AL DIVISION SERIES: ATHLETICS v YANKEES

October 15, 2001

Art Howe

ART HOWE: It wasn't one that just came out of the air, that's for sure. We talked it over a little bit, and spent some time evaluating, and this is what we came up with. We just felt that it will do the job.

ART HOWE: Youth. I'm young. I can deal with it. Actually the first day in, I don't think it bothers many people, it's the second day. So, we'll be out of here by then.

ART HOWE: Yeah, we asked him if he would like to do that, but he really didn't want to. In case we won yesterday he wanted to be there with the guys to celebrate, plus the consideration that if we did win yesterday he would have flown all the way here and then have to fly somewhere and he might have been fatigued for his next start so, we felt, what the heck, let him go with us. I think Dave Stewart used to travel with the team all the time, and he did pretty well pitching like that.

ART HOWE: We're fine. The guys are ready to go. Obviously, we would have liked to have wrapped it up at home, but we didn't, and we're hoping the trend continues. The team on the road seems to be winning, so we are on the road.

ART HOWE: Well, it's not over yet, but they have. They have played well, very well. They deserve a tremendous amount of credit to go out there and come back and win those two there, and take it to a fifth game, and probably, everybody is thinking they are the favorites. People might be writing us off, but I think they did that in April, also, but here we are. So we are hoping to buck the odds again.

ART HOWE: You know, it's a long season. It's a marathon. You're going to have ups and downs all throughout the season. You learn to deal with pitfalls along the way. After certain games during the year, you wonder if you are ever going to be able to regroup, and you think, "Man, what's tomorrow going to bring." But you wake up, you feel great, you're fresh and ready to go. That's what baseball is all about. You have to be able to bounce back, and hopefully we are up to the task today. We know we've got a great team we are playing against, a Hall of Fame pitcher. But we are going to go out there and let it fly.

ART HOWE: If we were deflated it was mostly because of Jermaine Dye. He's such a well-liked guy on the team and such a big part of the club; everybody was feeling for him. The game was out of reach by then, and I'm certainly glad they looked dejected because I would not want them laughing and having a good time while we were having our tails kicked. After the game I didn't say much at all. I'm going to have a little talk with them today. What I heard going on, on the plane, they were not too upset. They were loose coming here.

ART HOWE: I've always been a proponent of the seven-game series. I think it's fairer for both teams, because you get to use more of the roster. That's what takes you -- 25 men get you there during the season and all of a sudden, you're using maybe 20 in the post-season and I don't know if that's fair to evaluate. If you get a team that has two awesome starters, you are going to see, you know -- you are going to get eliminated, basically. I don't think that's great for baseball. I think the best-of-seven is something that we should go to.

ART HOWE: We don't have enough time to spend as far as the way I came up with this lineup. (Laughs). I was just looking at I didn't want to get too many left-handers together, because if we are lucky enough to get something going against Clemens, I know Pettitte is going to be in the picture, and at the same time, we want to have enough together that we may be able to generate something. That's the dilemma I was in. We didn't want to put too many lefties together but at the same time you want to put enough together that you have the possibility to get some runs in the first place. That's basically the way we looked at it. Chavez is one of our leading home run and RBI guys. He got a couple hits yesterday and I'm hoping that will get him going and put him in that 4-hole. He's got some decent numbers against Roger; we'll see.

ART HOWE: I know Roger. Rogers going to be out there pumping. That's his demeanor. He's a great athlete. He conditions himself superbly. If anybody can bounce himself back from this type of injury quickly, it's Roger.

ART HOWE: Well, I hope it's Isringhausen after Mulder. We're going to use anybody and everybody except maybe Zito. Hudson came in about an hour ago into my office and said, "Skip, if you need me, I'm ready." So if something happens early, don't be surprised to see Huddie out there.

ART HOWE: Mark, he showed great focus and presence on the mound the first time out. We've got the guy going for us that we wanted out there. That's why we've selected him to go in the first game, because of his poise and his stuff. He's going to pound the strike zone. He knows that they are patient. That was our problem yesterday; we walked some people, got behind in the count on a consistent basis. You can't do that against the Yankees and expect to win. You have to make them swing the bats, play good, solid "D," which we didn't do that either. The ingredients were not there yesterday and we're hoping to put it all together today because we know that's what it's going to take. We know this place is going to be going bonkers. Hopefully we can block out that out. It would be nice to score some runs early and take the crowd out of the game; I don't know if it's possible here at Yankee Stadium. It's about the only stadium that I don't know if you can do that.

ART HOWE: Definitely. We are really happy that we had a player of his caliber on the bench to be able to plug into the outfield. He's been in the post-season before. He's going to keep the guys focused and help us from a coaching standpoint keep everybody under control so to speak. I'm going to enjoy this moment. This is history, man. It's all there. Our whole season is in the next nine innings, and same with the Yankees. Hopefully we can come out on top.

ART HOWE: I want to say if it's in my favor, I'm a believer of it. Baseball, from day-to-day, like I said, you look at that game in Seattle the other day in Cleveland, 17-2 or whatever it was and the very next day they came back and beat them. So each game is an individual entity. You just have to go out and take it as it comes. I think it's important for us to stay close early. We can't let them get away from us early.

ART HOWE: First of all I'll take some input on that on why we are not hitting with runners in scoring position. If anybody has a clue give me some info. Ron came through with a big hit for us, obviously, the other night here and he's not going to be in awe of any kind of situation. He battles every at-bat. That's going to have to be spread around the lineup. Sometimes youth shows up; maybe that's part of it still. But these guys have been Johnny on the Spot for me all season long, and they have learned to adapt. Last year, I remember when we lost that fifth game at home, I don't think these guys want to have that same feeling. I certainly hope they don't. And after that game, we all -- I think we would like to have a second chance. This is our second chance.

ART HOWE: I wish you all could experience it. It's unbelievable. You're not touching the ground. I mean, you're a foot off the ground that whole series. That fifth game, you talk about adrenaline; I mean, it's just flowing. And it's a wonderful feeling.

ART HOWE: Well, I'm hoping it's not but it's a definite possibility, depending what we do over the off-season. I'm hoping we can keep this group together, because the chemistry is outstanding on this team. They play extremely well as a group, and it would be a shame to see it split up.