AL DIVISION SERIES: MARINERS v WHITE SOX

October 4, 2000

Paul Abbott

Lou Piniella

LOU PINIELLA: Well, those have been our two trademarks all year. Our defense this year has been very, very solid. Today, McLemore, when we needed, really made a good play off the ball Ordonez hit up the middle. And our bullpen in this series has been just perfect. The guys are coming in focussed and throwing strikes and really have done a great job for us.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, we've gotten ourselves in a very good position, obviously. Now our job is to finish it off. We're going to have to go out there hard and play with intensity on Friday, and the White Sox are a very capable team. We can't let our guard down. We have to go out there and play hard and take it to them like we have the first two games of this series.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, we have some good power arms in our bullpen. Rhodes has given us what we haven't had here in a couple years and that's a very, very solid left-hand pitcher that can equalize left-hand hitting. Mesa, he's got an excellent arm and he's got all that experience. We've been using him basically in the middle of a setup role like we did today. He's done an excellent job. Paniagua has stepped it up this year and given us exactly what we need as a short guy coming out of the bullpen. Then our closer, as the season has progressed, he's just gotten better and better. He's really done a great job for us. He has all that experience closing in Japan, and it shows. He's unflappable. His fastball's gotten better as the year has gone forward. He's got that good split finger. He likes being out there at the end.

LOU PINIELLA: Yeah, he threw a lot of pitches early in the ball game. We were hoping, first of all, that he would get out of those situations, which he did. But we were hoping for good six innings from him. That's what we got, I think five and two-thirds. I think that's a good confidence-booster for Paul because he struggled a little bit his last few starts. And today he made some very good pitches when he had to, especially there I think in the first inning. He had already given up a run in the inning and they had runners at the corners with no outs and he worked himself out of that situation. That had to be a big boost for him.

LOU PINIELLA: We picked up Ricky in May when he got let go by the Mets. He gave us a little swagger when we needed it. He's been in that leadoff spot for us. He still is an intimidating factor on the bases, he scored on a little chopper, got a great jump off of third. Those are the things that he's capable of doing for us. He has that experience. He knows how to play the game. He knows how to win and he's one of the veterans that we count on here. Today he jammed his wrist somewhat sliding into third so we'll see how he feels come Friday. But he's done a very good job for us here.

LOU PINIELLA: I don't have any more stock tips. (Laughter.) In fact, somebody came down today about the middle of the ball game, he said, "You don't know what you're talking about, Cisco's down a buck and a half today." I can't talk about that. We have a specific game plan. But that's about it. And if our pitchers execute -- but we're fortunate. They're excellent hitters, I can tell you that. A whole bunch of them, you're not going to find better hitters. We've been fortunate to shut them down.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, we talked about coming in here saying that in these type of situations there's no substitute for experience. These guys have been there before. They don't get rattled. They play. Pat did a very nice job of getting some veteran players in here that had been through the wars. We've had to rest them from time to time, as everybody knows, but they play hard and they play with intensity. They know how to win. The manager just stays out of their way.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, there were a few turning points. I think once they tied it up on us, Jay put us ahead immediately with a home run off of Sirotka. That was big for us. Then we were able to add a couple of runs. The play that McLemore made certainly was a huge play. Then early in the ball game when Abbott gets out of first and third with no outs in the first inning and they don't score, I think that was a big confidence-booster for Paul. So there were about three or four things that happened during the course of that ball game that kept the momentum on our side. It's important. And I think when they tied the ball Game 2-2 and Jay hits that home run and gives us a 2-3 lead, it keeps the momentum on our side.

PAUL ABBOTT: Well, the main thing is their team has a lot of power but they're also extremely patient. It's important to get ahead of them right away. That's the bottom line, you get behind these guys. That's what they want; they want you to throw some pitches, they want to see what you have. They want to get on it so they can do their damage. That's what they've done most of the year; they'll take a walk, get some guys on base. They tried to disrupt me today, which they did a little bit. They grab it early. They make things happen. They have a lot of cylinders they can use. So it's just important to make sure you get ahead of them.

PAUL ABBOTT: Well, I didn't make a lot of end-of-the game adjustments. Last time I had a lot better stuff. This time I didn't really have the best stuff that I've had. So I made sure that I hit my spots. I didn't give in even when I fell behind. The adjustments I made was just to stick to the game plan and make sure if I got behind not to give them too many good pitches to hit. If I walked them, I walked a few guys early. I was mainly not going to give into them. That was the main game plan I had.

PAUL ABBOTT: Well, you go through a season like this with 162 games, 24 guys, 27 guys if you count guys that come up and contribute. I go out there for the Seattle Mariners, I don't go out there for personal reasons. For me to have my post-season start, which is a dream come true, I'm trying to keep calm and make sure I do a good job for the guys out here who busted their butts all season long. We don't lose individually, we don't win individually. We win as a team, as the Seattle Mariners. So I'm just trying to get out there, get some quality innings, give us a chance to win, and then hand it over to the bullpen, which has been tremendous, lights out.

PAUL ABBOTT: It's everything. You go out there and you know that once you are there, you've done your job. You have three, four guys that are going to come in there and shut them down. If we have a lead, the way the guys -- their stuff on paper is tremendous. But they've also proved they've done it all year. So once you get to the fourth and fifth innings, you got a lead, you just bear down and do your job, throw strikes, they're going to keep it close. They're going to give us a chance to win.

PAUL ABBOTT: I go out there and do the best I can; that's all I can do. Like I said, I'm not going to give in to a situation. It couldn't have been any more fun today. Playing on the road in front of 45,000 Chicago screaming fans, they're not going to make it easy for you. For me, that was a blast just being part of that. And it seemed like the louder they get, the more you just go, "Wait, calm down, let's focus on what we're doing." I think falling down by the seat of my pants might reflect more my athletic ability than anything. (Laughter.) But it might be a reflection of the team, a reflection of Lou. That's kind of the way we play the game. We play hard. We play good, hard baseball.