MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 28, 2001

Joe Torre

JOE TORRE: He was wonderful. He was sensational. No question, he dominated like he's capable of doing. His control was great, and, you know, we had -- a one-run game , you never know, but they got the other three; it makes it a lot tougher. We tried to get the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning but it wasn't to be. He's terrific. He lived up to what he's supposed to be tonight, for sure.

JOE TORRE: It's never easy. I'm lucky I've got four pitchers I can throw out there any time and feel confident. Roger, the kind of year he's had, the games he's had to win, we need to obviously break the fall right now, and Roger's going to be ready to go at home and hopefully, we can get it done on Tuesday.

JOE TORRE: I really don't think so. He came back and got the next two guys out, struck out the last batter. So, I don't think so. His pitch count was down. You know he just made a pitch up to Matty and it cost us.

JOE TORRE: I can't say I'm surprised. You see him enough on television, you see the result, 20-game winner, obviously he has more than one pitch that he can do things with. I think the key tonight was the command of everything that he had.

JOE TORRE: From the dugout side, you can only really see high and low, and I thought early in the game a couple of pitches to Bernie were down. You can't tell with Brosius because that's the in and out and you cannot see that from the side. I thought Mark was consistent tonight. The last thing we are going to do is blame an umpire for what we did not do tonight.

JOE TORRE: You know, to me, Andy is such a big-game guy. Pitch on the road, you know, with all of the distraction, with the crowd noise, he gets so locked in. Even after he hit Gonzo, he basically got the double play ball; we couldn't turn it. He's a big guy for me. I learned that in '96 and that's why I've been an Andy Pettitte fan ever since that because he never disappoints. He goes out there, prepares properly and pitches his heart out.

JOE TORRE: We are looking forward to going home, no question. I don't think -- the axiom, I don't mean has never changed, good pitching stops good hitting and that's what we have seen the last couple of days with Andy and Curt.

JOE TORRE: We are down. There's no question. You can't lose two games in a seven-game series and not feel the effects. Again, this is where we need to get it back and get it going and that -- that is something that tells us something, the five-game series, what we did against a very good team (Oakland), we need to find that form again. Roger is the key. Roger needs to go out -- we need to get him a lead and he needs to go out and dominate like these two guys have.

JOE TORRE: I think -- Reggie runs very fast, but the ball was hit hard enough to Brosius that, yeah, I thought we should have been able to turn it. I thought Soriano maybe had a little trouble getting it out of his glove, I think that's what it looked like. It's not one of those things that you can fault him.

JOE TORRE: Well, I'm going to have to look forward to coming back here -- (Laughter) -- whether I want to or not. I think the fans are great; and the ballpark, it's a good hitter's ballpark. The ball flies, but I think the background is good. It's something to get used to. Any time you go to a place you've never been before it takes a little getting used to. That's why we came in early and worked out two days before the first game.