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"FacebookPinterest\n\nGQ: So what do you do at the end of the season once you've been at it for nine or ten months?\n\n TL: Just lookin' forward to relaxing. Just takin' care of my girlfriend's and my dogs, and just relaxing. Hey, Cy [his French bulldog, the best-named congratulations-to-me gift in history], knock it off! Hey! There goes my dog trying to eat some shit. You know, this is pretty much just time to ourselves to relax, to not really do anything.\n\nGQ: You guys fell a little short of the playoffs this year, but there were some major improvements\u2014what's your recap on the season?\n\n TL: We made giant steps. I mean, considering that we finished close to 20 games under .500 the last two seasons. Nobody likes to lose that much. And coming out this year we definitely had a chip on our shoulder\u2014people saying that we weren't going to do much. It gave us extra motivation. So we came out and it was nice to surprise some teams, surprise some fans. As far as my personal goals, I think I just made smaller jumps, at least statistically, you know? Last year was a lot of fun; it was a big coming-out season for me as far as getting myself seen. So this year, I wouldn't say I had a target on my back, but people were definitely aware of me.\n\nGQ: Were batters better-prepared to face your particular repertoire of pitches?\n\n TL: Yeah, I mean my first year I came into the league as a fastball-curveball guy. Then my second year I started using my change-up, which was a pitch I had worked on for a long time. This year, everyone knew what I had. But that's what makes the game fun. Just 'cause people know what you're featuring, doesn't mean anything really. For the hitter, it's all about reaction. When a pitcher's got four options like I do, it just makes it that much tougher for the hitter to sit on a pitch.\n\nGQ: Watching you over the last few years, it seems like you're having a ton of fun out there. Now that you've become a leader on the team, is the honeymoon over?\n\n TL: There are certain aspects that you take a professional approach to, but you've got to remember that baseball is a game and that it's supposed to be fun; it's supposed to be played relad, but focused. And that's where we got to this year. With the freedom that [Giants manager Bruce] Bochy gave us in the clubhouse with the different personalities, the different kinds of people, each free to be whoever they want\u2014I think that helped us become ourselves on the field. It helped us build our own identity, as opposed to all the talk of the post-Bonds era, and putting franchise on my head, or people trying to make this my team. I don't think it's that at all. This is a whole bunch of different personalities coming together to make the Giants, and I'm just glad to be one of the crazy personalities in that clubhouse.\n\nGQ: Growing up in the Seattle area and playing Pac-10 baseball, do you sometimes feel like San Francisco is a perfect match for you?\n\n TL: It's definitely an organization that I feel comfortable with. Especially this city. Coming from the West Coast, I already had that feel for here.\n\nGQ: The San Fran fans love you\u2014were you surprised that they responded so positively to your vibe?\n\n TL: Oh, definitely. I didn't know that fans could just attach to you like that. Mostly, it has to do with how the team plays; it's not because of an individual player so much as... I mean it's that, but it's really about the team. I've learned a lot about being in the public eye. I'm certainly handling things more maturely now, I'm not getting as scared as easily.\n\nGQ: What were you scared about?\n\n TL: You don't come up expecting to be a fan favorite. When I was a rookie, I was just trying to make a name for myself, but people already knew who I was and already had expectations for me.\n\nGQ: How are the bars in San Francisco?\n\n TL: You know, every once in a while, I'll go out, but I've never been a common frequenter of going out. I'm more of a... a pretty lax guy. I stay in, just hang out, chill, head to friends' houses, play video games, you know, just shoot the shit. Especially now that the off-season has gotten here, it's kind of nice not having anything to do, but also have the freedom to do whatever you want.\n\nGQ: Do fans feel like they can approach you more easily because they relate to you?\n\n TL: Yeah, definitely. I look a bit more approachable than, say, Randy Johnson or Barry Bonds. It's very satisfying. They feel like they know us because of the information we've given them. I want just want to be a regular person.\n\nGQ: Do people recognize you more since you won that first Cy Young?\n\n TL: It's definitely transitioned a bit. At first, it was here and there people noticing me, just because I look so young. Even funnier, certain security guards on the road wouldn't even buy the fact that I was a player and I'd get hassled. But things have definitely changed. People look at the hair and the beanie as my own little signature, but I wasn't growing out my hair for any purpose. And I only got the beanie because of the hair. All those things mended together in making this perception of me.\n\nGQ: Are you getting a winter haircut?\n\n TL: Uh, I think I'm still growin' it out."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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