For the final interview of the day, we were lucky enough to be able to talk to Adam Wainwright, who just happens to be my favorite pitcher. I might have been just a little bit excited about this part.
Funnily enough, the first question he was asked was, “How ’bout those Blues?” Fate, I’m telling you.
On Dave Duncan:
“He’s the best big league pitching coach I’ve ever had. I think Dave’s philosophy has just been bred into us to a certain extent.”
On his arm:
“My arm’s feeling great. I’ll continue to throw until spring training. I’m going to feel fresh and ready to go and hopefully not too much, but they’ll put the reins on me. I’m down there [in Jupiter, FL] now to make this feel like a normal spring. I’ll be ready for game two, or whatever they tell me.”
On trusting his elbow:
“This process is so long and grinding that eventually you just have to trust it.”
On the team:
“Top to bottom, we’re going to be very tough. Lots of switch hitting.”
On the World Series:
“I had boat loads of fun watching this team. There’s not much more fun to be had than what we did in September and October. None of us had voices for two months.”
On Albert:
“As a teammate of Albert, you want him to come back…I expected him to finish his career here.”
On Tony LaRussa:
” Tony LaRussa likes to compete as much as we do, so if he steps down, you know it’s time.”
What he learned while being unable to pitch:
“The biggest thing I learned was that I love to pitch. I’m not done yet.”
On being a Cardinal:
“I want to finish my career here. Everyone who plays here wants to finish here. We’re very blessed to play in St Louis.”
I know I for one would love to see Wainwright finish his career here. His hopefulness about the coming season, as well as a very obvious trust in both his rehab doctors and the other guys on his team, were both contagious.
This whole thing is making me SO excited for baseball again.
I’ll be back again tomorrow. Lots of people on the agenda including Daniel Descalso, Lance Berkman, Jaime Garcia, and many, many more.
