AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 13, 2004

Terry Francona

TERRY FRANCONA: No, I don't think uptight. I don't think we've swung the bat very effectively, that's for sure, especially against the two starters. We've had no baserunners through the first six innings of either game. I don't think that's being uptight; it's not being very effective. But it's not due to being nervous, we just certainly have not been very successful.

TERRY FRANCONA: Well, I'm not really going to give you our book on him. That's probably not appropriate. Pedro was trying to go away with a fastball and misfired a little bit and came back over the plate, (Olerud) obviously put a nice swing on it.

TERRY FRANCONA: The approach, today, what, through four innings they had 44 pitches. Some of that is due to their pitcher. He pounded the strike zone down, stayed out of the middle. For the most part though he got away with a couple of mistakes, changed speeds, sank the ball, cut the ball, gave us a lot of different looks. Some of that has to do with him.

TERRY FRANCONA: Well, I mean losing tonight certainly didn't have anything to do with Schill. We really tried hard to make sure everybody went into the game feeling that way. The last time we were here, however long it was ago, I think I remember saying something about the Yankees had put us in the rear-view mirror but I thought we would fight our way back and we did. So we'll regroup tomorrow and go home for three and see if we can get back in this. We really have no other choice but to look forward to the next game. That's what's in our control now. We've been handling it that way the whole year so we'll begin to do that.

TERRY FRANCONA: Please don't ask about the quote any more, okay. Ask Pedro if you want. Ask Pedro about the quote; it's really not important.

TERRY FRANCONA: There's been rumors. Every time we come to this city, there's rumors floating around. I think he was fine. He threw the ball very well. The first two innings I thought they made him work extremely hard for everything he got. I believe he was at 45 pitches after two innings. They really made him work hard. After that, I think he found the strike zone a little bit more, went through the middle innings, and again when he gave up three hits till Olerud, gave up the two-run homer. He was in line for an outstanding outing but we didn't have anything on the board. If we score five or six we are in here talking about how well he threw and patting him on the back. We didn't do anything offensively.

TERRY FRANCONA: See, it's hard to answer that question, because you're wrong. Last pitch he threw was 94, so it's hard for me to answer that somewhat intelligently because you're not correct. He threw a lot of pitches better than that.

TERRY FRANCONA: He missed the strike zone, what, the first six pitches? But not by much. I actually was very encouraged. I thought he was throwing the ball real, real well, just missing a little bit. When they knocked that first run across -- but, no, I was really encouraged. I thought he was throwing the ball really well.

TERRY FRANCONA: It's probably some of both. What Mussina did to us last night, you don't ever really want to tip your cap to somebody, because you want to win, but they have pitched very effectively. And when they have made mistakes we have not made them pay for it. We haven't had a whole lot of opportunities to do that. We haven't had a lot of baserunners. Lieber loves to work quick, get in a rhythm. We never had a way to get him out of rhythm. There wasn't a whole lot of baserunners.