AL DIVISION SERIES: ATHLETICS v YANKEES

October 10, 2001

Tim Hudson

TIM HUDSON: Well, I mean, he's shown that he can go out and compete and win in the big games. You know, he's shown that whenever the Yankees need him to come up big and pitch a nice ballgame for them and give them a chance to win, he's done it. You know, he's always given us a tough time, but I have a lot of confidence in our guys that we are going to go out there and battle him, and hopefully, give him a tough time out there.

TIM HUDSON: I don't know. I know that's definitely a strong point of their offense; they like to run. It's no secret earlier in the year, teams were pretty much only running at will because I was so slow to the plate, but I've been able to work on that and quicken my slide-step up to the plate and able to make quality pitches. Hopefully, that will deter them from running so much, but even if they do, I feel like I've improved my times to the plate enough where if they do run, I'll give a lot better chance for Ramon (Hernandez) to throw the guys out.

TIM HUDSON: I think last year it was pretty much the first time for all of us. It's definitely a different atmosphere here in Yankee Stadium, it's exciting. I actually like coming to Yankee Stadium and pitching. Their fans are awesome, if you're a Yankee, they are awesome. For us, it's a lot of excitement. One year of experience is going to do a lot for us, but they are still the World Champs and they have proved that they can win when it counts, and we haven't, but we just have to go out and play our game, and we feel very confident in our style of play right now. I think it's going to be a good series.

TIM HUDSON: Gil went out last year and won the first game against the Yankees. Any time you can take the first game of a five-game series, that's huge. Gil, we asked him to come around and pitch the fifth game. Beating the Yankees twice in a five-game series is a tough feat, no matter who the pitcher is, and Mulder is going to have that chance. He's been a big-game pitcher for us all year. He's been able to handle the pressure of a lot of big games, and I feel very confident with him out there pitching.

TIM HUDSON: The Yankees, they find a way to win. They have guys out there pitching that are on top of their game. They fight and scrap until -- they do what they need to do to win, whether it is getting three hits and scoring two runs, those three hits they seem to make them count. Last year they did have some things go their way and things go against us that were, you know, I guess if you want to call it snake bit, I guess that's the word. But I feel very good that -- well, I feel glad that I'm going to be here and able to pitch again in Yankee Stadium and try to redeem ourselves from last year. I think we handled ourselves pretty well from last year. It's going to be exciting. We're definitely looking forward to it. We are not shying away from anything.

TIM HUDSON: Well, it's something that you try to work on throughout the year, something that I didn't really pay too much attention to early in the year. We figured out with about three starts left, it would be a good time to start working on it a little bit. I probably worked on it more than I should have, pretty. Every time out from the stretch, I would work from the sidestep and get my times down to the plate and I feel very comfortable with it. I feel one hundred percent better than when I started. I probably feel more comfortable now from the slide-step than I do from the long stride.

TIM HUDSON: Not really. I know what I bring to the table every time I come out and pitch, and if there's somebody on our staff that can go out and catch the headlines in front of me, I'm happy; that means our staff is going out there and giving our team a chance to win and going out there and shutting people down. Mulder pitches, you know -- the whole season he's pretty much pitched the day in front of me, and every time that he's done well, it seems to give me a little extra incentive to go out there and try to match him. You know, having that said, we've had some pretty good back-to-back outings this year.

TIM HUDSON: Well, I think they are a professional-hitting team. They know how to work the count. They know the strike zone. They are as good as it gets when it comes to that aspect of the game. I think, you know, they usually give me trouble when I'm not throwing strikes -- games like that when I'm not throwing strikes. I've shown the last few times that I've been pretty locked in and I've been nailing my pitches on both sides of the plate and if they want to go out there and give me strike one all night, I'll take it. I pitch a lot better 0 -1 than when I'm 1-0.

TIM HUDSON: I don't think so. Zito, he went to a great program at USC; I went to Auburn. Mulder went to Michigan State. Those are three pretty good college baseball programs. I think that experience gave us a time to mature as a player, and just playing in that competitive league for the years we were in college. Got us ready for the club Minor Leagues and once we got in the Minor Leagues it, was pretty much a short trip there for us. Obviously, the big leagues, that's the big leagues, and you have the ability and you have to have a good competitive attitude out there. I think all three of us, that's one reason why we've been able to come to the big leagues and establish ourselves so early is because we are so competitive out there on the field.