MLB WORLD SERIES: MARLINS v YANKEES

October 22, 2003

Alex Gonzalez

Braden Looper

Carl Pavano

ALEX GONZALEZ: You know, (inaudible) I hit the ball. I think it hit the wall, but I know the first base coach, he say, "You got it." I jump. I feel so excited for that, to hit a home run in the World Series.

CARL PAVANO: My job is to go as long as I can and keep us in the ball game. We got one of the best bullpens in the game as far as I'm concerned. Urbina has done the job so many times. That's Jack's decision. My decision is to be ready to go out there if he tells me. His decision was to put in Urbina. I stick by that.

CARL PAVANO: Yeah, the pitch count was getting up there. The humidity tends to get to you. This is the World Series, but he asked me how I felt. I said I was getting tired. Whether it was the right thing to say, I'm not sure, at that point. Like I said, I have all the confidence in our pen to get the job done.

BRADEN LOOPER: Well, obviously, it was pretty exciting. But believe it or not, I was just coming in, trying to get -- hopefully get him to hit a ground ball at somebody. In that situation, I was just trying to bear down on him. I was pounding inside pretty much, I think, every pitch. And was just hopefully gonna get him to hit the ball to the third baseman so the third baseman could come home with it, then do third to first. Extremely excited with the situation. Tell you what, it's the most exciting time I've ever had in baseball.

CARL PAVANO: Well, now that we're on the winning end, I mean it definitely feels good. He pitched a great ball game. He made a couple mistakes. We all do that. I don't think he has anything to be -- he's had a great career. He ended in a great fashion. He pitched great. How many games do you win when you only give up three runs? A lot. This is the World Series. We were out to win it tonight. We're used to that all year. A lot of critics are always down on us, not expecting much from us. We've come out, shown them how good we are. This is another one of those performances from our team tonight.

BRADEN LOOPER: No, I wasn't really concerned about a pinch-hitter, to answer your first part of the question. I wasn't surprised he was gonna be swinging. I faced him a few times. He knows that -- he had to have known I was gonna try to come right at him. It wasn't a trick-him kind of situation. It was bases loaded, one out. There was no room for error. I had to come right at him. Didn't surprise me at all he came ready. He's a great hitter. He's done a lot of things. I just was able to make some good pitches and, luckily, I got a strikeout. Definitely, it was an awesome feeling.

BRADEN LOOPER: Well, as far as needing it, needing it for the team, I guess. But I never lost confidence in myself, you know. I see Mr. Loria standing back there. He came up to me every day and told me that he still has confidence in me and I felt that everybody felt that way. But, you know, I never lost confidence. I knew that having a season that's as long as ours is - that's kind of bad English - but as long as our season is, I guess, having two bad outings, that didn't make a bad season. It happens to everybody. It's just the timing of the whole situation, I mean, I told Jack when it all happened, "I'm not a stupid person. I realize the way the game is and that I wanted to win as bad as everybody else." That's why when he said, "We're gonna check our egos at the door," I took that to heart. We wouldn't be in this situation if we had a bunch of guys that didn't do that and truly believe in that. We have a lot of people who have had a lot of ups and downs.

ALEX GONZALEZ: Well, often in postseason, you know, I can't put my head down, just go out there and do the best I can, you know. If I don't do nothing often, I got to go up there and play different. That's what I do. In the postseason, you can win with your defense. For me, that's one of the best things about having a postseason. Try to get in play, even hard as it is, he throw me like three sinkers straight. The last one, you know, I put in my mind, "I got to put the ball in play, hit it good." And I hit a home run. I feel so excited, you know. Hit a home run in the World Series, you know, we tie the series. I hope to come back tomorrow, do the same thing.

CARL PAVANO: I guess a lot of teams have learned firsthand, especially the teams that we've played in the postseason, we have a tough character. We're all very self-confident and young, I guess, a young team, young men. We all know our roles as individuals. When you combine that in a team effort, this is the outcome. This is the first time I've been part of anything like this, you know? Everyone knows their roles from our leadoff hitter to our number one pitcher on our staff and our bullpen. I think that's a great mixture to a winning team. I think we're a good team that shows it.