|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MLB WORLD SERIES: METS v YANKEESOctober 23, 2000Rick ReedNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Workout Day THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Rick Reed. Q. With so much media hype and attention and a lot of questions about Piazza and Clemens and other things, do you have to insulate yourself for that to get ready for your start? RICK REED: I don't look into what happened last night. I've got to prepare for the Yankees' line-up. And I think that's enough on my mind right there. So I just try to stay away from all that other stuff. Q. You've talked about high-maintenance players. Bobby Valentine, is he different from other managers? RICK REED: That was a tough question. (Laughter.) I've been with Bobby since '96. I've gotten along with him really well, probably better than any of the other managers that I've had. He's a manager that his office is open. You can go in, talk to him about anything. I think that's where he gets a lot of respect from the players. Q. It's well-documented that El Duque never lost a post-season game. You're an opposing pitcher; you don't really face him. Is it hard not to think about that and what you might have to do to equal him? RICK REED: I have to worry about their line-up. I can't worry about what his record is in post-season, what he's done. I've got to keep them off the board, hopefully. Just give our team a chance to win. Q. Mike Piazza was saying before, he likes the idea of a pitcher batting in a game, not the designated-hitter rule. For you, as a pitcher, do you like the option of having your opposing pitcher coming up in a game in case something needs to be done? RICK REED: Well, for me, personally, I like to hit -- at least try to hit, anyway. But I think it brings a little more excitement into the game with a pitcher up there that has to hit. I mean, I'm not a big fan of the DH rule. Q. I mean, just to be specific about it, if something needs to be done, the idea you could do it with your opposing pitcher rather than having to plunk somebody in the middle of the batting order. RICK REED: If it comes to that, yeah. Yeah, that's good that he has to have a bat in his hand, too. Q. How much added pressure -- being down 0-2, going into this game, how much added pressure is that for you? RICK REED: There's enough pressure now. I'm probably not going to add any more. It's a situation that we don't like to be in, obviously. But we feel that we're still in this and we still have a chance to win this. And being down 0-2 is not a situation that you'd like to be in, but we've got to go out tomorrow and try to win a game. Q. There was some talk last night about whether or not retaliation should have been made against the Yankees. Can you talk about how hard it is at this point in the season to weigh the idea of retaliation when getting yourself ejected could really hurt the team? RICK REED: Well, my thing on the whole situation last night was I heard a lot of people talking that if it was a regular season game that Roger may have got tossed. I mean, I felt that he should have got tossed last night. I mean, there was no room in this game for what he did. I know a lot of people feel that way -- maybe some of his teammates; I don't know. But it was just uncalled for. Q. You've gotten here by doing big things, and you're down two games. To follow up the question the gentleman just asked you, how big is big tomorrow? RICK REED: Well, every game in the World Series is big, obviously. But our backs are against the wall. We have to win, there's no doubt about it. We have to find a way to win a ball game; and hopefully, we can do that. Q. You just said that you felt Clemens should have been tossed out of the game. There's no room in the game for what he did. The umpires saw that he wasn't throwing the bat intentionally at Mike Piazza. What did you see? RICK REED: I didn't see that. I didn't see that. When the bench is clear, we all went out there. His thing was he thought it was the ball. Well, first of all, first base is not ten feet out of the box. So... I don't know. You probably have to ask him all those questions. But I thought he was doing it . I thought he threw the bat at him. My thing is: Let's reverse the role. If Mike throws his little piece of the bat at him, he's gone. (Snapping fingers.) That's why I feel that he should have been tossed. Q. Could you talk a little bit about what it means for you personally and your whole career to get a World Series start? RICK REED: Well, it's exciting for me, obviously. This is what you work hard for, to get to this point. You've made it to the World Series, and that's fine and dandy. But the biggest goal is to win it. That's what we're out to try to do, is to win this thing. Q. Is it possible that this Subway Series has even been more dramatic than some of the hype could have even predicted? Do you guys notice how big it's gotten? RICK REED: Well, it's exciting for the city, obviously. I don't consider it a Subway Series; I consider it a World Series. But it's exciting. I mean, the City's looked for this for a long, long time. We came close last year to having it. But here we are now, and it's exciting for everybody. Q. In your mind, like you said, it was intentional. And the unwritten code in baseball is: You throw at us, we're throwing at you. How do you guys turn the other cheek in this instance and just go on and play? RICK REED: Well, it's hard to turn the other cheek when a situation like this happens. But I guess to get back, just to win the World Series. Just to win it outright, I guess. That would be the pay back, for now. End of FastScripts� |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|