AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v YANKEES

October 4, 2003

Roger Clemens

ROGER CLEMENS: I'm glad it looks that way, because, you know, maybe three years ago as far as knowing what to expect from our guy, that was the whole -- looking at our guys and knowing what to expect from them. I may look calm to him but he knows I'm very intense. I'm just really trying to execute a game plan, find out what kind of stuff I have, and each game takes on it's own little breakdown. You know, today I thought that Matsui's home run, Matsui got the crowd quiet and, then it was my job from that point on to keep the noise down and keep the momentum on our side. We are real fortunate. I definitely wanted to try and build on what Andy did in New York, with our big crowd at home, and he definitely made me excited watching him work, and I was able to take a little from that.

ROGER CLEMENS: I've accomplished everything. I still have a tremendous goals because I feel a need and a want to, like I talked about yesterday, there's some guys that don't have world championship rings on this team. It was just a great deal of fun. I'll miss that. I'll miss getting out of jams and trying to elevate my game, and what a feeling I had my last inning, I'll take the seventh inning after about the second pitch, the adrenaline rush. I had exactly what I had in the first inning. Mel wanted me to empty the tank and for some reasons my emotions and everything came rushing back that last inning. Like the first inning, you are going to have a little extra that first inning, because once you warm up and then the guy steps in the box, if you don't have that, maybe something is wrong with you. And I still have that and I'm glad I do; that I still cherish each moment. We talked about challenges yesterday, in trying to break down a hitter and get him out. I just appreciate the work. I can feel the intensity from the guys behind me. They know, they know the work that goes into it. Right after the game ended, the guy is talking about a Texas two-step with Andy and myself, getting it back on track. I am proud of that kid. I know the work that he's put into it, also, let alone everybody else. And then Skip went right to Mo again. I call Mo "The Equalizer," because when he comes in, all things aren't equal. I told him, I would have retired a long time ago if I had him. I would probably have 350 wins. It has nothing to do with my family, as much as that team out on the field makes sacrifices for me to win. My family has made as many sacrifices, dragging them around the country and having them experience what I get to go through and touching that a little bit, will last forever. I hope that my boys will be able to tell their family about it when I'm long gone and it will make memories for them. It's a great deal of fun.

ROGER CLEMENS: I think there's a good five or six guys that we've all been through this. We've experienced some highs and some lows and we've experienced getting ourselves caught in the corner, getting caught short a few times. We haven't accomplished anything yet. We've put ourselves in a good position. We're going to have to come back here and do it again. That's the bottom line. Again, we've put ourselves in a good spot. That's all we've done. But by no means have we accomplished anything just yet.

ROGER CLEMENS: Not really. Before you get locked in, you hear some people saying it a little bit, the crowd is so close to the bullpen so people were yelling it and stuff like that. You just want to try to be defiant and you don't want that to be -- you just don't want that to be the case. But it never entered my mind, especially once you're out there working.