AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARINERS v YANKEES

October 10, 2000

Freddy Garcia

Alex Rodriguez

FREDDY GARCIA: They get on base, so I have to be concentrating and focused on what I do. The rest, I just try.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: I saw the pattern that he was developing, and he was jamming in the ball, trying to tie me up with my hands a little bit. The whole at-bat I was focused on a fastball in, and I finally got it.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: Well, obviously there was a sense of disappointment all over the organization at that point, and the irony of the story was that we were playing the New York Yankees while the trade went down, and I guess the big joke around the Yankee clubhouse was that we got a shortstop and a centerfielder for Randy Johnson; and at the time, of course, we had Griffey and myself. We were disappointed. We didn't know what we were getting. Obviously, things have worked out greatly for us and it worked out well for Houston and Randy is at a place that he wants to be.

FREDDY GARCIA: Not really because I was feeling pretty good and I had a lot of confidence. So he went up there and I said, yeah, and okay, I have to try for a pitch and I did and make a good pitch and we got them.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: I was apprehensive when I hit it. I didn't know if it was going to stay fair or not. I hit one earlier in the first inning and I thought that one was going to stay fair and it didn't. Just a sense of relief when I saw it hit the foul pole.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: It means just that. We're up one. We've seen the Yankees many times under a little adversity. Obviously, there's not a sense of urgency for them, but they are going to come out fighting. And El Duque has been a great pitcher for them in the post-season, but I think in a way, we have to attack him, attack him early, and just be ready to go to war, because they are going to come out real hungry tomorrow.

FREDDY GARCIA: No. I was free to throw them and I throw them for a strike every time that I wanted to; and my changeup, sometimes it is good. And when I needed it, that was it; my change, my curve, they were there.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ: Well, I feel like I'm Freddy's big brother, even though he is a little bigger than I am. And I have always said that Freddy has a potential to one day be like a Pedro because he has three dominant pitches. And the one thing we all emphasize when we talk to Freddy and try to help him out here and there is he has to establish all three pitches, and don't fall in love with just the fastball or the breaking ball or the changeup. I think he did a great job of that, and perhaps he took a little extra time in his off-day working on those off-speed pitches and getting them over for strikes and perhaps pitching a little backwards.