Oct. 13 Hiroki Kuroda pregame interview

Q. Hiroki, throughout your career can you ever remember pitching on short rest? Are you at all concerned with how your body will respond to doing so?

HIROKI KURODA: This is probably the shortest rest that I have ever had in my baseball career, but at this point of the season, you know, we can't really be talking about anything but to win.

So I'm just going to prepare myself to win this game, like I always have been, throughout the season.

Q. When did you become aware that it was possible you could be pitching on short rest? And what kind of adjustments have you made in terms of your preparation, whether it is throwing on the side, etc.?

HIROKI KURODA: I was told yesterday before the game by the pitching coach, but I had already prepared myself to pitch for tomorrow, so there was no surprise there at all. What I'm trying to do right now is get rid of all of the fatigue, as much as possible, to prepare for this game.

Q. Yankee Stadium is known as a hitter friendly park, yet you've pitched very effectively here throughout the season. How have you been able to do that?

HIROKI KURODA: I don't know what the secret is to my success in this ballpark, but my style of pitching is to be aggressive and just be aggressive all the time. And I think that has pretty much determined the outcome of how I pitched here.

Q. You said you were already preparing to pitch tomorrow before Larry Rothschild told you, is that because it was your turn in the rotation after Pettitte?

HIROKI KURODA: You're right, I just looked at the rotation and that was my turn. But I can't really decide where I'm going to pitch, that's the decision of the manager. But looking at the rotation, I just figured that it would be my turn.

Q. Because of the short rest, will you approach it any differently? Will you be less concerned about length and just give it everything you have?

HIROKI KURODA: I'm not too concerned. I prepare myself as the next game that I'm going to pitch is my last. I have always taken that approach, so I am just going to do the same for tomorrow.

Q. Hiroki, teams don't generally ask guys to work on short rest. Do you take it as an honor or added challenge that they think enough of you that you will even have success even given this different challenge?

HIROKI KURODA: If I'm going to start tomorrow, if that's going to be beneficial to the team, I'm glad to do it. I don't know if it is a compliment, but if the team decides that I should pitch that day, I'm grateful for the decision and prepare to pitch tomorrow.

Q. With Miguel Cabrera, are there any areas of vulnerability when you pitch to him? Or are there simply fewer areas of vulnerability with a hitter on that scale?

HIROKI KURODA: I think overall he is a well rounded player. He could go for distance, and he also has really good average. He's a really tough out, so what I'm trying to do is minimize the damage, and I try to figure out a pitch I can throw to him and try to be aggressive.