Oct. 13 Hyun-Jin Ryu workout day interview

Q. What do you think about tomorrow? You guys are in a precarious situation, obviously. How much pressure do you feel?

HYUN-JIN RYU: There's always additional pressure when you come back home down 2 0. I think all of us understand that. We are professionals. We're going to do the best we can to go out there and put our best game forward.

Now it's a five game series. We need to win four out of the five, and we'll do the best we can to do that.

Q. We remember you actually had pretty good outings against St. Louis. I know a lot of us are talking about pressure. But at the same time we also understand you have a bit of confidence because you've had good experiences with this team. Could you please talk about that?

HYUN-JIN RYU: I believe it's irrelevant to say that you have confidence against a certain team, as a pitcher, because we're always out there being confident no matter who we face. At the same time, St. Louis is probably a different team than we were in the regular season. So I still have to take it very carefully and consider them a brand new team that I'm going to be facing.

Q. What did you feel that you learned from your start against the Braves in the first round? And how can you maybe apply those lessons to the start tomorrow?

HYUN-JIN RYU: I know this sounds a little obvious, but obviously, my mistakes against Atlanta was giving up the runs early. So I'll go out there tomorrow and just do the best I can not to give up runs early in the game.

Q. Adam Wainwright is pitching for the Cardinals tomorrow. What do you feel about going up against a guy of his caliber with his playoff experience in a game of this magnitude?

HYUN-JIN RYU: I've always believed this in my professional career, but I think it's not really important who pitches against me, per se. I'm not the one pitching against that pitcher. I'm pitching against their hitters, so it really doesn't matter who is on the other side of the mound.

Q. Can you talk about the differences in the postseason in the Korean series that you've pitched in before now that you know what the American postseason feels like?

HYUN-JIN RYU: I would say it's very similar. I think in any league in the postseason when you put yourself in a situation where you have to win, it's a must win situation. I think the environment, the atmosphere is pretty similar wherever you go.

Q. Donnie said he thought you were nervous in your start against the Braves. What will you do to better control your nerves tomorrow?

HYUN-JIN RYU: Yeah, I was a bit nervous. Although, I do believe being completely nerve free is also a bad thing as a competitor. So I think it's finding a good balance between how anxious and how nervous I have to be tomorrow.

Q. You obviously had a very short outing against Atlanta, and we think that you'll agree that tomorrow you should be out there a little longer. What changes can you make so that you'll be on the mound and pitching longer than just three innings?

HYUN-JIN RYU: I believe that in the postseason pitching long into games is not as important as making quality pitches from the very beginning. I'm not going to focus too much on the length of my outing. Truthfully, if I'm out there for five innings I'd be more than happy. But I'm going to focus making quality pitches from the first pitch tomorrow.

Q. The way the offense is going right now, you're obviously not scoring. Is it putting it in your mind that you might have to throw a shutout in order to be able to keep your team in the game and to win it?

HYUN-JIN RYU: No added pressure whatsoever. I believe in our team. We have an explosive offense that could spark at any time, and I believe that it's not like our team goes out there not to get hits. Even as early as tomorrow, I believe we can come back and be the team that we're supposed to be.

Q. You're near the end of a very long Major League season. How does your arm strength feel relative to the way it did in maybe May or June back in the first half?

HYUN-JIN RYU: I feel fine. If anything, I actually feel pretty good. I feel really strong. I really don't think it's a matter of how long I've been pitching, but it's about the pitch count and the innings I've pitched.

If you look at those numbers, I haven't pitched that many innings. So there is no reason my arm isn't in good, top shape right now.

Q. Obviously your offense has been lacking lately. Do you feel the desire to go into the batter's box and make a difference yourself?

HYUN-JIN RYU: No, not at all. I'm a pitcher, and I'm going to focus on pitching.

Q. Kershaw has mentioned that if he was needed, he would be okay coming out of the bullpen and helping the team out in any way he can. Do you feel the same way? If so, were there any conversations with the coaching staff regarding that?

HYUN-JIN RYU: No, there were no talks about that internally. But obviously I agree with Kershaw, if given the situation to help out the team in any way you can, at this point in the season you do whatever you can to help the team win. Should I be given that opportunity, I'll do the best I can to help the team achieve our goals.