MLB WORLD SERIES: MARLINS v YANKEES

October 23, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK MCKEON: Can't tell you any more than I told you earlier today. We got a few options. Gonna see which way we're gonna go, see how our pitchers are. We're not opposed to starting somebody with three days' rest.

JACK MCKEON: Well, we've been talking earlier, earlier today and yesterday, about the fact that some of our guys weren't hitting, and some were. All of a sudden today some of the guys that hadn't been doing so much got some key base hits. Gonzalez again came through with some key base hits. Lowell, who's been struggling a bit, came up with a clutch hit. Penny, he's a pretty good hitter. I don't know whether they realize it or not, but he's a pretty good hitter and came through with a clutch base hit. They shut down basically Pudge. They got their hits, but they didn't factor in the big rallies like they have been. But it was nice to see well-rounded effort from all these guys. This is the way we play and this is the way we'd like to see it, with everybody chipping in.

JACK MCKEON: We brought him back on two days' rest and he did a fabulous job in Chicago. So I think any of those guys will tell you they want to pitch. If they're strong and healthy, I don't see any problem with that. Because if you go to the seventh game, you're in the same situation. But three days and four days, I think it's in your mind, really. I don't think it makes any difference. Years ago, they used to go three days, you only had four-man rotations. You went every four days. We'll see how both of those guys feel and make that determination. If they're ready to go, we'll let them go.

JACK MCKEON: I tell you, when it got to the ninth inning, I thought of you guys (laughter). I thought of all the questions I got last night. And I was gonna say, "Now what are you gonna say tonight? Last night you wanted us to do this and we did it. It didn't work tonight. So what are you gonna say tomorrow night?" No, it was a little scary in the ninth. But our guys, they seem to be able to get out of most of those jams most of the time. Didn't last night, but we were able to come back and win. We were able to get out of it. It gets a little scary once in a while. I guess you look at the situations and say, "Hey, this is a long season. You're down to the end now. Some of these guys may have had to bite the bullet a time or two." But they're gamers. They want to go out there. I think they should, I think they will, I think they want to. This is what you play for. This is what you play for. Whether it's pitching two days' rest, three days' rest, five days' rest, ten days' rest, I don't think you could ask a pitcher on either club if they didn't want to participate in Game 6 or 7. I guarantee everybody in that club would be willing to raise their hand and say, "Give me a shot." That's the way it is. They got all winter to rest.

JACK MCKEON: Dontrelle hasn't pitched that much out of the pen, pitched a couple times, two or three times. He had some off days in between. He got one inning work today. If it would have been a bullpen today, it would have been same thing. He certainly is strong enough to come back and pitch if we want to on Saturday. Worked one inning today. Yesterday, an inning. He's fine. He's a strong kid. He wants the ball all the time. Got to love that.

JACK MCKEON: Well, we talked about that last night. I said I had supreme confidence in this kid because I thought he's turned it around. He had a bad outing in Chicago which we all talked about. That's gonna happen to the best of them. Everybody wanted to get down on the guy. We didn't. He's a guy that won 14 games for us. He's a good pitcher. He throws strikes, he's tough. He did an excellent job today, outstanding fastball really. He was throwing that ball pretty good, 96, 97, 98 miles an hour. He's tough. He's a good competitor and had it not been for his -- the slight blister that he had on his hand, we probably could have got another inning out of him. But he's a warrior. He's getting better and better. He's a great competitor. Heck, I think him and Beckett got a chance to win 20 games next year.