AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ANGELS v TWINS

October 12, 2002

Ron Gardenhire

RON GARDENHIRE: No. I thought Brad Radke was outstanding. I think he did everything he was supposed to do for this baseball team. We just let it get away there at the last -- but Brad Radke pitched unbelievable. I mean, their hits were bloops. They got one solid hit, Glaus hit a solid ball. They were blooping balls, they were falling in for two runs. Radke did everything he was supposed to do for this baseball team tonight.

RON GARDENHIRE: Well, he changed speeds, used his breaking ball, curveball, to start guys off. He ran the fastball in, ran it away, we never really got settled in on him and locked in on him. He just kept moving the ball in and out and it just didn't work out for us. So, as the game went along, you think you would see him a couple times, get a little better, but he was tough. The kid was very, very tough on us. He made some great pitches and we had a hard time with him.

RON GARDENHIRE: Well, that's our line-up. That's the line-up that got us here. That's why we're here, is that line-up. We're just having a tough time swinging the bats right now. Couple guys picked it up there at the end, you could see us fighting back after we got blown out there that last inning. Koskie came back. There's no quit in this team. There won't be tomorrow. We'll come here and try to win a baseball game. But that's our line-up. What you see is what you get, that's what got us here. I stand behind those guys, I always will, I always have. The last inning was tough. That was a very good baseball game for a long time. I tried to figure out how I could have stopped that, but I couldn't stop it in the last inning. It's really disappointing to me. I'm disappointed in myself, I should have been able to do something different. We had all the matchups, it looked like. What I tried to get done in the last inning, never got there. Kid made a couple mistakes. I really disappointed myself in the last inning.

RON GARDENHIRE: I think they're going to come out madder than hell tomorrow. I can promise you this, the Minnesota Twins will show up tomorrow. We're going to try to get this thing back to The Metrodome and we'll go from there. We've had our backs to the wall, been in holes all year long, I promise you we'll come out and play baseball tomorrow. We'll give the fans everything they ask for tomorrow.

RON GARDENHIRE: Oh, we made a couple of mistakes, both of them were throwing tonight. A.J. threw the one in the dirt at second base, then Johan tried to pick the guy at first and bounced that one. Sure, we haven't played as good, but we've had moments where we played very, very well and made some great plays. Tonight was just a tough night. Last night, we played great defense. Tonight, we missed a couple of plays late and we've always said that that's what happens. You end up losing baseball games when you miss plays. Those guys do the same thing, they get after the game, play their tails off over there. You know when you're going in, it's going to be some hell of a baseball game. Tonight was a great baseball game for a long time, then it got away from us at the end.