“I'm pitching tomorrow regardless. I think it's one of those things where my goal is to go out there and get a win for our team.”
Those were the words of Carlos Rodon Friday evening, before Game 4 of the ALCS, when asked if it mattered to him whether or not he’d toe the rubber in Game 5 with the series tied, or the Yankees up 3-1 with the chance to clinch their first trip to the World Series in 15 years.
As it turns out, he'll be pitching for a chance to clinch the series, and as he gets ready to try to send the Yankees to the World Series, he’ll be trying to build on his Game 1 start, which saw him build in his ALDS start.
“I think I'll go home and rewatch Game 1 and see how I sequenced, but I’m going to go out there and compete the same way, similar to what I did,” Rodon said. “I think I was very mindful of where I was emotionally, and then I think focus-wise, I'm always very focused on the task at hand when I'm on the mound, but I kept it pretty simple; I thought that I stayed within and just controlled what was in front of me, and brushed off the things that I couldn't control. I thought I was very good at that.”
This will be Rodon’s first start on the road this postseason, which could concern some given his road ERA of 4.69 was over 1.5 runs higher than his ERA at Yankee Stadium. He doesn’t really have a way to pinpoint why that was, but that accounts for 15 different stadiums, not just one, and his career ERA at Progressive Field is 3.08, so he’s confident in the confines.
“It's just one of those things where sometimes as players, you show up to certain places and you pitch well,” Rodon said. “I’m sure we could find somewhere out of the 30 ballparks that I don't pitch well in, but fortunately I do pitch well in this one, because this is going to be a pretty big game.”
All of those above quotes, say Aaron Boone, boil down to one thing: progress.
“I think he's probably the guy I point to the most of just benefiting from the experience of the postseason. He’s pitched in the league for a long time now and had a lot of success, and been through struggles last year,” Boone said. “Bouncing back in the way he did this year, pitching for the first time in a playoff game in the Bronx, coming out hot, you could see it emotionally. Stuff was great early, but probably petered out a little bit, and I think he grew from that. I think he learned from that. I think as much as anyone, it feels to me like he's really gained a lot from the experience of pitching in the postseason with the Yankees. I feel like he's ready to go. I feel great about where he's at and what he's going to bring.”