(Jupiter, FL) The middle ground between Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals appears to be four. As in starting only four games during the Grapefruit League.
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“I get it, I understand,” said Wainwright of needing to conserve his innings. “I feel good that they feel like I’m a big part of this thing and that they need me down the stretch. I take pride in that. What I also take pride in is taking the ball every fifth day. I understand that Spring Training is Spring Training and I’m not getting paid to win games in Spring Training and I’m not getting paid to win the Innings Crown in Spring Training. But I do know, though, is that I need to be ready to win games for the regular season. However many that is to get me ready, I’ll take the minimum but I would expect at least four starts in spring ball to help me get ready for the regular season. Hopefully, five. I don’t need six. I did five last year and I felt great. Six is a little excessive.”
“Maybe the overall number of starts, I would say that you might see something different there,” acknowledged Mike Matheny.
“I could’ve scripted how it was gonna go,” said Matheny with a smile of the conversation between the two. “No surprises, there. The guy wants to pitch. That’s what we love about him.”
Making concessions in Spring Training is one thing. Finding a way to save innings during the regular season isn’t as easy.
“I don’t know, because I know when I pitch nine innings it saves the bullpen and it means that we won the game almost always,” points out Wainwright. “That’s what people used to do all the time–that’s what we’re supposed to do. This five and dive nonsense is non-sense. That’s never a goal. My goal is to go nine innings. But also know that if we’re up by 12 and it’s the 7th inning, I could see maybe taking me out of a game here and there.
“I just know there’s not many games like that,” furthered Wainwright about the list of variables. “Usually I’m pitching against a very tough pitcher. I don’t pitch against a whole lot of ‘four’ or ‘five’ starters, I pitch against one of the top couple guys almost always.”
MORE ON SNL
A fan of Saturday Night Live, Wainwright shared that Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen drew his biggest laughs during the recent 40th Anniversary special. “All the old skits, all the new skits–I loved, loved, loved every era of Saturday Night Live. Every time they get rid of the great actors–the Will Ferrell or whoever, I’m thinking who’s gonna be the next person that can even come close to topping that and every time, I end up loving the cast.”
Saturday Night Live = my favorite all time show period. This is so much fun watching the 40 year anni show. Hey SNL… Need a future host??
— Adam Wainwright (@UncleCharlie50) February 16, 2015
Wainwright, would like to actually host the show in the future and shares that he actually made an appearance on SNL after the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006.
‘They were doing the Weekend Update and they said in other news…people in St. Louis everywhere are celebrating gay rights something’ and it shows me and Yadi come and jump into each other, hugging each other,” laughed Waino. “So I made it on the show, at least once.”
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