AL DIVISION SERIES: INDIANS v MARINERS

October 13, 2001

Omar Vizquel

OMAR VIZQUEL: It was pretty good. I think a lot of people were just looking forward to us getting on base so Juan, Jimmy and Ellis can do their thing. I think you get a lot more confidence when you're at the top of the lineup and you can get on base a little bit and they can make things happen.

OMAR VIZQUEL: You know, you always -- I think so. I think when you win 116 games, you expect that team to go all the way. You know, every time you step into a playoff, it's a completely different story. You're playing a team that wants to win. They want to go to the World Series. But a lot of things happen during 116 games. There is a lot of great personal records and stuff, but you've got to put it together in the playoffs and try to win, too.

OMAR VIZQUEL: Kind of the same. A lot of these pitchers right now, they are not giving you much, so you have to take what they give you. A lot of outside pitches, breaking balls, they try to do that to get us off balance and try to keep us off the bases. You know, just try to be patient at the plate and get a good ball to hit.

OMAR VIZQUEL: I haven't even thought about it. You just brought it up; I didn't even know it was a record. It was just good to have a good game, get on base. I scored a lot of runs. I guess if we go down through history, you've got to mention some of the guys with RBIs, you would never hear my name, but it's nice to be in the book.

OMAR VIZQUEL: No. (Laughs).

OMAR VIZQUEL: We were teaching some Spanish lessons. (Laughter.)

He was speaking English pretty good and he throws some Spanish words out there, but we just let him know some other stuff in Spanish.

OMAR VIZQUEL: I don't think so. I think that we didn't really have the year that we were expecting. Speaking about myself and probably Kenny, it wasn't in the same situation. We just got really low numbers offensively. You know, coming into the series, there were some doubts if we were going to hit or not, but I think in this type of competition, your level of concentration can erase a little bit, as well. Kenny, myself, we've been in the playoffs and World Series and we know what it takes to win. You just have to be relaxed and trust in yourself.

OMAR VIZQUEL: No, I don't think so. You know, we were just talking to him the whole game about the things that he has to do in order to be successful. We keep him calm all the time, come up to him and say, "Stick to your game plan no matter what happens." In the first inning, he had a rough inning. He had a long inning. The most important thing for him was to stay within himself, and I think he bounced back in the second inning. We gave him some confidence scoring some runs, and he just put it in cruise control after that.

OMAR VIZQUEL: Well, from Sele, I saw a lot of fastballs away, and, of course, I saw a couple of breaking balls; that's his best pitch. And again, Paul Abbott, I saw a lot of changeups. I think that's his best pitch. I just was trying to bring the ball up a little bit because his changeup is pretty good. Against Paniagua, a lot of sinkerballs away.

OMAR VIZQUEL: Well, no, only because Moyer is pitching Game 5 -- I think we can be able to beat Moyer. But you don't really want to fly five hours to play one game. I mean, that's just the bottom line. You want to finish it in your house, in your home, behind all of this great crowd out here, and I just want to avoid the trip. It's going to be a good situation for us because we have Colon on the mound. After a game like, this it's going to be hard for them to concentrate tomorrow, and it's a good time. I don't think you want to go to Seattle for Game 5.