AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 13, 2003

Derek Lowe

DEREK LOWE: No, I really don't. I can't put my finger on it or I would translate that into road games. I don't know what it is. We could probably sit here all day and try and analyze it, but it wasn't this way last year. So it isn't like it's been a trend in my career. Just happened to be this year where the numbers are so different. I really enjoy pitching on the road. I enjoy the challenge of trying to win in other people's ballparks, but there is something to be said about pitching at home, especially when you're in the playoffs with a crowd.

DEREK LOWE: No. I didn't plan on throwing on the side anyway, just because of the previous workload. So, no, there was nothing that we had to change. That's why I think it was easy for us to make the change.

DEREK LOWE: Absolutely, yeah. Last game it was a cutter actually hit for a home run. You are going to pitch your game. You know, this game is a game of adjustments, and so kind of by watching the last game, there's definitely things that I would like to do different and I'm hoping to try and do that tomorrow night. Can't ask what, because I can't give details, but there are some things I would like to try differently. (Laughs).

DEREK LOWE: Yeah, I think that's what I was just talking about earlier. Watching the tape, slowing down, and seeing how guys react to certain pitches, how they take certain pitches, you can tell what they are trying to do, much like what I talked about Oakland, I could tell what the hitters are trying to do just by how they are taking certain pitches. That does not say you are not going to pitch your strengths, but certain situations, certain counts, there are maybe more options this time around.

DEREK LOWE: I didn't know anything about it until last night when I heard it on TV. You know, $50,000 is a lot of money for one pitch. I have no idea who was fined on their team and to what extent. I just know, that's a lot of money for one pitch, and he'll probably go through the due process, whatever that is, to try to get it lowered. But I guess it is what it is.

DEREK LOWE: (Laughter.) Well, if you've played here as long as some guys have, you get kind of used to it. No, I mean, if he was speaking, you would probably get the same answers from him. As I say, this isn't the first time we've ever got asked questions about certain guys on our team.

DEREK LOWE: Well, without getting into great detail, just the margin of error is easier against a right-hander. Meaning, if you're trying to throw a sinker inside to a right-hander stays up a little bit, at least it's still running into a hitter. Where a left-hander if it stays up, it's over the plate right into the barrel of the bat. It's always going to be like that. I have to pitch my game, and I anticipate the same. I imagine it will be six left-handers. It makes sense. All teams against right-handers try to stack as many quality left-handers as you can, and they have a lot of quality.

DEREK LOWE: Same as I did in Game 3. We were down 2-0. If we lose that game, we go home very similar to -- I don't even want to talk about it -- but if it was like that tomorrow, you would have the same mentality. The biggest thing is, you can't get caught up in how big the game is. It could be very easy to go out there if you put too much pressure on yourself being like I have to pitch a good game, because when you have that mindset it doesn't work. Go out and pitch your game the best you can, and that's all you can really ask of yourself.