AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 7, 2003

Mike Mussina

MIKE MUSSINA: You know, when you're going over what you're going to do with the Red Sox, you don't try to pick out one or two players that you are going to try to keep from beating you in that particular game, because then you're taking your focus off the other seven guys and they send a lineup that could hurt you at the top or the bottom and some in the middle. I don't pick out certain players that I feel are going to be the most difficult or the most important. The game will dictate who becomes the important players, and you prepare for all of them.

MIKE MUSSINA: I didn't really think too much about it. I mean, you can put some math into it and figure out it's not going to be Boomer or Roger pitching the first game, so it's either me or Andy. And Andy keeps telling me that he always pitches Game 2, he always has for however many years it's been now, so that left me. So I guess I'm the one left so I'm going to pitch the first game. (Laughter.) I think when things are going well, Joe likes to stick with it. We threw the ball well the first series. He doesn't want to change it up too much so he's going to go with the same order.

MIKE MUSSINA: I always felt the Red Sox/Yankees series were always post-season atmosphere. If you wanted to come see a post-season game in the middle of June, you came to a Red Sox/Yankees game, whether it's at the stadium here or at Fenway Park. If you wanted to see it without it being October, that's what you did. You just magnify it ten times and that's what you're going to have. This is what I think a lot of people wanted to see. I heard Joe mention it was 10-9 this year. We played 19 times. We went down the last game with two innings to go, we were still tied in the seventh. That's how we played these guys this year and that's how they played us. Now we sit here to decide who is the best team in the American League. It's going to be a good series.

MIKE MUSSINA: I think every starter in the staff is glad that Mo is back at the back of the bullpen and throwing the ball the way he's been throwing it. We're trying to get as deep in the game as we can and in some cases, we'll get to the eighth, and with the days off that are involved in the post-season, if he has not been in for a few days, Joe will put him in for a few innings. We are all comfortable with that. Obviously it's been successful. We know if we can get to the ninth inning with a lead, we'll take our chances out there with him every single time.

MIKE MUSSINA: I don't know if I was thrust into it. We all understand, it's no secret that it's the Yankees and the Red Sox and that's the rivalry in the American League East. Having played the Yankees all these years, when they were both a very good team and a struggling team, it was always interesting to come to Yankee Stadium and to play the games and see what they were going to send at you. And when they had their very good years, it was tough. It was tough pitching to them. It was tough finding ways to score. The home-field advantage here was tremendous, and this is going to be a series where it's equally advantageous to be the home team in both places and that's why it's going to be such a good series.

MIKE MUSSINA: I think having been here for three years now, I think it's just part of the process of changing ballclubs, changing cities. This is my third trip to the post-season. I've been in the rotation for three years. It's just being a Yankee now. I don't know how long the process took or if there were steps involved or whatever; just kind of went along as it did and they kept giving me the ball and now it's been three years.

MIKE MUSSINA: I did everything I was doing in preparation for me to have to pitch on Monday. When you get through Sunday's game and we win and the series is over, you just have to make the adjustment to be prepared to pitch a couple of day days later. Sometimes it's just being older and wiser and having the experience that a couple of times before and knowing what to expect and knowing what it takes to be prepared. Having not been on the mound for a while in a game has happened now a couple of times, and we'll go out there and see what happens tomorrow.

MIKE MUSSINA: I don't know if I thought it was inevitable. You can never predict what's going to happen in this game. We both had really good seasons. We were fighting each other a lot longer, it seemed, this year than the past couple of years. I think it's turned out to be a good choice for two teams to play for the championship. When you go 10-9 over the six series that we've already played them, this one can go all the way out to seven games again and maybe be as tight as the regular season was.

MIKE MUSSINA: Honestly, if you would have asked me what happened in that game up to that, I wouldn't have remembered that. We pitch a lot of baseball games and we play a lot of baseball games and a lot of things happen over the course of the year. I probably would not have remembered that those two guys got knocked out of that game. It was a good game. I pitched against Pedro, which I've done a few times. We played a tight ballgame; we won it late. It was a big game for us at the time. You know, you just try to take out of it what was important and what I learned, and apply it to the next time you pitch against them. I think I've started one or two other times since then and I'll try to learn everything from those as well.

MIKE MUSSINA: I think winning is important to all of us. We go out here and try to work as hard as we can, and to achieve important things. We've played real well this season. I think we've been through a lot of tough times. Jeter was out for a long time, Mo was out for a long time. Guys have slumped, and all of the things that go with this ballclub. To still be standing here, we've won over 100 ballgames, we won the first round, it just shows what this team is and what it's all about. Whether winning is second to breathing, I don't know, but we're going out there and we are going to try to keep breathing as long as we can and win a few games while we're out there.