AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 8, 2003

Grady Little

GRADY LITTLE: Well, Gabe Kapler did a heck of a job. I'm not going to sit here and tell you we don't miss Johnny Damon when he's not in the lineup. Kapler has done a great job for us. He filled in two or three weeks for Trot Nixon in right field towards the end of the season. Tonight he's filling in for Damon. He gives you a respectable output every night, he plays the game hard and gets great results.

GRADY LITTLE: The bullpen has been great. Tonight was no different. The job that Williamson did in the ninth inning was outstanding.

GRADY LITTLE: We were up to hit for a long time, and at that point in the game, that's a good opportunity for a pitcher to kind of stiffen up a little bit. We foresaw that and we were ready for it and that's exactly what happened.

GRADY LITTLE: We saw the same thing with Tim tonight that we've seen most of the season. What we go by mostly is the way Mirabelli is catching the ball, that's pretty much the way we look at it, and the way the hitters react to his pitches. You can tell right away, and Wakefield has been good the majority of the time this year.

GRADY LITTLE: It certainly was a good indication tonight. And after that series in Oakland, we were certainly due and tonight we were able to get some big hits. A couple of balls went out of the park and the big hit Millar got. We were due for them to come alive.

GRADY LITTLE: I didn't see exactly how it could be controversial at all. We felt it was fair all the way, and on my way out there, Tim McClellan saw it the same way. So I didn't really understand the initial call. But that's not the first time I've not understood a call.

GRADY LITTLE: I view this as a series that we are up 1-0 and I view it as a series that is a long way from being over. There's a lot of good baseball left between two good ballclubs, and there's a long way to go.