LOS ANGELES _ Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw said he wouldn't use the word "excitement" to describe his mindset going into his Game 6 start Saturday night against the Cubs in the National League Championship Series.
So what is the right word?
"I don't know _ such a deep thought," he said. "I don't know if I have a word for it. But you do everything you can to try to keep it just like another start at the beginning. Then obviously the magnitude and the situation of the game kind of raises everybody's adrenaline."
The Dodgers don't need a deep thought from their ace as the series returns to Wrigley Field _ just another clutch performance.
Kershaw said he told Dodgers manager Dave Roberts he was willing to pitch either Game 5 or 6, but the Dodgers pushed him to Saturday to give him an extra day of rest after he was used heavily in the division series. That left rookie right-hander Kenta Maeda as the Dodgers' point man for Thursday night's Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.
In his first two postseason starts against the Nationals and Cubs, Maeda allowed seven earned runs on nine hits and five walks in seven innings.
"If he can get ahead of hitters and expand, he's really good," Roberts said. "But with any pitcher, if you start working behind and hitters start smelling blood, it gets to be a little bit tougher."
Maeda was behind in the count often in the first inning as the Cubs took an 1-0 lead after Dexter Fowler's leadoff single and Anthony Rizzo's RBI double to right field.
He struck out Javier Baez on a questionable called third strike and Jason Heyward to strand two runners on base in the first. The Cubs threatened again in the fourth when Baez doubled and Heyward took a pitch off his hip. Maeda recorded the next two outs before Roberts decided to make it an early bullpen night, and right-hander Josh Fields prompted pitcher Jon Lester to fly out to strand the runners.
Maeda said before the game that he hasn't been satisfied with his playoff run.
"It's an important game for the team, but it's an important game for me too," he said through an interpreter. "I haven't been doing well, so I really have the desire to do well."
Kershaw said he will go to Dodger Stadium before the team's flight to Chicago on Friday to do his pregame work, and he wasn't questioning the extra day off.
"I always tell them I'll do whatever they want," Kershaw said. "I feel like Doc (Roberts) and everybody above me has the whole team's best interest in mind, obviously, trying to win the series. So it's not my decision."
Kershaw has pitched in his fair share of big games in 17 career playoff appearances, but he knows the energy level at Wrigley Field this weekend is going to be turned up another several notches even from when he pitched in Game 2.
"Obviously the fans are pretty excited about their team this year, and rightfully so," Kershaw said. "They've been waiting a long time for them to win. ... Pitching on the road is obviously different, but you try to keep it the same as possible. D.C. was one of the louder environments that I've pitched in. So I've gotten to do that now a few times. I guess I'm as prepared as I'll ever be for that."
