AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v YANKEES

October 4, 2004

Ron Gardenhire

RON GARDENHIRE: Why that was made? We're always taking care of our pitchers around here, and Johann has probably, I don't know, 40-plus more innings than he's ever had in his life, in his career. His outing before that in Cleveland we saw that he was starting to run down a little bit. That's the game where he won his 20th game and we could see that, you know, he was a little tired, so we told ourselves, he's got one more start before the playoffs and we were going to limit him to five innings and make sure that he was ready for this start tomorrow night, and we did it. And we have a saying that we not only like to see him make this start but we'd like to see him start next year and the year after that, too. We try to take care of the pitchers the best we can, and we did it with Radke, too.

RON GARDENHIRE: Well, he's been pretty good. I think he got on a roll after he kind of got over the hurdle from the elbow surgery over the winter, he could let the ball go. I think once he got it through his head that he was okay and they could let it go, he took off. He was able to throw all three pitches and just reach out and let them fly with no fear. I don't know if I've ever seen a pitcher do that, what he's done. I mean, you're talking 10 to 12 to 14 strikeouts a game or whatever and 10 or 12 hits and very seldom giving up runs. He went through a stretch of 30-plus innings without giving up a run. You sit there in the dugout and you watch very good hitters looking pretty bad against a young man and you're going, wow, they must not see the ball off him. You talk to the other hitters and that's what they tell you, they just don't pick up the ball very well. He went on some kind of run and it's been pretty good.

RON GARDENHIRE: I don't have one yet. I've waited six months to figure this lineup out. I'm taking my time with it. (Laughter.) I've got Jacque Jones whose father passed away and he's out in California. He's going to be taking a long flight in and I'm going to wait and see how he does. I'm going to see him tomorrow how he's feeling when we get to the ballpark and I'll know better, it will be basic, Shannon in left and Torii in center, beside him right fielder, and Morneau at first, Guzzy at shortstop, Koskie at third. Henry Blanco will catch Santana which he's done pretty much all year, and my DH, that will be decided; probably Lew Ford.

RON GARDENHIRE: I think he's flying the red-eye so he's going to be an all-nighter. He's leaving and he should be in tomorrow morning. He's going to fly all night. I'm going to have to wait and check. He's going through quite an ordeal here and has had a tough time with his family. I'll have to see how he's doing. He's taking care of some family business now.

RON GARDENHIRE: We always feel good with Johann on the mound. He's been that good that when he takes the mound you know that if you score a couple of runs, you've got a pretty good chance, and I think everybody in here knows when you see a pitcher out here like Johann and some of the better pitchers in the game, you say, well, you know, we throw up a three-spot, we think, wow, we have a pretty good shot here and that's the way it's been with him and Radke. Radke, you just give him some runs, Radke could have had the same type of numbers. We feel good with our pitching staff. That's got us here and know that we have to catch the ball. If they get it done out there, we know it's going to be a wonderful time.

RON GARDENHIRE: I've always said and I've said for a long time that Derek Jeter is not, if not the best player in this game, captain of the Yankees, but I'm telling you, this guy, he is baseball here in New York, I think. I've always watched him the way he handles himself, how professional he is, and you just admire him. So I think bringing A-Rod in here, who we know is a great baseball player, and Sheffield is a great baseball player, but I still look at this team and I still think it revolves around Derek Jeter. He sets some kind of tone for this team and you know they are not going to ever quit because of this guy. He'll keep the team battling for nine innings and I think they do it because of Derek Jeter, and that's saying a lot because you've got a lot of great baseball players on this team.

RON GARDENHIRE: Well, everybody keeps saying the Yankees really struggled this year. I wish we would have won a hundred games and struggled. We know that we had a lot of trouble. Our numbers if you look at our lifetime numbers against Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens and Mussina, they were terrible, just bad numbers and David Wells; those guys dominated us. This year, we've actually hit him a little bit. That has not happened in a long time. We got some hits off of him and he's still a great pitcher. Lieber, he doesn't have the history against our team like the other guys have had; that's not saying he can't beat us because we know he's a great pitcher and has a great lineup behind him. I know we have really had no success against the other guys, so it does make a difference, knowing that we're not facing Pettitte and Roger Clemens because we had no success against them and we're facing new pitchers. That's the big difference. Doesn't mean we're going to beat the Yankees any more than we thought we would beat them last year but it does make a difference. We're not facing those guys and that breeds a little bit more confidence.

RON GARDENHIRE: You know what, we had a ball. I mean, it was fun. We won Game 1. I think last year the situation, we win Game 1 and then we had a day off, it would have sure been nice to get back on the field the next day rather than having that day off. I think setting and waiting, I guess people said we were boasting around here, I don't know, that we won Game 1. I think the Yankees got to regroup on that day off a little bit and they are too good of a team to let them regrew group. I think if we had got back on the field it would have been easier for us to go out and attack. We had a good game the next day and Radke pitched very well and we played good in that game and then they got us at home. Throughout the series, you remember a lot of the things I talked out on the field, walking out and shaking his hand -- this my not mean much to you but I looked over at the January Yankees and they were standing inside the white line and our team was standing outside the white line. They were like, champions stand inside the white line. We learned something. So I tell my guys, stand inside the damned white line now. (Laughter.)

RON GARDENHIRE: He's been very good and when he's got the ball, we know if we score a few runs, you've got a pretty good chance because he has not been giving up runs, not to say he won't, because he's facing a great baseball team here. He has to go out and execute, you can't just throw your glove out against these guys. He's been pitching very well and our staff has been pitching very well. If you look at the numbers our staff does very well this year. We have confidence that we can pitch and catch the ball with anybody and we always know in baseball that if you pitch and catch the ball and don't give extra outs, you have a chance to win.

RON GARDENHIRE: We got him back on the field yesterday. He's had some hamstring and foot problems. We've let him heal. He need that had time. He got back on the field yesterday and felt great, had a couple hits two, or three hits and ran around the bases pretty good. He's feeling good. It was kind of like this year, again, and like last year when we traded for him, Shannon was out pretty much the whole first half, so when we got him back after the All-Star Break, our team took off again and so he set some very good tone for our baseball team. A very professional hitter and he gets excited about playing in New York. He was in this division in Toronto so he gets excited and he's been here a lot of games, and he gets excited for this, so hopefully he'll have a good series for us again this year.

RON GARDENHIRE: Oh, I think he's just one of the guys. I think he's a quiet guy. He makes our offense go, and I'm sure Jeter does that for this offense. I think Torii Hunter would be our Jeter. The guys look up to Torii. Torii comes in with a smile every day and he leads our team by doing things on defense more than offense, the way he plays out and the catches that he makes. He comes in the dugout and livens the group up and has always got a smile. Like I said, he's the guy that we look to to get things going. But Shannon is probably the most professional hitter we have on our team.

RON GARDENHIRE: Why that was made? We're always taking care of our pitchers around here, and Johann has probably, I don't know, 40-plus more innings than he's ever had in his life, in his career. His outing before that in Cleveland we saw that he was starting to run down a little bit. That's the game where he won his 20th game and we could see that, you know, he was a little tired, so we told ourselves, he's got one more start before the playoffs and we were going to limit him to five innings and make sure that he was ready for this start tomorrow night, and we did it. And we have a saying that we not only like to see him make this start but we'd like to see him start next year and the year after that, too. We try to take care of the pitchers the best we can, and we did it with Radke, too.

RON GARDENHIRE: Well, he's been pretty good. I think he got on a roll after he kind of got over the hurdle from the elbow surgery over the winter, he could let the ball go. I think once he got it through his head that he was okay and they could let it go, he took off. He was able to throw all three pitches and just reach out and let them fly with no fear. I don't know if I've ever seen a pitcher do that, what he's done. I mean, you're talking 10 to 12 to 14 strikeouts a game or whatever and 10 or 12 hits and very seldom giving up runs. He went through a stretch of 30-plus innings without giving up a run. You sit there in the dugout and you watch very good hitters looking pretty bad against a young man and you're going, wow, they must not see the ball off him. You talk to the other hitters and that's what they tell you, they just don't pick up the ball very well. He went on some kind of run and it's been pretty good.

RON GARDENHIRE: I don't have one yet. I've waited six months to figure this lineup out. I'm taking my time with it. (Laughter.) I've got Jacque Jones whose father passed away and he's out in California. He's going to be taking a long flight in and I'm going to wait and see how he does. I'm going to see him tomorrow how he's feeling when we get to the ballpark and I'll know better, it will be basic, Shannon in left and Torii in center, beside him right fielder, and Morneau at first, Guzzy at shortstop, Koskie at third. Henry Blanco will catch Santana which he's done pretty much all year, and my DH, that will be decided; probably Lew Ford.

RON GARDENHIRE: I think he's flying the red-eye so he's going to be an all-nighter. He's leaving and he should be in tomorrow morning. He's going to fly all night. I'm going to have to wait and check. He's going through quite an ordeal here and has had a tough time with his family. I'll have to see how he's doing. He's taking care of some family business now.

RON GARDENHIRE: We always feel good with Johann on the mound. He's been that good that when he takes the mound you know that if you score a couple of runs, you've got a pretty good chance, and I think everybody in here knows when you see a pitcher out here like Johann and some of the better pitchers in the game, you say, well, you know, we throw up a three-spot, we think, wow, we have a pretty good shot here and that's the way it's been with him and Radke. Radke, you just give him some runs, Radke could have had the same type of numbers. We feel good with our pitching staff. That's got us here and know that we have to catch the ball. If they get it done out there, we know it's going to be a wonderful time.

RON GARDENHIRE: I've always said and I've said for a long time that Derek Jeter is not, if not the best player in this game, captain of the Yankees, but I'm telling you, this guy, he is baseball here in New York, I think. I've always watched him the way he handles himself, how professional he is, and you just admire him. So I think bringing A-Rod in here, who we know is a great baseball player, and Sheffield is a great baseball player, but I still look at this team and I still think it revolves around Derek Jeter. He sets some kind of tone for this team and you know they are not going to ever quit because of this guy. He'll keep the team battling for nine innings and I think they do it because of Derek Jeter, and that's saying a lot because you've got a lot of great baseball players on this team.

RON GARDENHIRE: Well, everybody keeps saying the Yankees really struggled this year. I wish we would have won a hundred games and struggled. We know that we had a lot of trouble. Our numbers if you look at our lifetime numbers against Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens and Mussina, they were terrible, just bad numbers and David Wells; those guys dominated us. This year, we've actually hit him a little bit. That has not happened in a long time. We got some hits off of him and he's still a great pitcher. Lieber, he doesn't have the history against our team like the other guys have had; that's not saying he can't beat us because we know he's a great pitcher and has a great lineup behind him. I know we have really had no success against the other guys, so it does make a difference, knowing that we're not facing Pettitte and Roger Clemens because we had no success against them and we're facing new pitchers. That's the big difference. Doesn't mean we're going to beat the Yankees any more than we thought we would beat them last year but it does make a difference. We're not facing those guys and that breeds a little bit more confidence.

RON GARDENHIRE: You know what, we had a ball. I mean, it was fun. We won Game 1. I think last year the situation, we win Game 1 and then we had a day off, it would have sure been nice to get back on the field the next day rather than having that day off. I think setting and waiting, I guess people said we were boasting around here, I don't know, that we won Game 1. I think the Yankees got to regroup on that day off a little bit and they are too good of a team to let them regrew group. I think if we had got back on the field it would have been easier for us to go out and attack. We had a good game the next day and Radke pitched very well and we played good in that game and then they got us at home. Throughout the series, you remember a lot of the things I talked out on the field, walking out and shaking his hand -- this my not mean much to you but I looked over at the January Yankees and they were standing inside the white line and our team was standing outside the white line. They were like, champions stand inside the white line. We learned something. So I tell my guys, stand inside the damned white line now. (Laughter.)

RON GARDENHIRE: He's been very good and when he's got the ball, we know if we score a few runs, you've got a pretty good chance because he has not been giving up runs, not to say he won't, because he's facing a great baseball team here. He has to go out and execute, you can't just throw your glove out against these guys. He's been pitching very well and our staff has been pitching very well. If you look at the numbers our staff does very well this year. We have confidence that we can pitch and catch the ball with anybody and we always know in baseball that if you pitch and catch the ball and don't give extra outs, you have a chance to win.

RON GARDENHIRE: We got him back on the field yesterday. He's had some hamstring and foot problems. We've let him heal. He need that had time. He got back on the field yesterday and felt great, had a couple hits two, or three hits and ran around the bases pretty good. He's feeling good. It was kind of like this year, again, and like last year when we traded for him, Shannon was out pretty much the whole first half, so when we got him back after the All-Star Break, our team took off again and so he set some very good tone for our baseball team. A very professional hitter and he gets excited about playing in New York. He was in this division in Toronto so he gets excited and he's been here a lot of games, and he gets excited for this, so hopefully he'll have a good series for us again this year.

RON GARDENHIRE: Oh, I think he's just one of the guys. I think he's a quiet guy. He makes our offense go, and I'm sure Jeter does that for this offense. I think Torii Hunter would be our Jeter. The guys look up to Torii. Torii comes in with a smile every day and he leads our team by doing things on defense more than offense, the way he plays out and the catches that he makes. He comes in the dugout and livens the group up and has always got a smile. Like I said, he's the guy that we look to to get things going. But Shannon is probably the most professional hitter we have on our team.