AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 17, 2004

Terry Francona

TERRY FRANCONA: You know what, it doesn't matter. It's 3-1. We set out today to win. That was our only objective and somehow, we did. Now, our objective is to win tomorrow. That's all we have in front of us. I think if we'd have done it any differently today, we might not have made it. And we went through everybody in the bullpen, we had guys contribute that haven't played much. We did a lot of things tonight to hang on and win that game.

TERRY FRANCONA: Pedro will start tomorrow. Schill hopefully -- the next day. I mean, Schill is the starter. We've just got to get there. But that's our rotation.

TERRY FRANCONA: It's a little bit better tonight than it was last night. (Laughter.) Did you see how it was at home plate? Kind of spilled on over to the clubhouse. But that's like that every night in there?

TERRY FRANCONA: Part of the reason that we wanted Lesky so bad over here was we knew he would never shy away from wanting to pitch. He's got a lot of guts. We knew that coming in. Gave up a big home run there tonight. He's right back out there making great pitches. A lot of guys did that. We had Wakefield warming up again, Dave Roberts steals a base, a lot of guys did a lot of things tonight to help us win.

TERRY FRANCONA: Well, what you need is, we've talked about this before, good pitchers and good players. Keith Foulke went three innings. Timlin threw 38 pitches and will probably be back out there tomorrow night. That's the time of the year where we'll rest later. Some guys really stepped up and did a great job and allowed us to play tomorrow.

TERRY FRANCONA: Yes. I think Dave is one of the few runners in the league that you can put him in a situation like that, give him the green light and he can go ahead and steal a base when they are trying to hold him and not let him steal. He's done that a few times and directly led to wins for us.

TERRY FRANCONA: Well, I don't know, you're asking the questions -- you've got to know.

TERRY FRANCONA: Was I surprised to see Jeter bunt? No. They were trying to get the run at second. We concern ourselves with getting outs and not what -- just defending what they do, not trying to manage their club. Joe has been doing a good job of it for a long time.

TERRY FRANCONA: If you're talking about giving him credit, he does not get it here. He gets a lot from us. We respect him a lot. He's the kind of kid where if he doesn't play good, you'd like to adopt him. He's just the perfect guy to have on your club. He gives you everything you ask. When it doesn't go well, it's not because it's not effort. He's just the perfect kid.

TERRY FRANCONA: No, he is. I just meant we have to get to Game 6. He is the pitcher. He did great.

TERRY FRANCONA: Yeah, he did. He did very well. As far as I'm concerned it's not an issue. We've just got to get to Game 6.

TERRY FRANCONA: Our mood was actually good going into the game. It always is. I was very proud of Derek tonight. There was some tough circumstances for him. We were down 3-0, he had not pitched in a long time and he went out and really gave a great effort. I think he threw 88 pitches. He had not been out there, extended, in a long time and he was really very, very good.

TERRY FRANCONA: Fatigue is going to be for me if you keep calling me coach. (Laughter.) I think he'll be okay. Again, this is the time of year where we can rest later, they can rest later. It will be all right.