AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v ATHLETICS

September 30, 2002

Torii Hunter

TORII HUNTER: Yeah, it can. I mean, those guys, they have been through it, they know the intensity and the hype of the game, and this is going to be our first experience, but Mike Jackson and (Inaudible) told me and a couple guys, they tried to tell us, just be relaxed, just play the game like you did during the season and just play team baseball, not individual baseball, and that's what we are going to do, go out there and play baseball like we have been doing.

TORII HUNTER: I will say defense. We make contact, we are a good contact ball club, and aggressive, we will take that extra 90 feet and I will -- like I say, defense is our biggest thing and will keep our ball club in the game, play good defense.

TORII HUNTER: Yeah, it's very tough. Scary, actually, but all I can do is really tell them about the sky and, like, at 2 o'clock here, I think the sun is right there, and it's tough to see, so hopefully you just, you know, don't be nervous and take some fly balls early before the game and try to get used to it, but it's pretty tough out there.

TORII HUNTER: Yeah, it's pretty good, get it out of the way instead of waking up in the morning, sitting around in your hotel room thinking about, you know, the night game and building pressure -- putting pressure on yourself, so day game is good, get up in the morning, go straight to the park and get it on.

TORII HUNTER: Yeah, we hear a lot of people say, you know, Twins are the American team, and we are just happy, and we have nothing to prove. Yeah, we have everything to prove. We want to take it all the way. We are here, we might as well go ahead and win the whole thing, and we don't want anybody really to feel sorry for us, just cheer for us, and we are going to go out there and to play our best ball. A lot of people say we have no chance, we are happy to see the Twins in the playoffs, and we have a big chance. I think we can go out and there and we can play. I mean, I know we don't have the experience and never been to the post-season, but I still think these guys are ready to play.

TORII HUNTER: I am very aware of my history against Hudson, and like I said, he is a tough pitcher, he is a pretty good pitcher, but I ain't the only one that's out there aware of Hudson. It's different, intensity is high, intensity level goes up, and we are going to go up there, try to do my best. That's all I can do, and that's what I do every day, I go out there and play hard. I might go out there and do something on defense, you never know.

TORII HUNTER: Yeah. I mean, the A's, the Angels -- Twins, I mean, small-market Twins, and we went out there and show people that we can get to the playoffs and we can compete, and us, you know, more than any other club. I mean, Anaheim -- I mean Oakland A's, they are pretty good. You see all this happening out there, they got David Justice, Ray Durham over there, Jermaine Dye, those guys can play. I can't say they are a small-market team. They got some good little studs over there, but for us and Anaheim to get over there, that's pretty good.

TORII HUNTER: Yeah, because we caught those guys when they were on fire and, of course, the pitching was probably at their best when we faced them, so we know what to expect. I mean, we are going to the playoffs, they are going to be their best, again, and we already seen their best, so a lot of guys going to be making a justments, and we are going to be ready for those guys. They are human.

TORII HUNTER: No. I mean, they have been tough all year. I mean, those guys, three-man rotation doesn't make them tougher. They have been tough all

year -- not just against us, against everybody. But we are the ones in the playoffs so we are going to be the ones that have face those guys. We will go out there, we will do some damage. It might come down to the late innings, but somebody is going to choke; might be us, might be them. Who knows?

TORII HUNTER: Yeah, I played it out a couple times on Play Station. And I think the Twins, they won. I cheated a little bit, but we won the game.

TORII HUNTER: Because we have a lot of guys that hit the ball on the ground and are used to that turf, and Cristian Guzman, myself, John Levus [ph], I mean, we can really use that turf, and with the speed that we have, and I think that, you know, the roof of the dome is pretty tough for other clubs to come in and try to get used to, and I think our team is used to it, so, I mean, you got a lot of things going for you, the seats and the way the ball bounces off the turf. It can be an advantage for us. And then, you know, just being at home, and after all the things we went through this off-season, and then the fans there, they deserve to see some good ball. That's why we play well at home, we are just happy to be at home. It's a different feeling, trust me. I just can't explain it, but it's a great feeling to be at home and playing ball, where our road record sucked.

TORII HUNTER: It might be to their advantage. They play a lot of games after football games, so I am sure they have the advantage because they know how the ball skips off the grass out there, and the high sky, the sun, they know how to play those things, and I am sure they have missed a lot of balls out there, too. And I talked to Terrence Long and he said one thing that he liked about this playoff is that I am going to be out there playing out there making mistakes, too.

TORII HUNTER: Well, I wait until I get out there on the field and I see who is in right field taking ground balls and see who is in the first group. Guys in the first group in the outfield, they are the ones that are not playing, so if I see Cuddyer out there in the outfield and Justin hitting in the first group, that means he is not playing. So I think Mike Cuddyer, you might have to go out there and talk to him a little bit because he is a rookie, but he is a good rookie, trust me, he's just got to go out there and first time out there, really, in the outfield, he was an infielder, so it's going to be tough on him, and it's tough on guys that play in the outfield for years out there in Oakland during the day, so you really have to get him right.