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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: CARDINALS v GIANTS


October 14, 2012


Ryan Vogelsong


SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Game One

Q.  I remember that you told us before the start in Cincinnati that you can't ‑‑ you try and treat it like a normal start, but you know it's not.  Once you got on the mound how long did it take you to feel like you were pitching in a baseball game?
RYAN VOGELSONG:  Surprisingly I wasn't nervous.  And that worried me a little bit because in the past when I've been in some not quite as big games as that, but throughout the regular season and a little bit last year and some stuff in the past with me in Japan, the nerves are usually good.  And I didn't have any, really.  I was a little worried about that.  I don't know if that was so much more of the conscious effort to try and calm myself down, to not go into the first inning too amped up and be out of control.  But it didn't take long at all.

Q.  When things weren't going that well for you down the stretch, could you identify what it was and what did you have to work through?
RYAN VOGELSONG:  It was a lot of mechanical things.  Just kind of got out of whack a little bit and just kind of snowballed on me, mechanically got off a little bit and then started to try a little bit too hard.
I said last time, I don't like to put luck involved in the game most times, but I did have a little bad luck here and there in a couple of games.  And everything just kind of happened at one time there, and just took me a little while to get back on track.

Q.  You've talked so much about trying to get respect in this game.  Now that you're starting Game 2 in the National Championship Series, what does that say to you?
RYAN VOGELSONG:  It doesn't say much now.  I think I need to go out and have a good game.  Obviously they've got a really good offense and Carpenter is going to be tough.  He's got a good postseason track record.  He's got a good track record to begin with and he's been throwing the ball really good lately.  He's obviously going to be tough.
Just got to go out there and try and throw the ball the way I've been throwing it the last two, two and a half weeks, three weeks.

Q.  You started in St. Louis early in the year, you had 7 shutout innings, how does that apply to tomorrow?
RYAN VOGELSONG:  I remember all my games, really.  It's something that I have this keen thing I do is recall at‑bats even when they're a long time ago.  But I don't think that means much.  For a lot of the guys in that lineup it was the first time they had seen me.  And for me it was some of the guys the first time I saw them.  So that changes the game a little bit when you haven't seen somebody before live.
I think just to go right to what happened with Latos, he pitched really good against us during the regular season.  Game 1 here he comes out of the bullpen and pitches really well.  And we put some good at‑bats on him in Game 5.
So I think the regular season game doesn't mean too much.  You've got to go out and make pitches and do your job and come out on the right end, hopefully.

Q.  To what extent does pitching here provide a comfort zone for you?
RYAN VOGELSONG:  Well, it's no secret, I've said in the past, that I definitely feed off the energy that this crowd brings.  I'm sure it's going to be pretty intense tomorrow night.  It's pretty intense on a regular season game here in the middle of June.  So tomorrow night should be extra energetic.  It should be fun, and hopefully I can feed off of them a little bit like I always do and put together a good game.

Q.  Could you just describe the impact that Buster Posey has on you personally, and also on what the impact he has on this team?
RYAN VOGELSONG:  Well, obviously from an offensive standpoint what he brings to our team you can't really replace.  And I think that was evident last year when we lost him.  From a catching standpoint I said in my interview last week, I trust him a lot.  I trusted him all year.  We work really well together.  And even when we're not on the same page, it doesn't bother either one of us.  We just keep trying to make pitches.
He's real easy to work with.  He's got a good idea of what he wants to do back there, and he's got a pretty good idea what I want to do on my end.  He's great.  He's great.  He's one of the best I've ever thrown to.

Q.  Just going back to the home question, given the struggles that you guys have had here and especially 1 and 2 in the last series, have you heard any conversation in the clubhouse at all, on the plane, anywhere, about how you really can't let that happen this time, you have to take advantage of your home field advantage?
RYAN VOGELSONG:  I haven't heard any conversation from the guys, no.  But I think it's real important for us to take at least one of these first two, if not get both of them.  We can't get ourselves behind the 8 ball, so to speak, like we did last time and try and fight back on the road again.  It was tremendous that we did it once.  And I think it would be asking a lot of us to do it again.  Not saying that we couldn't do it if it happens.  But I think it's important for us to play here.
But I haven't heard anything from the guys.  I think everyone is focused on what they have to do to win.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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