AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v YANKEES

October 8, 2004

Ron Gardenhire

RON GARDENHIRE: You know, he looked like early we were going to be able to get some hits off him. As the game went along he made some adjustments. He moved the ball in and out. He's a pretty good competitor and he makes the ball do some good things. He knew what to do with a lead. He did that, he didn't walk too many people there. He made us swing the bats. That's what good pitchers do.

RON GARDENHIRE: We wanted to win this ball game tonight. They came out and they knocked the crap out of the ball. They feathered the ball down the right field line and the left field line, and they kind of played a little bit of our game. They had a big home run by Bernie and gave them some cushion. We've got Johan going tomorrow and we all know how good he's been. That's important. And then we have Radke going back to New York, we're packing our suitcases and finish this thing up in New York where we started.

RON GARDENHIRE: He's fine. He got the wind knocked out of him. He gives everything he has on every play, and he tried to catch that ball and came real close. His back was a little stiff. He'll be playing out there tomorrow.

RON GARDENHIRE: He didn't say anything about his wrist, he got the wind knocked out of him and banged his back a little bit. He'll be back out there tomorrow ready to go.

RON GARDENHIRE: It's not fun getting thrown out when you're down like that. We forced him to make plays like that. It was a good base run tonight. I tip my hat to them. Torii is busting his tail and Koskie was busting his tail, and in the end they had a sacrifice fly, but the guys are trying. They're giving it everything they have and busting their tail running the bases. Tonight it didn't look good. They wanted to win. They were playing the game right, and that's what we do. That's all I care about.

RON GARDENHIRE: He made one bad pitch to Bernie. The rest were ground balls. That's what he did. If you follow Silva and follow this team, you know he's going to give up hits. I think he only did that once tonight with Bernie. That was a big play. He gave up the home run ball to Bernie early on. That was his ball game. Up to that point the kid was giving up hits he normally does, and giving us a chance to win. That's pretty much his game, throwing the ball over the plate and making them hit the ball.

RON GARDENHIRE: Well, I mean, it was funny, we were looking down in the bullpen and starting to get hit hits and we saw people jumping up and I think Rivera threw three or four pitches and he was already ready. He's already tipping his hat, he's ready to come in the game. I said, when in the hell did that happen and we knew he was coming in the ball game. We were fired up in the dugout. We just don't quit. That was a good sign for our ball game.