MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 27, 2001

Curt Schilling

CURT SCHILLING: I always say a prayer before.

CURT SCHILLING: That was a chain my dad gave me in high school, about 18, 20 years ago.

CURT SCHILLING: Focus. Just being focused on the task at hand. It's one inning, one out, one pitch at a time. In these situations, it's easier to do when it's the end of the year. This is it. You're playing for all of the marbles. So you cannot worry about, you know, pitching nine or giving up -- you just go hitter to hitter, pitch to pitch, and just focus on what you're doing and your pitches.

CURT SCHILLING: He's just been incredible. I mean, he has a presence about him that belies his five foot -- what is he, five five, five six? He finds a way to be in the middle of every important situation whether he is at the plate or in the field. He made a phenomenal defensive play in addition to hitting the home run. The home run, for me it was the turning point. I sat on the bench and when he hit the home run, I was resolved that we were going to win or I was going to get a no-decision. Fortunately, Mike made some mistakes and we took advantage of some defensive lapses and didn't need to go 1-1. But he's just one of those guys that has a heart that you just, you could not measure.

CURT SCHILLING: I'll be rested. Whenever he gives me the ball. Certainly, you know, I know I'm going to pitch hopefully one more game, I would think. If he needs me in Game 4, I'll be ready in Game 4. That's why I came out tonight.

CURT SCHILLING: I certainly did not intend to be aggressive towards the Yankees. We have as much respect for them as any franchise you could have respect for based on what they have done, based on the players on that team. But we are not -- the media tries to paint a picture of how the matchup is supposed to go, and more times than not, they are way off base, and usually, they are very wrong. You know, the Yankees are who they are. They have got 37 championship banners and I think, what, 26 World Series because of their ownership and the characterers and players that they put on the field but that does not mean that they are going to beat us. We have a job to do and we deserve to be here just like they deserve to be here. At the end of nine innings, ultimately the players are going to decide who wins. I'm not trying to get Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig or Mantle out, I'm trying to get the Yankee lineup out today and that's what I'm focused on.

CURT SCHILLING: Good enough to win. I felt good. I felt the ball that Bernie hit in the first inning, I said earlier, he and maybe one or two other guys in the big leagues could hit that pitch. I felt like I had good command. Steve called a great game behind the plate, very consistent game. I knew what the strike zone was from the first inning on and we tried to use it. Obviously, you get nine runs, it changes your stuff and changes your approach a little bit, and you play defense the way we play, that changes it even more.

CURT SCHILLING: I'm not possibly unavailable. Like I said earlier, this is the World Series. I have three days' rest or four days' rest, I'm not really sure it's going to make a whole lot of difference.

CURT SCHILLING: A lot of David's numbers were early in my career when he was in Atlanta. He hit me pretty well. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and, you know, tonight, my preparation for this game was really based on facing these guys seven, eight, nine times, because I am hoping -- I'm counting on pitching against them twice so approach-wise tonight I tried to do some things once we got the lead that were a little different. Tonight I attacked him with the way I wanted to get him out -- he's a guy that has made me pay in the past. Soriano I looked at quite a bit, Brosius, obviously, and the rest of the guys but guys that I had not seen were guys I paid a lot of attention, just so I had had a good feel of how I wanted to pitch them.

CURT SCHILLING: I'm not. If I don't pitch again that, would be great. I'm excited coming here tomorrow and getting a chance to watch a World Series game where I get a chance to sleep the might before normally. This is fun. This is what you play for.