MUSGROVE WON’T CHANGE A THING
He says he’s not putting extra pressure on himself
All that is happening today is the next start after history. No pressure. Really.
This is the new Joe Musgrove, the one who threw the first nohitter in Padres history Friday in Texas.
“I’m not coming into this game with expectations or forcing myself to feel I have to have another dominating performance,” Musgrove said Tuesday. “I know if I stick to this process of where I’m at mentally, good things are going to come with that. … It is another game. Coming off the start I just had, it’s really easy to ride that high for too long. Your season can take a quick turn downhill.
“That was a really cool moment. It’s definitely worth taking the time to celebrate and enjoy. But I’m trying to move past that now and get ready for this next start. I know how easy it is to slide in the wrong direction.”
Musgrove said he didn’t sleep well for a couple nights after the no-hitter but has done so the past two nights. He was strong enough in his bullpen Monday that the Padres decided against what had seemed their inclination to push his start back a day after he threw a career-high 112 pitches Friday.
“It was a grind for a couple days,” he said. “… I’m getting good sleep now. I feel like I’m ready to go.”
What a few days it has been for the native San Diegan.
“It’s been a nonstop flood of texts, calls, tweets from people sharing their stores of where they were at for that last out and how special it was for them,” Musgrove said. “After seeing some of that, you see the impact I had in San Diego. Growing up in San Diego, this is something I’ve waited a long time for as well. To be able to be the one who directly changed that storyline is pretty incredible.”
He heard how his family’s drive-through coffee shop in Alpine has been flooded with well-wishing customers. He was
surprised Sunday, via FaceTime with his family, by the mural the Padres commissioned at Grossmont High, his alma mater. He had to get some new size-15 shoes shipped from San Diego, because the Hall of Fame requested the pair he wore Friday.
Now, of all the places to follow up the masterpiece he threw for his hometown team, Musgrove will start today in the city he called home for three seasons before the Pirates traded him to the Padres in January.
Movers were at his recently sold house in nearby Lawrenceville packing up Tuesday. His mother and sister are in town, helping oversee the move.
“I love this city,” Musgrove said. “It grew on me over the couple years I was here. The blue-collar lifestyle, I feel like I cemented myself in the city early with the way I played the game and the fact I dove into the culture of the city. I really tried to take that on and embrace it.”
It has been a busy couple of days just being at the ballpark here. Before walking off the field and into a room near the visitors clubhouse where he spoke to the media via Zoom, Musgrove stopped to chat with members of the grounds crew. On Monday, he caught up with former teammates and coaches on the field and Pirates staff members in the halls and tunnels.
A video played at PNC Park after the top of the first inning Tuesday welcoming Musgrove back. It included him diving off the mound for a ball and sliding hard into Javy Baez at second base and then getting in Baez’s face when the Cubs infielder took issue as the benches cleared. The small crowd and players in the Pirates dugout cheered at the end.
He will be starting against the team for which he made 58 starts from 2018 to ’20. He had a 4.23 ERA in 3251⁄3 innings, but that included a 3.86 ERA in his eight starts in 2020.
“I understand these guys got a good look at me for a couple years, but I got a real good look at them more often,” he said. “I’ve got an idea how to pitch these guys. I’ve got an idea how they’re going to attack me and work at-bats. But ultimately it is just another start.”
Musgrove is riding a run in which he has not allowed a run in his past 31 innings, dating to a Sept. 15 start against the Reds in which he didn’t yield a run in the final three innings. The scoreless streak encompasses four full starts — six and seven innings to end last season and six and seven to start this one.
Today, however, he will simply be trying to focus on the next pitch. He explained the day after the no-hitter that he felt it was simply the culmination of a sort of mental makeover, where he focuses on the process rather than the results.
“The biggest thing for me his year has been my mentality and the way I’m approaching the game,” he said. “I worked a lot on maintaining a level of confidence when I’m out there, a controlled aggression where I have intensity and intent with everything I’m doing and I’m not putting any more intensity on one pitch over another.”