MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

November 3, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: We feel we are capable of doing that on a given night. You certainly don't anticipate it against Andy Pettitte in Game 6 of the World Series, but that was a hungry bunch of hitters that we sent up to the plate tonight. I was just very grateful for the way the guys swung the bats tonight. Everybody was very aggressive. We know Pettitte throws a lot of strikes so we went up there swinging the bats. Fortunately tonight, a lot of them found holes.

BOB BRENLY: It was not about any of that. It was about winning a ballgame. You know, these kind of games, over the course of a season, and especially in the post-season, it's an aberration, when any team is able to get 22 base hits and 15 runs, with the kind of pitching that clubs have this time of year. It's a freak thing. It's not going to happen all of the time, and it just means that we won a ballgame tonight and forced Game 7. We are very grateful for that.

BOB BRENLY: Well, unless something happens between now and tomorrow, Curt Schilling is starting the ballgame tomorrow.

BOB BRENLY: I think he pitched tremendously tonight. It's not always easy to pitch with a big lead. As far as a criteria, we needed to win this ballgame. We were going to let Randy pitch until I felt the game was well in hand, and I felt with the lead we had, the way Randy was pitching, especially through the early part of the game his pitch count was down, and seven innings was a reasonable effort. That's the point I decided to take him out.

BOB BRENLY: (Laughs) Well, I'd like to think it is, but, you know, certainly, anything can happen in anybody's ballpark. We feel very comfortable playing here at Bank One. We love the way our fans have jumped up here in the post-season to support us. We just feel very comfortable here. What happens before tomorrow and what happens after tomorrow has no bearing. Tomorrow's game is everything and we are going to be ready to play no matter what the venue, but we are glad it's here.

BOB BRENLY: Well, I mean, it's been the attitude of this ballclub all year, and I've talked about it ad nauseam, and it's very, very boring. But when you have a veteran team, they understand that one game doesn't carry over to the next day. You can play tremendous baseball one day and come out and stink up the joint the next day; or you can stink up the joint one day and come back and play great baseball the next day. We understand that because our guys have played lots and lots of games in their career. So as heartbreaking as those last two losses were in New York, all three losses for that matter they had no bearing on what was going to happen in the ballgame tonight. We start fresh, 0-0 and you go out there and play the best ball you can and hope to win a game.

BOB BRENLY: I'm not sure what the lineup is going to look like tomorrow, but we had a lot of guys swinging the bat very well tonight that are making a case for being in the lineup tomorrow. I'll sit down with my coaching staff tomorrow, like I always do and we'll try to figure out the best plan of attack against the Rocket and whatever lineup we run out there, you can be pretty sure it's the one we think has the best chance to beat him.

BOB BRENLY: What stress? (Laughter.) It was very nice. It's nice for a lot of different reasons, but the primary reason is, we've got a lot of guys swinging the bats well right now. Randy pitched extremely well. Witt got an opportunity to pitch in a World Series. Troy Brohawn got an opportunity to play in a World Series. Dellucci got a base hit in the World Series. For a lot of different reasons, this was a lot of fun for our players tonight, and that's what we said from the beginning of this. Because we have a lot of veteran guys, I wanted them to enjoy this for everything it was worth. Those three games in New York, it kind of got to the point where, when does the enjoyment start? Well, hopefully tonight, they got a little taste of it and it will make them hungrier to do more of the same tomorrow.

BOB BRENLY: We thought about it briefly, but given the score of the ballgame we decided better to give BK the day off and have him fresh and ready to go tomorrow. I heard some fans chanting "We want Kim" and we thought about bringing him in for the last out of the ballgame but then you let your emotions enter into it, and my mind said, leave him down there so he's fresh and ready to work tomorrow.