AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v YANKEES

October 2, 2003

A.J. Pierzynski

A.J. PIERZYNSKI: No, I was not able to stay awake. I was dozing in and out. It was incredible. i went up waking up in the 11th inning and watched the end of it. Small ball is the way some teams have to play and Oakland has hit home runs during the season and -- Guzzy, Rivas have tried it and done it with two strikes and two outs and they got on third and sometimes they can get you that run. I have never seen it with the bases loaded and Ramon Hernandez up, it was a good play, ended up working for them.

A.J. PIERZYNSKI: Lohse is a guy that didn't get to pitch in the postseason last year a whole lot. He was disappointed, very disappointed. And now he comes in and he gets to start against Roger Clemens and in the Metrodome, in the Playoffs in the Metrodome, and he's going to be a little excited. We are all are going to be. There's going to be 60,000 Twins fans there and they are going to have there homer-hankies and yelling and screaming. It's going to be very adrenaline-filled and it's going to be fun. Kyle is a guy we have who the last two years we have hung our hat on in big games. He stepped up the second half and he won 14, 15 games last year he won 12 or 13 for us and we have had some injuries but the last two years he has been there and pitched great for us.

A.J. PIERZYNSKI: Well, I think the Metrodome is difficult. It's difficult for our team too. Not just other teams, but its turf. How many stadiums are there with turf -- maybe here and Toronto -- that I know that are just true turf. It's a different speed of a game. You look at the turf and you look at the grass the way the ball comes off, and it's two steps, two hops better, two hops faster in the Metrodome. There are speakers that balls can hit off of and also that white roof. I know I have lost many balls there. It's not fun. You just have to keep your concentration up and you have to be half a step to a step quicker and that's why we have been successful there because we think we have pretty quick infielders.

A.J. PIERZYNSKI: We sucked. We stunk. We were bad. We were not very good at all. And we went in and I think we lost two games at home we went into Texas got swept, and then we went into Anaheim and got swept again. And we weren't playing real well. Gardy had a little meeting with us before the last game in Anaheim and just said, hey, we can still do this, we need to just play our game, get back to what we were doing. And the All-Star break came at a great time. It was perfect timing for us and for our players and our pitchers, and we got to go home, look ourselves in the mirror and say we're not doing real well, let's find a way to get it done. We have done that the second half, went out and got back to Twins' baseball - pitching, defense and some two-out hits.

A.J. PIERZYNSKI: I have seen him, I think in 2001 in April, he was pitcher of the month, we went 5 and 0 with a one ERA; that is about as close as I have seen to what he's doing now; pitched great, locating his fastball, throwing his change-up, curve ball, slider over for strikes. He has been getting ahead. We have been going out doing a good job of scoring runs for him early. Gives him confidence. He pitched great last year in the Playoffs and he's started out not the way he wanted to but the second half he's really stepped it up, kind of been the leader of that staff and showing guys how to do it, and ever since the second half started he has been about as good as it comes.

A.J. PIERZYNSKI: It's a great sleeper city, people don't realize how nice Minneapolis is. If you have never been there and you have never seen it, it is a nice city. It's a very pretty city with the Mississippi River right there and there's some great places to go and something about the Twins, you become like a family. I know I have been here -- my 10th season in professional baseball with the Twins, Jim and Terry, they have all been here since the first day I signed. You become close with these people and you become -- have a relationship with these guys and you want to see them succeed and you want to succeed with them. We came up together -- everyone knows the story. But if Radke took less money and what he got, I will be happy to take that any day of the week.

A.J. PIERZYNSKI: I think Yankee Stadium, of course, is a special place. I was born on Long Island, so growing up out there -- my family still all lives there. The hardest part for me was getting all the tickets I needed for them everyone coming in on the train. It was fun. It was great. We weren't going to be intimidated, we said that from the get-go, going to come in here and play the way we can play and Santana went out and pitched, got us off to a good start. And we scored a run early which really gave us a lot of confidence off Mussina, a guy we have done nothing against. Went from there and the bullpen took it over from there. We think we have one of -- as good of a bullpen as anyone else in the league. When you get to Hawk and Eddie in the 8th and 9th, we like our chances. They did it again on Tuesday and hopefully we'll get that opportunity again tonight.