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MLB WORLD SERIES: METS v YANKEES

October 26, 2000

Bobby Valentine

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Game Five

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Bobby Valentine.

Q. Could you just go over your reasoning for the line-up decisions you made for tonight's game?

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'd like to give Andy Pettitte a little different look than he saw last time. It's still fresh in his memory; he did pretty well against us. I'd like to change it around a little.

Q. Did you have any kind of pep talk for your team? Did you feel like you needed to get them back on track in any way?

BOBBY VALENTINE: No, I think we were playing the kind of game we needed to play. We just need to score a run or two more, and maybe a pep talk will get the one or two run more, yeah. We'll pipe this right into the clubhouse, see if they're looking. You guys looking? No, I'm going to talk to them later.

Q. How would you describe the mood in the clubhouse?

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, it was kind of busy. Different guys coming in at different times. Everyone seemed like they're ready to play baseball.

Q. Has it seemed odd to you, and perhaps to the players, too, that you're playing road games and home games but you've been at home the whole time?

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, yeah. But I think one year, didn't we do that with the Subway Series? Maybe not. It does seem kind of odd. It's been a long time that we're home; let's put it that way. We had the end of the Series, and then the off days, then we're playing and off. So we've been home a long time. I think the guys like that. Hopefully, they'll feel the comforts of home today, and play our last game here at Shea Stadium the way we played more than any other team in baseball. And that's getting more runs at the end of the game than the other team.

Q. At this point it's a series of one-game battles. Is the theme of this battle, "Don't let them do it here"?

BOBBY VALENTINE: No, it's nothing about "don't." It's: Play our best game, and let's continue the series.

Q. The fact that every game could have gone either way, has it made you play them over in your mind afterwards any more than you normally would?

BOBBY VALENTINE: I look at the game the next day, after it's edited. After I've looked at it, I've tried to look forward. There's a lot of kind of non-moves that have been interesting, and some non-swings and some non-pitches that I think you look at and you just say, "I wonder if that was a little different swing or a little different pitch, if it would have been different." But you don't get anything back, so let's move forward.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about, you still like your team although you're down 3-1. Make a case for the Mets coming back and beating the Yankees three games straight?

BOBBY VALENTINE: My case is to win today's game, because this is the game we're playing. I do like my team. I respect the New York Yankees as a really fine team, a champion. The World Champion. We're going to give them everything we have.

Q. There are years when certain clubs become so dominant that it becomes apparent that maybe they can't be beaten. This certainly does not appear to be a year like that for the Yankees. They haven't closed out their other playoff opponents as quickly as they might have. I'm wondering if that provides a different approach to you? This isn't a team that can't be beat.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, it would have to be different from something else. And this is the only World Series I've ever been in. So I think we're a good team, and I think we have as good a chance as they do of winning this game today. And if we play our kind of game, we're going to win.

Q. You told us yesterday about your day, your menu. What was your day like today?

BOBBY VALENTINE: No one wants to know what my day was like. It was kind of a regular day. I was here about 1:30, I guess; and now I'm here at 7:00. It really wasn't anything to speak of, other than a regular day.

Q. Whether it's the Mets or the Yankees as the losing team, have you thought about the thought of the losing team, as well as the winning team, being in a parade because it's an all-New York series?

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, actually I told my guys the other day that there's a parade and that we were going to be the only team in it. I guess I have thought about that, even though I don't throw the parade. But it is something that they -- there was a little theme there. We had meetings earlier in the year. The parade was described by me for them. And during those times that we talked about it, it really was only one team in that parade. So I tried to keep with the theme and not to confuse the dream.

Q. Can you just expand on that. When did you talk about that, that dream and that parade? When did you go over that with them?

BOBBY VALENTINE: Just during some meetings. We've had meetings prior.

Q. Prior to the Series or during the season? When did you first tell them that?

BOBBY VALENTINE: (Laughing.) I'm sorry I mentioned it. I think it was in St. Louis, the St. Louis series. Maybe San Francisco, maybe --.

Q. Post-season?

BOBBY VALENTINE: Maybe. Maybe post-season. Maybe right at the end of the season, yeah.

End of FastScripts....

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