MLB WORLD SERIES: MARLINS v YANKEES

October 25, 2003

Josh Beckett

JOSH BECKETT: You just remind yourself that sometimes less is more. Not too many rituals, just sometimes like I say, you have to remind yourself not to try too much just because it is a big moment. In big moments, you have to step back and realize that sometimes less is more.

JOSH BECKETT: I think it is a little bit different during the regular season. I think in my case, I think I threw 155 innings or something like that this year, so it was okay. I think throughout the whole year, I don't think you can really do it just because, I mean, you get stiff arms as it is with the five-man rotation, so four-man would be taking back a day every start, you know. I think there would be a lot more cases of stiff arms and stuff if you did that.

JOSH BECKETT: It is a relief. I don't know, it's kind of, you I can't believe we don't have a game tomorrow. That's kind of the weird thing right now. Not to say that winning the World Championship is not a big thing, but like we just -- we don't have a game tomorrow. We played this whole season, everything like that, so it's kind of a relief get to go dear hunting now. Look forward to that.

JOSH BECKETT: He's a fun guy to play for, man. He expects a certain amount out of you and if you don't give it to him, I think his way of motivating, if you're pitching like shit or something, he won't even talk to you. It's to get under your skin, but it's also to motivate. He's awesome to play for, he really is.

JOSH BECKETT: I can't believe we are talking about this. No, I mean, executed pitches I think, and also he hit it at people. You guys act like he hit four balls off the wall off me last time or something just missed going out. He's a tough hitter and if you don't execute pitches on him, he's going to get hits.

JOSH BECKETT: Like I said, we are not really worried about that. We are just worried about winning the World Championship.

JOSH BECKETT: I don't know. I need to come out next year strong. I still need a year with 200 innings. I am not content with just pitching good during the Playoffs. I need to come out next year and have a good solid season.

JOSH BECKETT: No, not really. Not any particular one. I felt good. I thought all three of my pitches were pretty good. I didn't throw quite as many changeups today as I did the last start against these guys, but I thought my curve ball was sharp and I felt like I could locate it. I was locating my fastball pretty well.

JOSH BECKETT: Kind of a gradual thing. We just all, as a team, we knew we needed to get our stuff together. We were better than that, and that's a tribute to my teammates for knowing that they are better than that and we got a bunch of guys on our team that truly believed in us and we just stuck it out and nobody thought we could beat San Fran, nobody thought we could beat the Cubs, and nobody definitely thought we could beat the Yankees and here we are.

JOSH BECKETT: I don't feel like I did anything different. I think maybe I just let him see me work more, make sure he's watching. I don't know. He just -- but he has his little ways of motivating you, like I said with the whole thing -- he will just ignore you for a couple of days. You are like "What the hell is going on?" But he's a good guy and he likes to have fun and he fits in really well with our team.

JOSH BECKETT: I can't put my finger on it. I was a big Jeff Torborg fan. He always took care of me and everything like that. I don't know the answer to that, I really don't.

JOSH BECKETT: Came out swinging. I thought they were more patient in my last outing. And sometimes it works to my benefit because then I don't have to throw as many strikes because they will swing at pitches that aren't necessarily strikes. It's a tough squad. Like I'd said, we did something about beating them. That's who we wanted because they are who they are. They have got 27 championships and we wanted to come in here and that's who we wanted to play because if you are going to beat somebody, why not beat the best?

JOSH BECKETT: I think in the American League, yeah, you tend to just kind of go with him, you know, he almost shakes you off if you want to do something different because he's seen them. You have never seen these guys. We got scouting reports and everything like that. We've got a great scouting department that works hard on that, but you know, you personally have never seen them and he's caught -- he played 11 years over here, so it's -- he helps. He really does.