AL DIVISION SERIES: ANGELS v YANKEES

October 4, 2002

Joe Torre

JOE TORRE: Well, there's really not a lot to say to the team other than they know what they're made of. You know, I have no problem with what we're going to see tomorrow. I mean, these guys, no guarantee you're going to win, but you're going to come out here ready to play. You judge how good a team is by how they respond to the negative stuff. It was a terrible night tonight. One game gets us going home. That's what we're looking forward to.

JOE TORRE: Yeah, Moose pulled the groin. But, I mean, wasn't the groin that gave up the runs, because he was okay at that point. The starting pitching, you know, hasn't been as good as we're capable of being. Simple as that. You're not looking for excuses, just a matter of you give the Angels a great deal of credit for the way they hang in there, go hard at you. Right now, we just haven't been able to do our job as well as they have.

JOE TORRE: I hope I'm always surprised when our bullpen doesn't hold the lead. But, I mean, as I say, you really have to credit the Angels, they scored six of the eight innings. We only shut them out two innings of the eight, that's not too good. I thought Mike Stanton was very courageous tonight, the way he went about it. He's not afraid of anything. He struggled toward the end of the year, came in and I thought he did a great job tonight. The results aren't too good, so we have to make that better tomorrow in order to go home with a game on Sunday. But, yeah, I am surprised.

JOE TORRE: That bull jumped on him. We had just moved him closer to the line. He was in position to catch it. It hit somebody and jumped over his glove.

JOE TORRE: Yeah, looked like Mondy reached down with two hands. I'm not sure if it could have been easier for him if he did it one-handed off his glove. They bust their tails. Didn't work too good tonight.

JOE TORRE: I would guess yes, for a pitcher to have a groin problem. You know, I hope at this juncture that, you know, we have the ability to replace him - you know what I'm saying, in the starting rotation, which means we win tomorrow is what I'm saying. I don't know. It's probably a little early to say that right now, because I haven't talked to our trainers. I haven't even talked to Moose, other than when he came back after the fourth inning. You know, other than calling us down there and telling us he pulled a groin. I don't know the extent of the injury until I talk to a trainer.

JOE TORRE: Well, our pitching's capable of doing a better job. We haven't done a good job. So, you know, you certainly don't want to say that we're totally to blame here. I think you have to credit the Angels. They're good. We knew they were good coming in. But right now, they're playing with a great deal of confidence, and they're playing very aggressively. So, yes, I think it's a combination. But they certainly have earned what they've had.

JOE TORRE: No, we rebounded pretty good. We were winning 6-1, we just couldn't hold it. I thought we came out very, very well. We got two outs, base hits, score a couple more runs. I thought we went into this game playing very well and getting on top. We just -- our pitching just couldn't hold them.