AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES v MARINERS

October 22, 2001

Lou Piniella

LOU PINIELLA: Well, you block that out. Our job is to win tonight. If we can do that, it eliminates one-third of the hurdle. So you can't look at it as you've got to win three in a row; you've still got to look at it as you've got to win tonight.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, last night we were over Detroit on our way to Minneapolis. (Laughter.) And right now we are back at La Guardia. (Laughter.)

LOU PINIELLA: Well, they are pitching him well, that's for certain. The groin can't help. You've got to use your legs a lot when you hit. Certainly, it's been a detriment to him, and especially running the bases, also. But he's a pro. He wants to be in that lineup, and rightfully so, and hopefully tonight, he will turn it on offensively.

LOU PINIELLA: No. He's a pro. That can happen to anybody. I mean, he's done well for us all year. We've got all the confidence in the world in him, and last night, he got up a pitch -- he got a pitch up to Soriano, and this kid has really improved as a player, and he just drilled it over the right centerfield wall. I'm ready to go back to him tonight in similar circumstances, and I think he will respond accordingly.

LOU PINIELLA: One thing about the way that this Yankee team has been put together, it's very similar to the way -- the teams that I played on. They had really, really good starting pitching and dominant closing pitching. They talked about the great hitting we had when I was there in the 70s and early 80s, but it was a team, too, that relied on good starting pitching. The Catfish Hunters, and down the road and then the Gossages and the Sparky Lyles in your bullpen, and you look at their ballclub here, it's put together about the same way. They have gotten back to that formula and it's worked quite well. But, how do you keep the hunger? I mean, that's what you play for. You play to get to a World Series, and it gets in your blood and you keep striving for it.

LOU PINIELLA: He had not pitched in a while. I think the last time he pitched was Monday in the last game of the Cleveland series. We've called down there a couple of times to get him in ballgames, but he would prefer just to throw on the side rather than just pitch in ballgames. He was sharp; they hit a couple fastballs. He missed with a split-finger and then he came in with a fastball. But he's gotten his throwing in the bullpen, on his regular routine, and during the season, the same way as in post-season, you would prefer just to get his throwing in, as opposed to pitching in ballgames to stay sharp.

LOU PINIELLA: There really isn't any. That's what people don't understand. And I mean that sincerely. You've got to go out and play. You know, they play human all summer, and then in post-season, they turn it on a notch. But they can be beaten. They have been a special bunch over here. You give them all the credit in the world. What they have done is unparalleled. But, boy, I tell you, you look at the ballgame that we have played against them this series, they have scored ten runs and gotten three wins. You have to hit their pitching and that's really the secret. If you score runs against them, you can beat them. I don't see any mystique. I've played here all these years and yeah, you've got that history and tradition to lean on, but you've still got to go play when the umpire says, "Play ball." That bunch was able to to do that and this bunch is able to do that even better. The only thing about mystique, the media creates mystique because they talk about it all the time. If you let it, it gets in the opponent's head. There's no mystique to it, you go out and pitch well against them and you hit well against them, you beat them.

LOU PINIELLA: It's not the uniform, no. I think you can put purple and green on this bunch over here and they are going to play well. It's not the uniform. You've still got to play baseball. Yeah, you've got the monuments and you've got this and there's a lot of things to lean on, but you've still got to play baseball and the umpire says, "Play ball." They said that about Notre Dame football. They said that about the Boston Celtics. Well, you've got to put a bunch together that goes out there and plays together as a team, and that plays well when the umpire says, "Play ball," and that's what they have been able to do. The mystique, only if you let it prey on your mind.

LOU PINIELLA: It's not helping him, and I don't think Edgar will make excuses. But, you know, you use your legs to hit a lot, like I mentioned. And look, this is a very difficult game to play when you're 100% healthy, and when you are not at 100%, it diminishes from your abilities. There's no question about it. And Edgar has been a special hitter for a long, long, long time. The Yankees are pitching him well, also. Give them credit.

LOU PINIELLA: Nothing. I don't think there's -- at this time, there's really not much to say. The players know what they have to do. You know, our ballclub is veteran in nature. They have played awfully well all year. Our confidence really isn't shaken. I mean, we put ourselves in a hole, there's no question about it, but there's no panic over there. You know, the amazing thing about it is you go out there tonight and you play the best way that you can. If you win, you take this thing back to Seattle and try to win it at home, and if you don't, you enjoy a long, long off-season with your family. That's the realistic thing about this thing, and we're going to do everything in our power from myself and my coaches and our players to get this thing back to Seattle, we really are. But outside of that, you can't expect anymore. We're going to give it everything we've got. But there's nothing for me to say. We know we've got to go out there and hit Pettitte. We know that Sele has to go out and pitch a good ballgame and give us a chance to win. If we do those things, we'll be fine.

LOU PINIELLA: We lost a tough ballgame. We really did. It was a ballgame that we thought one run would win the darned thing the way it was going, but like I said last night, we didn't lose that ballgame; they went out and grabbed it from us. You can tip your hats to them and give them credit. But at the same time, it was almost -- like we lost to Cleveland 17-2, and then we beat the Yankees 14-3. Well, you've got to go out and play the next day. That game is over with, whether you swing the bat one game or don't swing the bat; it has no effect the next day. It's a different pitcher pitching against us. It's a different situation. And last night, look, they didn't win because they hit two home runs, they won because we had two hits during the course of that ballgame and only scored one run. You can't -- our pitching has pitched well here. Our hitters are capable of swinging better, and hopefully, over -- start tonight I'm not even going to talk about the next three games, but starting tonight we'll go out there and get it done. That's all we can do. Whatever happens, I'm proud of what our organization has accomplished this year and I'm very proud of my players. So we've got nothing to be ashamed of. But we are going to go out and play a good ballgame tonight.

LOU PINIELLA: Pettitte is a big-game pitcher. All of those guys are big-game pitchers. What do we have to do? We have to go out and be selective against him. We've got to swing the bats. We're capable of it. We've hit Pettitte in the past. He's had good games against us, too. But we've hit him, and we've just got to go out there and be aggressive and swing the bats and put some runs on the board. That's what we have to do.