AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARINERS v YANKEES

October 14, 2000

Lou Piniella

LOU PINIELLA: I think it is a tough proposition either way. You look at the success that he's had against left-hand hitters. Unless you can really handle the ball well on the inside part of the plate, you're going to have some problems against him. Basically, he likes to pitch to one side of the plate, and that's the side of the plate which is inside the left-handers and outside to right-handers. I think the secret with Rivera is not give the Yankees a lead and get him out there. I think that's really the only way to combat that situation successfully.

LOU PINIELLA: We've got Javier leading off in right field. We've got Al Martin in left field. Rodriguez, Martinez, Olerud, Cameron in center. Guillen at third base. Bell at second. Wilson the catcher. I think I missed a name somewhere.

LOU PINIELLA: No, not at all. We have confidence in our bullpen. In the two innings that the Yankees have added crooked runs on us, we have given them more than three outs, and you just can't do that. We've got to continue to play the way we have all year, and give them three outs. And you notice what happened at Yankee Stadium in the eighth inning, and you notice what happened yesterday. They have got a good ballclub. We know that, and we've got to give them three outs and go back and sit down and try to score some runs. You just can't give them an opportunity to bring up some extra hitting to the plate.

LOU PINIELLA: We are 10-4 when he leads off. We could have led off with Cameron. Those were our two choices. So we decided to go with Stan Javier. He's patient. Martin matches up well against Roger, if there is such a thing. And Guillen, he swung the bat well for us, at times this year, and hopefully the fresh bat will give him a chance.

LOU PINIELLA: We're fine. We're fine. I think we've gotten ourselves into a little bit of a hole, but we've won 3 out of 4 before this year; and it's important, naturally, that we win this game today. We need a good game from Abbott. Tomorrow Garcia goes, and Halama. So we just need this one today to tie this series backup. But our mood is fine. We've been up against the wall before this year, and we've managed to fight back. I expect us to go out there and play a good ballgame today and hopefully win it and get ourselves back in position.

LOU PINIELLA: You know, it is amazing with Paul. He's been in our organization for five years or so. You all can check that. But we didn't get him up here, really, until the end of the 1998 season, and he pitched out of our bullpen. In 1999, he started the season out in our bullpen, and we used him as a spot starter. And this year here, he started out in the bullpen again. In the middle, when we had some problems, we put him in the rotation. He has got good stuff, and he's got some experience. He's got a new arm, really with the Tommy John surgery. He's really capable of going out and pitching a good ballgame for you.

LOU PINIELLA: No. We are just giving him a day off today. Assuming this thing goes seven games, he'll be in there the rest of the way.

LOU PINIELLA: We respect him. We had him over here. We know what he's capable of doing. It is amazing how players are playing against their former teams, how they rise to the occasion a little. And certainly that's been the case with Tino so far in this series. He can swing the bat, and you've got to make good pitches on him. We've been getting the ball up out over the plate where he likes it, and he's hit it.

LOU PINIELLA: It saved baseball in this town in that it got us a new stadium. They had that vote. I think that didn't pass by the narrowest of margins. The state legislature got involved, and this new stadium is a tribute to that. It was intense, but the final outcome is SAFECO Field. It is a beautiful place to play baseball. Really, what it is going to do for this organization here, it will give it the extra revenue that it needs to go out and continue to put good ballclubs on the field that can compete and get to this type of level of play that we're at now.

LOU PINIELLA: I think this year's club was tailored to this ballpark, yeah. We've added some experienced people that can do different things. Over here, it makes you play baseball. You've got to have all of the ingredients working for you. You've got to be able to pitch; you've got to be able to catch the ball; you've got to be able to go from first to third. It's not really -- unless you are a power-power hitter, it's not really a fly ball ballpark. It's more of a line-drive ballpark. And it's pitcher-friendly for the pitchers in that if you can get them to hit the ball to the big part of the ballpark, you need a good centerfielder like Cameron; so go out and get him. It's baseball, is what it is. Truthfully, you talk about a small ballpark here -- it's not a small-ball ballpark, but what it is, you need small ball to go with power. Or you need situational baseball. Somebody used that term the other day, and I like it. That's really what it is, it's a situational ballpark. It makes you play situational baseball.

LOU PINIELLA: It makes every pitch more important and every out more important, and what you would like to do is give them a three-run cushion to work with. And at the same time, it allows us to use our top people out of the bullpen. And what the Yankees have been able to do is, basically, every game has been so close that we've faced their best pitchers out of the bullpen every day. That makes it tougher on our offense. Now one thing that the Yankees have done well so far this series is they have not walked us. They have made us swing the bats. Yesterday, you get a big key hit in the first or second inning, and it makes it a big difference in how we use our bullpen, and it makes a big difference in how we use their bullpen. But look, they are not World Champions for nothing. They know how to play. They have been there before, and they have played in so many big games that you have to go out and beat them. They are not going to beat themselves.