AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARINERS v YANKEES

October 10, 2000

Lou Piniella

LOU PINIELLA: Well, they had runners on first and second. I just went out to make sure Freddy was okay. You know, I felt that he still had really good stuff. We left him in there. He got three tough hitters out. He pitched a heck of a ballgame. Gave us six and two-thirds innings, pitched out of that jam in the sixth and then Sasaki pitches out of that jam in the ninth and we win 2-0 and to have a young pitcher come into a playoff game for us like Garcia did, he should be very proud of his effort tonight.

LOU PINIELLA: He was in the bullpen ready to come in. His pitch count was low. He was throwing the ball well. He's got that good, hard-sinker that can get a double play ball and we left him in there and he pitched himself out of that jam, and then we took him out after 104 or 105 pitches, whatever it was and went to our bullpen. He was throwing the ball very well. There was no need, I didn't think, to get him at that point at that time.

LOU PINIELLA: I was surprised. Joe caught us totally off-guard with that move. We were not expecting it at all. I saw him on the on-deck circle after I had removed Paniagua. I mentioned it to Jim Gray, doing the commentary for NBC. I mentioned to him that it caught us by surprise.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, I felt all along that when I went out there, that I'd get the response that I would get. He had good stuff. I mean, his ball was live. Like I said, he throws that good, hard, heavy sinker that can get a double play ball. He's got the curveball and the changeup. He was pitching a shutout, and given up, what, two or three hits to them. We decided to stay with them. Now if he'd told us differently, then we would have made a move, but he felt very composed out there, and he felt strong, and the catcher reassured me that he was throwing the ball well, and that was the end of that.

LOU PINIELLA: I told him to really concentrate on the hitter. Not to concern himself too much with the base runner, with the two-run lead. And as it was, we played just a little bit behind the base runner to try to protect the hole a little bit.

LOU PINIELLA: As far as Freddy -- that inning took a little bit out of him, because he had to make a lot of pitches, and a lot of maximum effort pitches. Once we got through Posada, we had Paniagua ready to come in and face Sojo. But Freddy can pitch. Last year he won 17 ballgames for us, and this year he had that injury in Spring Training, and he missed what two months. He's got a lot -- for a young pitcher, he's got a pretty darned good feel of what he wants to do and not do with that baseball. When he's on his game, he can spin you a good one, and today he really did.

LOU PINIELLA: They have been there for us all year. I'm fortunate that I've got some good power arms out there, and at the same time, they are very resilient. They bounce back pretty darned good. And they all want the ball. Our starting pitching is about what we got tonight; six innings, to the seven-inning range. So we are in our bullpen quite a bit. We have kept most of them short and we've given them breathers when they needed. They have done a heck of a job, from Sasaki to Rhodesy to Paniagua, Mesa, Tomko. That's a big reason why we are here.