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NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 8, 2017

Zack Greinke

Los Angeles, California - Workout Day

Q. You don't seem to have nerves pretty much at all. How does your personality help you in a situation like this?
ZACK GREINKE: I don't know. I did before last game, but I felt it helped, if anything.

Q. Why?
ZACK GREINKE: As long as you're not like overly nervous, it just gets you locked, like you're more focused and more locked in sometimes, and that's how I felt last game.

As long as you're not like crazy nervous. But that doesn't happen very often. I've seen it a couple times with people, but it's pretty rare.

Q. Zack, looking at the stats, the Dodgers chased fewer pitches than any team in baseball. What is the challenge of your style of pitching versus their style of hitting?
ZACK GREINKE: They chased fewer, you said?

Q. Yeah.
ZACK GREINKE: Yeah, that's what it seemed like the first couple games too. They wait for a pitcher to hit and then it's an ideal way of hitting. You just look for a pitch to hit. If you get it, you hit it as hard as you can. If it's not a pitch to hit, they take it. I mean, it's pretty simple, but it's harder to do than it sounds like.

Q. Zack, how do you combat that, though? How do you combat that as a pitcher when you have a really patient team?
ZACK GREINKE: I feel like you guys are trying to get all my game plan tips before the game, and it sounds kind of silly for me to answer some of these questions.

Q. Approaching this game, down two games in the series, how do you mentally prepare for something like this? You were just here a couple days ago in the NL Wildcard, but do you feel a little bit better and more confident about this upcoming start?
ZACK GREINKE: I don't know if I'm approaching it that much different. Just got to pitch as good as I can, and hopefully the results end up being good from that, but that's all I could do. If I do what I can and it works out, that's great. But if it doesn't, then, you know, you did everything you can, and that's just kind of how I do it.

Q. You and Clayton seemed to build a pretty good relationship in 2015, your final year with the Dodgers. There was some talk there that you guys would remain friends. Have you kept in touch with him in the last two years?
ZACK GREINKE: Some, but, I mean, I make relationships with the guys on my team now and he makes relationships with guys on his team now, and that's just kind of how it works out.

Q. What have you thought of his playoff performances since your departure from Los Angeles?
ZACK GREINKE: You know, I don't really remember last year's and this year's. He did good.

Q. Zack, in retrospect, what happened in the fourth inning of the Wild Card game the other night?
ZACK GREINKE: Let's see. Let's start from the beginning. I missed my spot by a couple inches to Carlos Gonzalez, and he hit it pretty good, so it got the first guy on base.

Then got Arenado out, but it was hit too soft to turn a double play.

Trevor Story, didn't hit a ball that good, but it was in a good spot, and he got a hit.

Then Parra, another thing, kind of did exactly what I wanted and just kind of was a couple feet away from an ideal spot, and he got a hit.

So to that point, a bunch of good things were going on. Got Mark Reynolds to do exactly what I wanted, so up till then it was everything I wanted. Just three guys were on base, I think, even though everything was going as planned. Then Lacroix hit a ball really good. He hit me good every time I've ever faced him.

Made a mistake, though, on the first pitch curveball to Amarista, and then that was it.

Q. Overwhelmingly Torey Lovullo has said in this situation there isn't any other pitcher that he would want on the mound tomorrow night. Ideally Paul Goldschmidt said the same thing, Archie Bradley. What's it do for you as a pitcher having this whole team really rallying and saying that you should be the guy tomorrow night? Does that help your performance mentally?
ZACK GREINKE: First I've heard of it, so I haven't had time to think about any of it. So it's tough for me to answer something off the top of my head like without giving it some thought.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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