MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 30, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: Once again not to sound boring or to evade the question, but the outcome of tonight's game has no bearing on tomorrow's game. That's the attitude we've taken all year long, and I'm sure that's the same attitude the Yankees take and that's the reason why they are here and why we are here. The nature of this game, you cannot afford to get too high or too low. Your momentum is only as good as your next day's pitcher. So, that's that.

BOB BRENLY: (Laughter.) I don't know quite how to answer that one. But we do have confidence in all of our guys. Obviously, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson have had magnificent seasons and they have pitched better in the post-season and the temptation is there to get those two guys on the mound as often as possible. As far as showing confidence in the other players, I think it is the time of year where it is another cliche but you check your egos at the door. It is not a slight on anybody. It's not a personal thing. It's not an insinuation that they are not as good as somebody else. You just have to do what you think is best for your team to win a ballgame that day, and, you know, should somebody's feelings get hurt, I think that that will pass very quickly.

BOB BRENLY: I believe so. Part of what went into the decision to start Brian Anderson, over the course of a long season, you get to know your players and their personalities and what brings out the best in them and what brings out the worst in them. Brian Anderson, for whatever reason, has the ability to not recognize how important things are at times. And that's the case with the ballgame tonight. I'm sure somewhere in there he understands the importance of pitching Game 3 in Yankee Stadium in the World Series, but I don't think it is going to affect the way he approaches this game and the way he pitches at all.

BOB BRENLY: It's possible. I'll continue to stick by the company line; that we hope to win this ballgame tonight and just continue to roll with our regular rotation and keep everybody on their regular rest. Certainly if we would happen to drop this ballgame tonight, that would give me something to think about before I get back here tomorrow and I won't rule out that Curt may pitch Game 4. But at this point, we would prefer to think positively and we would hope that we would continue to do what we planned on doing.

BOB BRENLY: That's the great gamble. The numbers will show over -- the past two or three years that it is not a good gamble and some very good pitchers, some aces of staffs have failed coming back on short rest in the post-season. But, I choose to think that if we do go that direction, Curt Schilling is a different animal, at this time of year, this season, coming off 102 pitches in his last outing which is not much of an outing for him, really. If we decide to start Curt on three days' rest, we would only do it because we think he's capable of doing it. We would expect him to go out and if not pitch the same way he has on four days rest, at least certainly very close to that.

BOB BRENLY: We kicked around a couple of dozen different lineups. I thought it would be much easier to add another hitter in there and I thought it would be easy to make a lineup with the DH but we really struggled with it and basically came down to two different lineups. One was configured in a National League style, Womack at top and Counsell second, and the other was an American League lineup with Counsell in the lead-off spot and just line up our regulars from two to eight. After careful deliberation and talking with Murphy, the hitting instructor and Womack himself, we decided to go this way. After the first time through the order, there's a good chance Tony may be leading off an inning or two as the game goes on, so we decided to go with the lineup you saw posted today.

BOB BRENLY: Batista has been one of our more valuable pitchers this year, certainly, what they have done, they have deserved, the recognition they have gotten. But I consider our team to be very blessed to have a guy like Batista one day, pitch relief two days later, pitch short, pitch long, he can start, he can do whatever we ask him to do, and seemingly, with no decline in production. He's an amazingly resilient pitcher, and the fact that he's been able to do that throughout the regular season makes him perfectly suited to be the guy on the bubble in Game 4. I know it's probably a role that he would prefer not to have, but it is what it is, and I think Miguel is perfectly suited to handle it.

BOB BRENLY: That certainly would be a factor. Once again, it would be on short rest. That's been the dilemma throughout this thing and why I've tap danced around this question as often as I have. The big question in a seven-game series, are you better served having your two horses go two times on regular rest or five times with three of those starts coming on short rest. Once again the numbers say that it's not a percentage play to bring them back on short rest, but, these guys are not your run-of-the-mill, everyday pitchers. So, that's what makes the decision so hard.

BOB BRENLY: Randy Johnson is locked into 6 right now. We haven't even discussed the possibility of bringing him back on short rest, because of the amount of physical and emotional energy that Randy Johnson puts into every one of his starts, not to insinuate that Curt doesn't, but Randy really leaves it all out there on the field every time and he has proven throughout his career that he is just fantastic on his regular rest. So he's our Game 6 guy.

BOB BRENLY: Well, I'm not intentionally trying to hide anything. I mean, that really would serve no useful purpose. Throughout the course of this season, and the people that have followed our ballclub regularly, knew that we had many decisions to make regarding roster moves or disabled list moves, who do we bring up, who do we send down, and invariably we chose to wait until we had to make that decision, because sometimes the decision will be made for you by that point. It served us well all season long and that's the way we are going to approach it.

BOB BRENLY: Well, his physical makeup, first of all. He's in the best shape of his career right now. As the season went on, he got stronger as we got deeper and deeper into the season and he's continued that trend throughout the post-season. That's first and foremost. His preparation, his mental makeup, he would be maybe better suited than some other guys who have tried to do it in the past; and his insistence, coming into my office every day and telling me that he can do it. So a combination of those things leads me to believe that maybe he thinks he can do it, where others can't.

BOB BRENLY: We have Batista listed on the bullpen card today, but it is strictly in an emergency situation that he would be used out there.

BOB BRENLY: I don't know specifically the numbers, but I know we have some guys who have never been here before, which is basically why we had the workout last night, so they could get the "Ooh, this is Yankee Stadium," out of the way. Came out and had a very short workout and batting practice, some of the pitchers got some throwing in, got under the lights to check out the field condition conditions, to see any nuances that we have not encountered in our travels this summer. I heard some of Gracy's little session in here and I think all of our guys feel the same way; we're glad to be here and we know what kind of an environment to expect out there. I don't intend to call any kind of team meeting. They know what's in front of them. They are all baseball fans. They have certainly watched the World Series over the last four, five, six years and they know what it's like in Yankee Stadium and I think they are looking forward to it.