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MLB WORLD SERIES: CARDINALS v RED SOXOctober 26, 2013Clay BuchholzST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Three Q. Can you describe the work you did today and how you came through that? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  Yeah, I usually throw bullpen day three and sort of a touch and feel day four. A little bit longer today just because I hadn't gotten off the mound since the last time I was out there. So that was more or less basically to just go through the motions. And that's how I took it. Overall everything went good. Obviously there's a little bit of rust there. Like I said, I hadn't gotten off the mound in a couple of days. That's what we used it today for. Q. During the season when you had stalled a few times in mid‑summer, and going to see Dr. Andrews provided you with some peace of mind. Absent that now, what's your mental state in terms of being able to let it loose tomorrow? And is that weighing on you at all that you could be at some sort of risk? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  I don't think there is any risk there. My one thing that I have is to go and compete. Go out there for as long as John wants to leave me out there, and give the team a chance to win to the best of my ability. Obviously given the couple of days that I've been out so far, not a hundred percent. But I've said it a couple of times this year, I don't think anybody, especially at this time of the season, is a hundred percent. It's going to be my first World Series experience being on the field, and I think that just the environment, the crowd, the adrenaline, that's going to help me out, too. Q. Take us kind of from the last time you pitched to where you are now, and how effective do you think you can be, how good can you be with all of your pitches in Game4? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  Yeah, you know, starting that last game, bullpen, that was as good as I felt all season, really. Just had a little tightness, regardless of what it was, fatigue, whatever. Didn't really get loose, and that was the second, third inning, and that's the difference. To answer the last question, too, as far as mentally, the last time I got hurt I threw one pitch, and it's like, okay, I don't think I should throw another pitch. This time I went three‑plus innings with tightness. That's how I'm staying stable as far as mentally. But I think giving the team a chance to win, that's my goal. And to trust your pitches and to throw them to the best of your ability, that's what I've worked up to up to this point, and that's where I'm at. Q. What's it like for you to have sort of progressed into the role of being a clubhouse veteran, and how does that play out in the clubhouse? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  In a couple of ways. There's a lot of guys that have sort of taken the role of ‑‑ not even taken it, just sort of been given the guy as the clubhouse guy. Even the new guys, Jonny Gomes has been great this year and been a winner the last couple of season. I'm a quiet person, and get your work in, and when your name is called go out and do your job, and that's still how I look at myself. Q. John was talking a little bit about how that he thinks you can be effective, but it might be shorter time. Do you go out there tomorrow and just say, I'm going to let it go as hard and as long as it goes and not worry about preserving energy to go deeper in the game or do you think about how many innings you can go? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  Every time I pitch that's the last thing on my mind, to preserve anything. I know there's a couple of guys that do it. There's the Scherzer, Verlander that do it, but I don't throw 98 either. So I'm trying to throw every pitch, not as hard as I can, obviously, to make you miss your location, but I'm trying to throw it to a spot with good intentions every time out there, every time I pick up a ball. So that's the last thing in my mind. Q. Given the stakes, would you be inclined to think, if I start getting fatigued, maybe be a little quicker to go to John and say, I'm out of gas, a little bit earlier than you might during the regular season? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  I don't think that's going to be a problem. I'm sure there's going to be people talking to me each time I leave the field. Being at this level, especially on this stage, it's tough to take yourself out of a game. I've never done that before. But with this scenario that's going on right now, I'm going to tell them the truth. It's not going to be one of times where you might be feeling tired, but still telling everybody that you're good to go. Like I said, I'm going to compete and give my team the best chance of winning that I can, and if something does come up that I'm feeling a little rundown, then, yeah, that's something that I'll let them know. Q. A two‑part question: You mentioned earlier that you're not a hundred percent, can you elaborate at all in which ways you're maybe not a hundred percent? And the second part is, at the end of the day if your pitching line is tomorrow what it was against the Tigers in your last start, 5 innings, 2 earned, would you be happy with that? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  The first part, yeah, it's just ‑‑ there's not a whole lot of discomfort. The ball is not really coming out of my hands like it does in Spring Training or at the beginning of the season. I think that's true for the majority of the guys that have been pitching all year, and something that I've had to deal with over the last three and a half months. I'm still in the same shoes from that standpoint. Can you repeat your second question? Q. If at the end of the game tomorrow if your pitching line is the same as it was against your last one against the Tigers? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  Yeah, especially Tigers and those guys, they both swing the bats, just watching the few games that we've played against both teams. They're aggressive to pitches early in the count, trying to get on base for their big guys to drive them in. If you can give up two runs to either of those teams, regardless of how many innings you pitch, I think that's a victory in itself. So I'd absolutely take five and two, but obviously you want to go 9 and nothing. Q.  Jake was in here yesterday and he said in addition to the environment and the adrenaline that maybe the drugs would help, too (laughter). I'm wondering if anti‑inflammatories, how you've responded so far to them? Have you noticed a difference? Last summer you had a tough go with them in terms of your system, handling them, how are you doing this go around? CLAY BUCHHOLZ:  Yeah, when it came down to that, it was ‑‑ I want to be as healthy as I can be. But that was a pretty scary moment for me. And putting your health ‑‑ being in the hospital and being as serious as that was, putting that in jeopardy, I think that sort of veered us away. So I stayed away from the stuff that ‑‑ the really strong anti‑inflammatories. Basically been on the same stuff since the first time during the season, whenever I went on the disabled list. But I feel like I responded well to it. I've gotten more treatment in the past week than I did in the first week of being on the disabled list the first time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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