AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARINERS v YANKEES

October 13, 2000

Lou Piniella

LOU PINIELLA: I think the game will take a life of its own. We need to hit better. You need men in scoring position; you need men on base. If we do that, I can manage a little differently. But let's see how the game goes. Pettitte is an excellent pitcher. We've had some success against him, too. I can't tell you that until the game -- you can put things on paper, but you have to make changes in your plans.

LOU PINIELLA: No, it doesn't really. Let's see what happens during the course of the ballgame. A couple things are, I think definites. One, the ball will carry better; and two, the hitters, because it is darker inside, they will see the ball better. It has been more conducive to hitting, with the roof closed. Just have to see what happens.

LOU PINIELLA: Well, depends on how many runs we get.

LOU PINIELLA: Not really. We felt that we were getting a very good, professional pitcher. And indeed, that's exactly what we got. Now, the one thing that has surprised me is that he's very, very intense. And when you see him pitch, you would not think that he is. And he has pitched awfully well for us, especially down the stretch. He won 17 games for us, went 6-0 in September.

LOU PINIELLA: Abbott started the season in the middle. And when we lost two of our starters for a couple months, we put Abbott and Tomko in the rotation. He's been very consistent for us. He's got the right equipment to pitch against the teams that we're playing. He's got a good fastball, a good changeup. He's been there for us all year in the rotation. He has had some great games, like the game he pitched up in Boston, I think a one-hitter for eight-plus innings, and we expect him to go out there and pitch well tomorrow.

LOU PINIELLA: He is very consistent. One thing that has surprised me somewhat is how good of a defensive first baseman he is. I didn't realize that. He's not a home run hitter. He's a line-drive type hitter that hits the ball to all fields. He has had a good year, been very steady, been very consistent. He has given up some leadership in the clubhouse. I don't think anything rattles him. He's very consistent in that area. He's just a good, solid, Major League player, period. From defense to good, consistent hitting, to driving in runs, to being a veteran in our clubhouse, he's been just a great addition.

LOU PINIELLA: I think you can talk to Joe Torre about that. He would give you a much better evaluation. Roger has always been a tremendous competitor with great stuff, and I've got the utmost respect for him. He's going to be a tough adversary tomorrow.

LOU PINIELLA: About the approach, the only thing we've tried to do is keep them sharp, not try to overuse them. Our pitching coach has done a heck of a job with our bullpen, as he has with our starters, Bryan Price. And then we brought in some experience, Arthur Rhodes, Sasaki, to go along with Mesa and Paniagua, and Paniagua has done a very good job. And I think the ballpark makes a big difference, too. The Kingdome was not a fun place to pitch in. But they have. They have been aggressive. They have thrown strikes, and they have gone after the hitters. They have done a very, very fine job here for us, needless to say.

LOU PINIELLA: The two reasons possibly why not are: One, they are really scrutinized. When you go over them in the lineup, and the first thing you tell your pitchers, "Don't let that guy beat you; don't give in to him; don't give him the fat pitches to hit." That, plus great players usually try to exceed what they have done, and sometimes they try too hard and get themselves in a little bit of a rut, put a little more pressure on themselves. Those are the only two reasons. Because certainly, if you can do it over a 162-game schedule, year-in and year-out, you should be able to do it in the post-season. And the other thing is, you're facing better pitching, too. You're facing better pitching.

LOU PINIELLA: They have got a lot of capable people over there. They are not three-time World Champions for nothing, and we recognize that, believe me. They have got some big-game players over there. Our job basically is to score more runs than we have. If we can do that, we'll be in darned good shape.

LOU PINIELLA: We try to add runs. We've always tried to do that during the course of the year. Runs are more of a premium here. So you add one, and it makes -- you get a lead, and you add one or two, and it makes it much more difficult for other teams to come back. But we have that style of offense anyway, and we do about the same thing, just about everywhere. But over here, it is probably a little more pronounced. We try to add runs with leads.

LOU PINIELLA: We've used all of the components of our team all year. Because of it, you know, you put in more work with the matchups, either during the course of a ballgame or even prior to the course where you're making out the lineup. So we've utilized everybody here. We don't really have what you would call a set-set lineup, unlike the Yankees, for instance. You know, when you have good pieces, that's what they pay managers for, to get a little more involved and try to get the matchups that you want during the course of a ballgame or even prior to. Like I was talking to my coaches, going back to Game 6 in New York, we're going to have to make some adjustments to the lineup that we sent out there against El Duque.