MLB WORLD SERIES: METS v YANKEES

October 20, 2000

Al Leiter

Mike Piazza

AL LEITER: It's only an advantage if the pitcher is able to make quality pitches and execute. Every hitter has a strength and weakness. If you look at a well-pitched game, it's generally a pitcher who stays away from the middle of the plate, is able to switch speeds and keep it away from the fat part of the bat. I don't necessarily agree with that. From my understanding, there's a couple lefties who hit well against lefties. It will be my ability to continue to execute pitches, know what we want to do, their strength and weaknesses, and throw it.

AL LEITER: I remember the day that Michael Kaye lied and said I was crying when I was driving away from here. He was a beat writer for the Post. I didn't actually cry. That was a fan, her name is Milly. All the Yankee fans knew Milly. He made a nice story of my getaway from Yankee Stadium. I was upset. I grew up in the area, three years before that. I was pitching, here I was a teammate of Winfield and Guidry and Mattingly, very impressionable. Over a period of time, it's eleven years that I've grown up so much mentally and physically. I've been through so much in my career with injuries and setbacks, wondering if I'd become a Big League pitcher again. So no hard feelings, it's a fond memory. One of my most memorable moments is still my debut here in September of '87, which I'll never forget. Your next question was leaving the Marlins after a World Championship and a very exciting time for the Florida Marlins, knowing full well they were getting rid of everybody, and I was thrilled to death that the team was the Mets. I grew up a Met fan; and having played for the Yankees and living in the area, any time a player gets an opportunity, in my opinion, to play for the team that he rooted for as a kid, now here I am in a World Series, actually possibly going to do my share to help win a championship, it's a big thrill.

MIKE PIAZZA: I am? (Laughter.)

AL LEITER: He said "probably."

MIKE PIAZZA: Probably, okay. (Laughter.) What was the question? Like compare?

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, I mean I've said many, many times before that both places are totally unique and definitely have their positives. Obviously, coming to New York has been a great situation for me, personally. Coming to an organization that made a commitment to try to put a World Series team on the field, and now having accomplished that is something very gratifying. As everyone knows, as you all know in baseball, there's no guarantees in this game. Teams will look great on paper, but you still have to play as a team. As I've said before, to be part of a team, a bunch of guys that pull for each other, in this day and age is kind of rare. I think as far as just guys that we really believe that the only way we're going to win is everybody contributing. So as I said, for me, it's kind of funny when I still get asked about LA questions, because it's almost now been three, almost four years ago already. So it's something for me, I just take with a grain of salt and realize I'm a member of the Mets, and this is obviously concentrating on just trying to help this team win a World Championship.

MIKE PIAZZA: Yeah, we have a routine. We go over the line-up. We're kind of superstitious, so we try to do the same things when we pitch well, when we've had good games. Al's professional. He has his routine. I try to get on the same page with him, and we just want to go out and execute the pitches and do the best we can. I mean, there's all kinds of situations. As far as Al, he's a professional. We've had some great times on the mound, and that's what we're looking forward to tomorrow night, just to execute our pitches; if we have a lead, keep a lead; if we get down early, keeping our team close. There's all kinds of things. You don't know. You just want to pitch well. And sometimes pitching well is not always going out and throwing a no-hitter. It's, as I said, pitching according to the situation, and that's what we want to do.

AL LEITER: I just try to keep Mike happy. Mike, how you feel today?

MIKE PIAZZA: I don't know how I made it this far, actually.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, of course. It didn't look promising at the beginning of the month for us. And as I've said many times before, we could have taken that as a negative and allowed ourselves to get down, or we could have taken it as a positive and used it as motivation. That's what we did, and I'm sure the Yankees did the same thing. They peaked at the right time, were able to bounce back. Won a key game against Atlanta, going to Philadelphia, won that series. So we ended the season on a positive note and we obviously took that into the post-season. So, as I said, you can argue momentum. Both teams look like they have momentum right now. I don't know, it's going to be interesting to see, we're just excited and ready to go.

AL LEITER: I think as a player you're always harder on your own team. Forget about what we thought about the Yankees, I think they're a great team. They know how to win, and they've certainly shown it by winning championships. Sometimes as a team member, when you're so close to it, you forget that other teams stink now and then, too. Because you're so critical on yourselves when you do go through a losing streak, you get a little testy and a little -- not angry, but, "Hey, let's go. What do we have to do?" If you keep the open perspective and realize other teams have ups and downs, too, we never gave up on ourselves. That's what Mike was saying, I think of all the teams. I've been lucky. I've been on a lot of teams that we really, really bond. The corny cliche of having good team chemistry, what does it mean? To me, it means a lot. Really, truly, not only pulling for Mike Piazza or Al Leiter as a teammate, but you care about them as people. It goes so much deeper than that, that whatever he's doing on the field, there's a bond and there's a closeness. It's not unusual for this year's Met team to be out somewhere, have 15, 20 guys out together. There are some clubs that it's not like that. I think it's fabulous.

MIKE PIAZZA: The concept of people who hate my guts. (Laughing.) You know what, again, I can honestly say all the fans have been very gracious and very supportive. I've met Yankee fans who have wished me luck, said, "I'm pulling for the Yankees, but good luck." And I've met Yankee fans that have said other things. (Laughter.) So you know what...

AL LEITER: Just don't go to Madison square Garden right now. For some reason, there's a lot of Yankee fans out there.

MIKE PIAZZA: As I said, as a player, it's kind of fun, especially in New York. I've seen it on smaller levels in other cities, but it's fun to get into the rivalry thing and experience it. But as I said, I've never had any problems. And as far as hating my guts, I think if they saw the real me, saw how sensitive I am and what a nice person, they would like me. (Laughter.)

AL LEITER: No. But what I think I'm saying, I'll talk to whomever, but just don't talk about the game or pitching or baseball. I generally have the ability to relax and try to have fun with it, but there's also an internal fire and definite routine of what I'm trying to do and a game-face about it. But I think my ability to relax and have fun with it has gotten a lot better over the years.

AL LEITER: Watching the '69 Mets in the upstairs of my house in Ocean County, New Jersey, when they won the World Series on a black and white TV.

MIKE PIAZZA: First thing that came to mind for me was Pete Rose catching a popup off of Bob Boone's glove in 1980.