SAN DIEGO — He has pitched in just one career playoff game, and it came at the end of a blowout last October in the ALDS.
But as Paul Blackburn heads down the stretch about to pitch in the most pressure-packed games of his life — and in an even more important role than most could have predicted entering the season — the thing that his teammates give him the most grief for should serve the Yankees veteran well.
“A lot of guys give me crap because they say I’m out there looking like I’m sleeping,” Blackburn said with a chuckle this week. “I feel like I’ve gotten to the point now in my career where I feel like I can control the adrenaline out there. Every day is different, obviously. There’s some days you’re out there [with] a lot more adrenaline than you have the next day. It’s just part of it, part of being a reliever.
“Once you start feeling like you’ve faced every situation that you could possibly face, just being out there more, you get used to it.”
