MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

November 1, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: I think that's cheapening what the Yankees are all about. They are a great baseball team. Trying to play it off to something supernatural I think takes away from the ability of these players.

BOB BRENLY: No, he's our closer. I talked to him at length this afternoon, called down to bullpen coach, Glen Sherlock and asked how he was warming up and said his stuff was electric. He is our closer, he wanted the ball in that situation, made a bad pitch, a slider that hung over the inside of the plate to Scott Brosius.

BOB BRENLY: I think just the fact that we've been involved in the last two games, especially, some of the most exciting baseball I've ever been a part of. Can't win'em all, we would like to win'em all, but the Yankees are very tough here in their house and we know that. They were tough again tonight. But it doesn't diminish what our team tried to do out there tonight or what the Yankees were able to do out there, it was just a great ballgame.

BOB BRENLY: Well, I feel that way. I know there will probably be a lot of differing opinions tomorrow but like I've said all along, we make our decisions based upon what we see with our eyes. We have been around this ballclub all season long, we know what our guys are capable of doing, what matchups we like, what matchups we don't like. Everything doesn't always work out the way you hope it will.

BOB BRENLY: No, I didn't talk to them today. We plan on taking the day off tomorrow. So I won't be talking to them tomorrow and I don't plan on talking to them on Friday. It would be different if I sensed that there was some attitude slippage or guys were feeling like things were just going wrong and we can't do anything about it, but I don't sense that from our ballclub. We've tried to keep the team meetings to a minimum this year and I don't intend to change now.

BOB BRENLY: We've been confident for every ballgame. Miguel Batista went out there today and I think he opened a lot of eyes, I am proud of a lot of people. Anderson pitched a good game in this series, Curt Schilling pitched a great game in this series but the Yankees played great baseball; no two ways about it. They came up with the big hits when they needed them, they came up with the big defensive plays when they needed them. I'm sure our guys will be very confident going back home and having R.J. on the mound for Game 6.

BOB BRENLY: Like I said I talked to BK earlier today. He assured me that he was fine and he wanted to pitch, he wanted the ball. When I got the reports of how he warmed up, there was no reason not to put him in there.

BOB BRENLY: Oh, absolutely.

BOB BRENLY: It was not like we were not trying to get the runs home. I mean, they made some good pitches on us and we didn't get the runs in that we needed. I don't know if there's a way to explain it. The pitcher is trying to get the hitter out, the hitter is trying to get a base hit and unfortunately for us the pitcher won.

BOB BRENLY: This has been a great post-season for Matty. He came a long way this season, battled through a lot of injuries, adversity, negativity and came out of it with his head held high. I know there's probably a lot of veteran players around the game, especially guys with a track record like Matty, if you wanted them to bunt up runners late in the ballgame like that you would have your hands full but he realized that's what we needed him to do to try to win a ballgame and he's unselfish; he's a team player all the way.

BOB BRENLY: Without seeing a replay, I don't know what more he could have done. The throw took a very erratic hop. It appeared to me from my vantage point that it hit and instead of skipping and staying down low where he could kind of cradle the ball against his chest protector and prepare for impact, the ball shot up high, hit him up high in the chest, it appeared to me. Like I said I had the worst angle in the ballpark. Like I said, I'm not sure what happened, but it appeared to hit him up high in the chest.