MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

November 3, 2001

Joe Torre

JOE TORRE: They do that in Baltimore, too. You know, the fans are having fun. You know, this is their ballpark. The Stadium is our ballpark, and it's the World Series. So there's a lot of things going on.

JOE TORRE: It looked like his breaking ball was rolling. He did not look like -- you know, he had as good of command he had the last time out. Just one of those things. I guess it's similar to Mussina when he came out here a week ago. It was one of those things that you don't expect to happen; when it does, you know, you turn the page.

JOE TORRE: Yeah, I didn't think he was as sharp, as far as his command. I don't think he walked anybody the last time and it looked like he had lot better control than he had this time. But again for us to be able to get him, we've got to do it on our side and we didn't do that. We had the one opportunity when we were down 4-0 with the bases loaded, but, you know, he shut us down. But, yeah, I didn't think he was as sharp as he was last week.

JOE TORRE: My streak?

JOE TORRE: There's pressure on both clubs. Our pressure is not my streak or our streak; it's to win. I guess it is supposed to come down to seven where -- I mean, we are all going to go home tomorrow, but it should be a marquis matchup. You know, Roger against Curt, they are both 20-game winners. They are both in line for the Cy Young. You know, I think the fans will get a treat tomorrow night. Hopefully, it lives up to what it is supposed to live up to.

JOE TORRE: Yeah, I think it was the take one for the team, because the one difference when I had said before the game, this is our seventh game, it really -- we wanted it like it was the seventh game, but we didn't have to play it like it was the seventh game. We still have tomorrow to deal with, and in my mind, you fall behind, five, six, seven; I would rather keep all of those people for tomorrow's game and have him suck one up for the club.

JOE TORRE: The one thing, you get beat up but nobody likes to get beat up as badly as we did tonight, but the only saving grace there is it is one game. We were in the position to take this and still be here for the seventh game; I think that's the important -- it's all perspective. You know, Seattle beat the hell out of us the one game, and you know, we were able to bounce back. I think that's important how we pitch. You know, if you don't have a well-pitched ballgame, you really can't expect to do well, especially when you get to post-season. These are the best teams in baseball. If you give them an inch, they are going to knock your brains out and that's what happened tonight.

JOE TORRE: Yeah, it was one of -- O'Neill volunteered (Laughter.) I know Sojo has been volunteering all year -- no, I didn't take it that way. It would have come to that, possibly, if Brosius had not popped up to end that one inning, because I would have pinch-hit for Choate and I didn't want to pitch Stanton for more than two innings. As much as you hate to do that in post-season play, I would rather do that than using someone from the bullpen.

JOE TORRE: They are in the World Series. They did not get here by mistake. They are a great ballclub. They beat two great teams plus they have veterans. I think that's the most important thing you have to realize is they lost two -- actually three tough games at our place, but they are a veteran group and I think that goes a long way to being able to recover, especially the back-to-back games four and five. It did not surprise us. We knew that we had to come out with our "A Game" tonight and we were not able to do it and they let us know early.