MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 31, 2001

Derek Jeter

DEREK JETER: First time I faced him I bunted the first pitch so I didn't get an opportunity to see him. Any time you have someone throwing sidearm or underarm, it is going to take a few pitches to pick up his release point. So, no, I think the second time I was able to see a lot of pitches so I think that helped.

DEREK JETER: When I first hit it, I had no idea whether it was going to go out, but once it goes out, it's a pretty special feeling. I've never hit a walk-off home run before so it was a special experience.

DEREK JETER: Yeah, I think I broke my foot. (Laughter.) I think it was pretty exciting. We battled. Tino came up with a huge home run for us to get us back into the game. We were down to our final out, and that was a big win.

DEREK JETER: Well, it's obviously a huge boost. I mean, 3-1, that's a pretty deep hole for us and we are able to tie the series. This win means absolutely nothing unless we come out ready tomorrow and we play well. They are a tough team. Schilling might pitch tomorrow night, too, so you never know what's going to happen. (Laughter.) It's a huge win for us. Like I said, everyone talks about momentum but momentum is only as strong as your next day's starting pitcher and we have a lot of confidence in Mussina .

DEREK JETER: She's been saying do something for the last four games, plus Seattle. So she's been, I think, tired of saying that. The beauty of the post-season is it really makes no difference what you've done up to a certain point because every time you are at the plate or every time you are in the field, you have an opportunity to do something special. So, you know, the thing with our team, who cares what the scoreboard says your stats are, you come up big in big situations. Like I said, every opportunity you have -- I don't think Tino had a hit until he hit that home run, so you never know when your opportunity is going to come.

DEREK JETER: Well, I mean, right now, this is huge. We've been battling. We have not been, like you said, swinging the bats as well as we'd like or getting the number of hits we'd like to. But this is a huge moment because it was a big game for us, and hopefully we continue to play well. But we never lose confidence. We have a lot of confidence in our offense and we just think it's a matter of time. We have confidence every time someone steps up to the plate that they are going to do something big, so hopefully this will carry over.

DEREK JETER: Did it look easier? (Laughs). He pitched another outstanding game. He's a competitor. You have to admire that about him. You know, he wants to be on the mound, he wants to be there for big games and he did his job. He made one mistake and Spencer hit it out but we were unable to score on him. He's tough but luckily we were fortunate enough to score some runs late.