AL DIVISION SERIES: ANGELS v YANKEES

October 5, 2002

Mike Scioscia

MIKE SCIOSCIA: We're excited. It has to give us confidence to beat an incredible club that we just played against. Those guys were deep. They, you know, they had -- they wanted it. We beat them. Those guys on the other side, I can't say how much respect I have for them. They never gave up. They played the game the way it should be. We fortunately executed the way we have all year, and we came up with the wins. Just a great effort of our guys. I think the heart of this club came out, and I think -- I hope everyone got a chance to see that. But I'm just proud of our guys. They just beat an incredible baseball club.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: Obviously, you know, I'm ecstatic. I mean, I think any time you achieve something in baseball, you have to celebrate it. I'm certainly feeling good about what our guys did. It feels great. The perspective is, it's one rung up the ladder. We have challenges in front of us that are goals of ours. This is a huge series because it keeps you going, you know? This is almost like sudden death you're getting into here. You have to keep winning, obviously. To beat a club like we just beat is incredible, but we also, as I said, have the perspective it's one rung up the ladder. That's the way we're looking at it. We have to get up, be ready to play Tuesday. I can't say enough for, as I said, the team we just beat, about Joe Torre and the way he runs things there, Don Zimmer, Mel, all the guys over there from Willie Randolph, Mazzilli, it's an incredible organization. They have an incredible team. It has to give us a lot of confidence to come out on top of them in a series like this.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, if I am compared with Joe, which I really haven't heard those comparisons, if I am, I'd be flattered. But let me tell you something, there's a long way to go before you start comparing myself to what Joe's accomplished. But, you know, if any comparisons like that are even put in the same sentence, of somebody who's done as much as Joe has, both as a player and as a manager, it's incredibly flattering.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: I don't know -- vindication has to be part of the -- of what we're about. I think -- I know coming in, obviously, you know, I didn't have my head buried in the sand. Not a lot of people gave us much chance in this series; I understand that. But knowing baseball, knowing what can happen, especially in a shorter series, I knew we had a good chance to win this series. It was close. Everything we accomplished in this series we had to earn. Nothing was given to us by that club over there. They're incredible. The way they kept battling back, we had to earn it, to shut them down in every game we won. I don't think there's anything that we're looking at to say, "We were underdogs," or, "Hey, we beat this club." We knew they were a great club. Once you get into the playoffs, it's a whole different season. I think our guys showed they bring their game into a playoff scenario as well as any new-comers to this season.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: We've been able to put pressure on clubs from one through nine in our order. I think that's why our offense is so consistent. Our pitching was there. That gave us the opportunity to win games. You're not going to win 99 games unless you're putting some components out there on a consistent basis. The pitching which we had, the defense which was there for us. Then obviously the offense. The offense definitely carried us, it's part of the bargain with the way they stepped up this year, particularly in this series.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: There's a little compliment.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: Both teams have some tendencies you might be able to take advantage of. Unfortunately, where we are in the pitching we use, to recharge we might have to, you know -- might not be Washburn, who would be our preference in any series going Game 1 because of -- he had to pitch short and how many pitches he had to throw today. We'll reload here and we'll see. I think any way we configure, we'll need all our pitching. We're into a seven-game series now, we'll probably have to look at rearranging some things, possibly adding a fourth starter. We'll see how it pans out. Do I have to give that answer now or can I get about eight hours' of sleep on it...