AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 11, 2003

John Burkett

JOHN BURKETT: I just came in on my bicycle. They told me to come up here, so I figured I'd come up this way. (Laughter.) I've got BP in 15 minutes. Let's go. (Laughter.)

JOHN BURKETT: I don't know when I learned to do that, but I think I have learned to do that. I don't think you can do it any other way. To me, I'm looking at it as fun. But at the same time, you know, it's very important, also. But for me, I have to prepare the same way I always do. I'm boring, you know, in terms of that. I only know one way to do it, so I've just continued to do that all throughout my career, and this is no exception. I think everybody else is the same way.

JOHN BURKETT: Yeah, I mean, any time you're successful doing something that you're getting ready to do again, if you have some success in the past, it's going to I think make you feel more comfortable with what you're doing now. You know that, was a good night in '96. I can't believe it was that long ago. Yeah, it was a long time ago. I've pitched a lot of big games since then, also, whether it be pennant race games or playoff games. I haven't pitched all that many playoff games but I feel like I've pitched a lot of important games. So I'm going to take tomorrow the same way with the same kind of attitude; be aggressive and play my game. Throw strikes, use my defense. Our defense has been fantastic the whole time. Especially my last game was incredible. I'm going to take that into this game.

JOHN BURKETT: I'm not really thinking about the individual thing, really. I don't know what's going to happen next year, so what I'm thinking about is right now and for our team. I just want to pitch a good ballgame tomorrow, Sunday, Game 4, give my team a great chance to win and that's my intention, going out there tomorrow.

JOHN BURKETT: Of course. I think they have a lot of professional hitters in their lineup, guys that have been in this situation before. Maybe some guys that haven't been in this position are a little more aggressive than guys that have been in this position more often, like the guys with the Yankees. They do have a lot of new guys over there, too. The core: Posada, Jeter, Bernie Williams; they have been in it a lot of times. They have always been patient guys. They make you throw the ball over the plate. Hopefully I'll be hitting the corners instead of the middle of the plate. That will be my game plan, to keep the ball on the corners all day and hopefully hit the end of their bat and the label of their bat and not the meat of the bat. That will be the object of my game tomorrow.

JOHN BURKETT: I think I was a much different pitcher back in Texas. I was going through a little transition period where my velocity went down quite a bit and it took me quite a while to adjust to that and add some different things to my game. I added a curveball and a cutter. Before I was kind of sinker, slider, changeup. Now I mix a split finger in every once in awhile. I think I'm quite a bit different. It's been pretty much an overhaul. I don't really think about my Texas Ranger days, with the exception of '96; I remember that one. Other than that, they beat me around pretty good. But that was a long time ago. I feel like the last couple of games, I've done decent, nothing great, but I've definitely made an improvement in my appearances against the Yankees. Hopefully I can continue that improvement tomorrow.

JOHN BURKETT: I've never been a big pitch count guy myself. I'm not a Roger Clemens or some of these guys that's throwing complete games. For me I just go all out and leave it up to my manager when to take me out of the game. Even at this point in my career, I feel as strong as I have in years. I've been throwing 100 pitches, 105 every single game out there pretty much. I feel really healthy right now. I feel good. I'm not really worried about pitch counts. I'm just trying to get people out and I'll do it as long as I can and then hand it off to our bullpen probably. Hopefully I can go nine, but when you look at the course of my career, it's a very low percentage chance of that happening. I just try to go out as long as I can tomorrow.

JOHN BURKETT: No comparison. We made the playoffs this year. 1993 we won 103 games but didn't make the playoffs. Unfortunately there was no wild-card at that time. You know, the two teams, it's very difficult to compare teams I think. There's so much differences that it's tough and it's hard to say that one team is better than another because there are so many different parts of the game that add up to how good a team is. We had Barry Bonds back then. I'm sure our lineup is deeper now than that team. You could see that this lineup is deeper than any team that's ever been assembled. The trademark of this team is definitely the offense. But in the playoffs here, it seems that our pitching staff has stepped up and done a good job and our defense has done a great job. The playoffs are a different story. You just never know what's going to happen. So far, we have gotten enough offense to get to where we're at, but the pitching and defense has been really carrying us over the two series so far.

JOHN BURKETT: Yeah, I think it's important. I really like to throw a lot, so I think it's important to get out there and throw on the mound and get a touch and field a couple times in between. I don't know how many days it's been. I think I'm just going to get an extra day this time. I'm probably throw a little bit on the side today. I didn't even pick the ball up yesterday. I just figured I'd take the day off yesterday. I'll probably get on the mound today, which is a bit unusual, the day before -- sometimes I'll get on the mound the day before and do some light work, work on my mechanics and I'll probably do that today.

JOHN BURKETT: Rough innings in the playoffs are death, pretty much. You need to avoid that for sure. I was able to grind my way through the Oakland game. It was ugly but with the help of the defense we got through that one. Hopefully I can pitch better this time and stay away from the crooked numbers. That's definitely a big key, especially in the playoffs because you are not going to get a whole lot of runs. Runs are a premium. I really don't think about that type of stuff. I know I've had first-inning problems, but it doesn't do me any good to think about that kind of stuff. I'll just go out there and try to focus on each guy that walks up to the plate and think about what I need to do to beat that guy out.

JOHN BURKETT: No. That's why I think it does no good to think about it. Because, what am I going to do; shut them out the first inning and celebrate? It just doesn't make any sense. That's why I just have to take it hitter by hitter. If I give up two runs in the first inning or three runs in the first inning, my idea is to shut them down from there and that's been good enough for this team a lot this year. So I'm not going out there to plan on giving up runs, by any means, but you just have to keep grinding out every hitter and try to get each guy out and take it from there.

JOHN BURKETT: I don't think so. I think that there's definitely an advantage to having guys hit the ball to right field, as opposed to left field. You don't want to hang too many breaking balls on right-handers as you say I did to Jermaine Dye the last game. It's an easy horse there in left field if a guy can hook it and get it in the air. It a very dangerous ball for the ball to be flying. I definitely think it's going to be better to keep the ball to right field, but you have to pitch guys on both sides of the plate the whole game. You just can't throw to one side of the plate in the big leagues. These guys are going to tear you up if you do that.