MLB WORLD SERIES: MARLINS v YANKEES

October 22, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK MCKEON: Well, Gonzalez is a good little ball player. I was so happy to see him hit the home run to win the game because he had been struggling, everybody's been getting on him, wanting him out of the line-up and so forth. But I said many times he's too valuable in a situation when you got a tie game or you're ahead, you're not gonna take him out of the line-up. The only time I'm gonna pinch hit for him is if we're behind and it's late in the game. This guy's got 17, 18 home runs during the season. He just fell into a rut and can't get out. Maybe this will be just the tonic that he needs.

JACK MCKEON: Well, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. You probably would have spread over there in Boston saying Grady Little should have taken the guy out as soon as they gave up the runs. We had watched him closely. I think he's completed one or two games. Most of the time, he's been seven or eight innings. We got a guy that can close, who's a closer, he's done an excellent job. He didn't do much tonight. Overall, we feel very confident with him. Pav went to 115, 118 pitches. We felt like he was running out of gas and he finally admitted to us that he had about had it. We thought we had an excellent shot at bringing Urbina in there and closing it out like he's done so many times. Even the best of them have a little mishap once in a while.

JACK MCKEON: I wanted to get a double play. I was hoping to get a double play, but Looper took care of that by striking the guy out and then getting the pop fly. But the basic thing was to try to get the force play at home if you could. We had to cut that run off at the plate. We couldn't afford to give it up there. We're out of business if we do.

JACK MCKEON: Well, there was no question about it. With a Yankee ballclub like they are, they're experienced guys. Even when we were leading 3-1, you're always concerned about just giving them an opening because of the experience that they have and the talent of the players they have. Got some guys that can pop the ball out of the ballpark. But when you get the situation with the bases loaded, one out, we went to Looper for the simple reason that he's a power pitcher and we felt that he would be the guy that could strike out somebody. We take our chance, strike out one guy, take our chance, strike out the next guy. Basically, that's what he did. It was a scary moment because we know that he's also subject to walking a guy once in a while. But he did an excellent job and it's got to be certainly a boost for his confidence.

JACK MCKEON: I thought it was a class act by both clubs and the fans, especially here, that gave Clemens -- it's been written up that this may be his last professional game. I thought it was very classy the way they gave him a standing ovation. All our players were right on the top step there giving him the best hand they could. We respect the ability that he's shown through the years and he's definitely a Hall of Famer. He acknowledged that to the fans. It was a very touching moment. I'm very happy that I had an opportunity to witness possibly his final game. Because following his career, he's a class act. We're gonna miss the kind of guys like him.

JACK MCKEON: (Laughing) we have. You know, I said this the first day when someone asked the question about what this crowd meant and how we play. This is probably the seventh or eighth time that we've done this, had the lead, lost it, battled out of a tough situation and gave us an opening and we cashed in. I mean, that goes back to Mordecai hitting a home run in the 12th inning, Castro hitting a home run back-to-back nights in the 12th inning. This is a very interesting team. No, it doesn't drain on me. I enjoy it. Everybody's asking who my sixth-game pitcher is, I said we got to get there first. This win tonight certainly guarantees us a shot at going back to New York. Plus the fact it's the first time we've been in the playoffs that we've ever been 2-2.

JACK MCKEON: Well, it says that we get good pitching and keep the opposition low scoring, we're gonna figure out a way to beat you. Basically, what is it, three to two and four to three, so we're not a high-powered machine. We knew that going in. A lot of times you guys ask, "Hey, you come back here. You didn't have home runs or extra base hits." Yeah, but we still got two wins. We got two home runs now. But we still got two wins. But we have to depend on good pitching, and our defense will take care of that. But if we don't get the good pitching, we're in trouble.