AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARINERS v YANKEES

October 10, 2000

Lou Piniella

LOU PINIELLA: Well, Olerud has been very professional all year. He brought that professionalism to our baseball team. He has also brought some leadership in a quiet way to our clubhouse and he has provided a very consistent bat in the fifth spot in our lineup. Also, he has done just a marvelous job defensively at first base, and all around, he has been just a pro. He's been a pleasure to manage.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, he's from Brooklyn.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, he pitched here this summer, didn't he?

LOU PINIELLA: Well, we can talk to him tomorrow before the ballgame. But I think he has a pretty good idea what to anticipate. It's going to be a loud, ruckus crowd, and these guys are professionals. They will adjust. We are going to talk to Freddie today and also talk to Halama tomorrow.

LOU PINIELLA: I think both teams enjoy the competition against each other. I think that, certainly, since we beat them in 1995, it set things in motion somewhat, as far as competition is concerned. But, you know, this is just -- this series, you can put everything aside. I think the team that plays the best on the field will win, and hopefully, it will be us.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, I don't know about underappreciated. Probably because he has played with three very legitimate superstars, talking about Junior and Randy, Alex, he might not get the notoriety. But I think that baseball people, including his manager and his coaches, his teammates, certainly appreciate him to the hilt. He's very professional in his approach, in his hitting style. He works exceedingly hard. And he is very, very productive. He's got a great swing. Stays inside the ball very well. Makes adjustments very quickly at home plate. There's no particular way to pitch him. Hits the ball to all fields. Spreads the defense. And what's amazing about him is at age 37, his power numbers have gone up, home run wise, which you don't see that often in baseball.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, Halama has been basically there for us all year. He has pitched very consistently. In September, he pitched exceedingly well for us, when we really needed Johnny to step up. He is not a power guy, as you all know. He is more of a pitcher that needs to stay away from the center of the plate; that needs to pitch to both sides of the plate, change speeds, those sort of things. The last two years, this man has won, what, 26 ballgames? That's pretty darn good.

LOU PINIELLA: First of all, we don't have them. But at the same time, we have the two first-game starters in this series for us, Garcia and Halama, and we have got Carlos Guillen, the youngster that did a nice job for us at third base, and laid that bunt down in the White Sox years. And Cameron has been a good replacement for Junior. And we had Tomko, that when we lost some starting pitcher earlier in the year, went into our rotation and has done some nice work for us. So even though they are not here, they are well represented on our roster. I think that they added to the organization. We went out and got some good pieces and Pat Gillick deserves all the credit for that. We were able to pick up Sele. We were able to pick up Sasaki. Let me tell you, there's no substitute for talent, and certainly the more talent you have, you'll win.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, listen, I played here for 12 years as a player and I was here for an additional five years in different jobs, including the GM and Manager's job. I have a tremendous amount of feeling and respect for this organization. I've always been thankful and appreciative to Mr. Steinbrenner for giving me an opportunity to manage. And at the same time, the teams that I played on here had a lot of success, and you don't forget that. I wore my championship ring with pride. But at the same time, had we come in here now, I'm no longer a Yankee; I'm a Seattle Mariner. I'm going to do everything that I can to assure that this team wins and that's what we're going to do today. It's fun coming here for me, it really is. I'm going to enjoy the situation, especially if we win.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, you know, when Spring Training started, we had anticipated that he would be a set-up guy for us; so he could acclimate himself to the League, the hitters, the umpires could take a look at him. And we knew that he had this wealth of closing success in Japan, but we were going to let him work himself into that job. We were comfortable with Jose Mesa in the closer's role, but Sasaki had such a good spring, that he actually won the job coming out of Spring Training. We put him in that spot and it has been a wise decision. He has pitched exceedingly well for us. He's gotten better as the season has progressed. Earlier in the year we were very, very hesitant to use him more than one inning at a time, more than two days at a time. And when you look at the stretch run in September, when every game was of paramount importance to us, he saved quite a few, an inning and two thirds of work and bounced back the next day. He's only about three quarters of a year removed from elbow surgery. I think his arm is going to get stronger and stronger and he's going to get better and better.