviously losing Game 1 is not what we wanted to do. But you sit back and you look at what Anibal was able to do in that game, it's pretty impressive. And then Max follows it up and Justin follows it up. We were on the better side on those two games. As a fan, as a fellow pitcher, absolutely, it's been a great series. Just an intense series, pitch to pitch. I don't think you could ask for anything more from these two teams. Q. John Farrell was just talking about David Ortiz and saying through his years as a player and manager he hasn't seen many guys have his sort of, if you will, his aura in the room and keeping guys loose and just his personality. Can you talk about that and what that means in the room? JON LESTER: I really haven't been around a lot of superstars, but from what guys that have been around the League and played for some different teams and played with different guys, they all say he's the best superstar they've ever been around. Personality‑wise, the way he carries himself, the way he goes about his business, he's a true professional. From day 1 that I've been here he's never changed, good, bad or indifferent. You can't ask for anything more as a teammate as having David Ortiz in that locker room with you. Q. With all the event scouting that you guys can do, and you've seen this team all the days in a row, is that something you can use to make you better when you go to the mound tomorrow, all that information? JON LESTER: Yeah, absolutely. I think sometimes you can overload information. I know that's been something that I try not to do. I still want to be able to get in the rhythm of the game and get that feel for what's going on in the game for me as far as what pitches work and what's not, what are they trying to do, read swings and so forth. You have a game plan going in, and that's based on the scouting report you've seen and based on what you've seen the past couple of days. And it's a game of adjustment. Sometimes you go in there, you think you've got it all figured out and they're one step ahead of you and you've got to change on the fly. Like I said, we're going to have our game plan and whatever that may be, we're going to try to execute that. And if we have to adjust, we have to adjust, and that's just being part of a pitcher. Q. How much of your game plan do you base off what you've done against these guys historically versus what they've done the last four games? JON LESTER: I think you have to take it collectively. Obviously we've had some right‑handed pitchers out there, so I've got to look at that a little bit differently than I would if we had some lefties out there, if Douby was pitching. You look at some of the things they were able to do, Lack yesterday, watch Peav tonight and maybe see soft in certain counts works better than hard, whatever, just try to pick up something. But at the same time, look at some pitching that's worked. These guys are smart hitters, they know how I've gotten them out in the past and they know how they've gotten hits in the past. You have to take somewhere in the middle and adjust off that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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