Los Angeles Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson fully expects to be enemy No. 1 when he takes the mound for Game 3 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) in Kansas City on Sunday.
The crowd at Kauffman Stadium – starved for postseason baseball since 1985 – was boisterous during the Royals wild-card game earlier in the week and Wilson has no doubt the 37,000-plus will be hostile.
“Well, the good thing is having some experience in these situations before, like knowing what to expect from a hostile visiting crowd or an excited, boisterous visiting crowd," Wilson said, via the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “I think everybody on our team sat there and watched the A’s‑Royals (wild-card) game (at Kauffman).
“I was at a restaurant watching some of the stuff on TV and they were panning to the crowd and the crowd was just going crazy, losing their mind, and I was thinking, 'Man, this is cool, this is a cool environment.'
"That’s the environment you want to play in. You grow up as a little kid and you say I want to pitch in the playoffs or I want to get the game‑winning hit or whatever it is. And envisioning doing that in front of 40, 50, 60,000 people, not 18 people sneezing and coughing at a spring training game. This is more fun. This is better.”
Despite a down year from Wilson, who posted a 13-10 record and career-high 4.51 ERA as a starter in 31 starts this season, manager Mike Scioscia has been impressed by his more recent body of work.
“I think C.J., if you look at how he’s throwing the ball for probably his last four or five starts, had one rough start in Oakland,” Scioscia said. “Outside of that, yeah, he’s a talented pitcher, and when he gets the ball into good zones, he’ll get his mis‑hits, he’ll get his strikeouts, and I think he’s going to go out there and just go pitch by pitch.
“It’s going to be loud. There’s no doubt about it. I think he’s a pitcher that can absorb that energy and channel it into making good pitches.”
The Royals counter with their ace James Shields (14-8, 3.21 ERA) in hopes of completing the sweep of the Angels.
