San Francisco pitcher Tim Hudson takes the mound on Friday as the Giants host Kansas City in game three of the World Series, a chance on baseball's biggest stage he once feared might never come.
The 39-year-old right-hander has 16 seasons in Major League Baseball -- making 457 career starts for Oakland, Atlanta and San Francisco.
In the early years, when playoff appearances were plentiful, he never doubted that he would one day pitch in a World Series.
But as post-season trips dried up, he admits doubts began to creep in.
"You see the window start to gradually shrink," Hudson said Thursday.
When his 2013 season ended with a broken right ankle in July "things looked bleak for a little bit there," Hudson said.
But he inked a $23 million two-year contract last November with the Giants, joining up with a contender that won the World Series in 2010 and 2012.
Now he finds himself tasked with leading their bid to rebound from a game-two loss to the Royals in Kansas City on Wednesday that knotted American baseball's best-of-seven championship showcase at one game apiece.
"Obviously it's the biggest stage, it's the pinnacle of baseball," he said. "This is what everybody hopes and dreams for throughout their career. It's obviously a bigger, brighter stage, but at the end of the day it's the same game we've played all year.
"It's the same game we've played our whole lives. It's just going out there and controlling those emotions and understanding that it's still a simple game. You've got to go out there and make pitches, have a solid game plan and be mentally and physically prepared."
He's prepared not only to take on Kansas City hitters, but also to try to inhibit the Royals' aggressive baserunning style.
The Royals' 31 stolen bases in the regular season were the most in the American League.
Royals manager Ned Yost, whose team is back in the post-season for the first time since winning their only title in 1985, believes speedy runners can put pressure on opposing pitchers, pulling them out of their rhythm as they try to hold runners on base.
"That's the idea behind it," he said. "You want to try to divert some of the attention away from the pitcher's main focus, which is concentrating on getting that hitter out, and having some of that focus go over here. It helps the hitters."
Said Hudson of the challenge: "You obviously have to be concerned with it.
"You have to vary your times. You have to be a little quicker to the plate than you normally are. You can't have the same cadence every pitch to the plate. They'll take second, third on you every time."
- Pivotal game three -
Hudson is well aware what's on the line on Friday.
In World Series that have been tied at one game each, the team winning game three has gone on to win the series 66 percent of the time.
"It's all of a sudden essentially a five-game series right now," he said.
Giants hurler Madison Bumgarner baffled Kansas City hitters as San Francisco won the opener in Kansas City 7-1.
Yost said bouncing back with a 7-2 game-two triumph was crucial for the Royals.
"For me, it wasn't necessarily a must-win game, but it was as close to a must-win game as you can get," said Yost, who gives the ball to pitcher Jeremy Guthrie on Friday.
Guthrie, a 10-year veteran, is playing in his first post-season.
In his one prior playoff start, he allowed one run in five innings against Baltimore in game three of the American League final.
"Our guys are really confident," Yost said. "We feel pretty good where we sit right now."
Source: AFP