MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 30, 2001

Brian Anderson

BRIAN ANDERSON: Well, it was everything I thought it would be. You know, a lot of -- the fans were really into it. I knew it was going to be a tough draw with Roger out there and you knew that being down 2-0 that you were going to get his best and the team's best so it was everything that I figured it would be. You know, outside of that, there's not much to say. There were no surprises.

BRIAN ANDERSON: No, I've never seen a night like that from Damian. But the ball was going all over the place. I could tell just running in on those pop-up, the ball was moving -- I mean it was really incredible to see. The one pop-up, the first one went back and I could see it, I took a peek up at it, looked up at Damian and had moved over, it seemed three or four feet. The ball was all over the place. Communication was tough, obviously because of the crowd, the fans being so close to the field and it made for some -- some tough chances out there. But you are rarely going to see that from our ballclub.

BRIAN ANDERSON: No. I mean, that would be a question, obviously, that would be better suited, to be asked of Curt. But I can tell you from a mental standpoint, he wants to pitch. If, indeed -- I haven't heard anything but if indeed he is going to start Game 4, you know, he wanted it. He wanted it. He feels like he's ready. He had a low pitch count last time. I look to see Curt out there throwing like he has been all year. But mentally, I know he's ready and physically, he says he's ready and if Curt wants to pitch and says he's ready, then you can bet that he is.

BRIAN ANDERSON: Yeah. You're not going to find, I don't think any place in the League that's any more hostile than this. These fans are -- you know they come out and they cheer for the Yankees and they want to see them do well. I mean it's just a tough place to play. They are loud. It seems like they are right on top of the field. They don't have very many nice things to say. If you do catch an individual yelling something -- but it's tough to come in here. You know that -- what makes it real tough to come in here is that obviously, the team on the other side of the field. That's what's going to dictate most of why it's tough to play. They certainly have a championship ballclub and we knew it was going to be tough coming in here and trying to beat them here on the home field, but trying to deal with the crowd noise, as well.

BRIAN ANDERSON: I felt fine. I think that is that the -- I don't know exactly what my pitch count was. I heard a couple of people talking about where it was and I don't know if I've thrown that many pitches all year, if, indeed that was the case. But I think the weather helped out a lot, with it being so cold out there, it didn't feel -- I didn't feel like my pitch count was that high. I knew I had a lot of innings where it went deep into counts and obviously that at-bat with Soriano he was fouling off a lot and that was costing me a lot of pitches. But when I came out of the game I felt fine, I walked Posada on four pitches, but I was trying to get him to chase a pitch for a double play ball but after that swing he put on me in that first at bat, I wasn't going to give him anything good to hit. If he wanted to chase me out of the zone, great, but I had no problem walking him because he did take a good swings off me and hit an absolute rocket for a home run. That was obviously an indication, you walk a guy on four pitches it probably looks like you were tired but I don't think I was as tired as that at-bat was, more so I was trying to pitch around him once I fell behind.

BRIAN ANDERSON: Just frustration period. You obviously want to put up a zero in that inning and give us a chance to get back in there in a tie ballgame and give us a chance to scrape across a run and get a lead in. That situation, walking Posada, that was a guy that I wanted to get, didn't want to give in, end up walking him and when Bob Brenly comes out, obviously I know my night is through and I have left our bullpen in a tough situation. So it was a lot of frustration, at myself, and just coming out; wanting to say out there. It was a great battle to be a part of it and I just didn't want to come out, obviously with guys on first and second, one out. There's a lot of ways to score runs in that situation, and obviously, they were able to scrape one across.