AL DIVISION SERIES: ANGELS v YANKEES

October 2, 2002

Joe Torre

JOE TORRE: He had great command. There's no quitting in either ballclub. He pitched, he had great command. Just one of those things, you know. These have been two exciting ball games. But any time any pitcher is cruising like he is, sure, you're always surprised.

JOE TORRE: Well, he had good stuff but it just didn't look like he could place it where he wanted to. He made some bad pitches, got ahead in the count and then -- when I say "bad pitches," he made hitable pitches. That's about it. Not much you can say. He warmed up real well. But it just looked like they had some pitches to hit and they didn't miss them.

JOE TORRE: Well, it's no surprise. We played them a number of times during the season, we saw the same type of ballclub, they're scrappy. We watched them on TV, that series they had against Oakland. They just battle. So we knew when we went into this series that, you know, what they were all about. It really has not been a surprise. I'm proud of the way my ballclub keeps battling back. I know Mike feels the same way about his club. It's gonna be a hell of a series, down two-out-of-three now.

JOE TORRE: He thought the pitch was outside. You can't see anything from the side. It's one of those things, when you get the two strikes, you're sort of in a situation where, you know, if a pitch is missed, it's, you know, that's tough luck. I don't think -- I think the umpires all try hard, and sometimes they miss them. I haven't seen that one, so I can't tell you what that was all about. But he thought it was outside.

JOE TORRE: Eighth and ninth. As I say, I just like the way we keep coming at people. There's no quitting, either ballclub. I always feel like we're going to win. This magical place makes me feel that way. Hopefully, we can take it with us on the road and have the success on the road we had all year. I mean, we've played well on the road, so being on the road doesn't intimidate us. We look for Moose to pick us up on Friday, whatever day we're going to do this thing.

JOE TORRE: I hope so. You know, looked like he was hit in the left shoulder blade. I'm sure he's going to be sore. We'll ice it and we'll see what happens. But hopefully he's fine.