AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES v ATHLETICS

October 2, 2000

Roger Clemens

ROGER CLEMENS: I don't know that. You guys would be better off telling me that.

ROGER CLEMENS: I don't know that. (Laughter.)

ROGER CLEMENS: That's outstanding. I think I have a few -- I carry this case that carries my gloves around so they don't get flimsy. I think I have a few in there. They are some past teammates, mostly hitters, with broken bats in their hands, one being Chili Davis that he likes to see it a lot.

ROGER CLEMENS: Well, I looked at them a little bit today, and we'll go over them again tonight and in the morning. You know, we're going to go with our strengths and pitch to my strengths. And, you know, I'm real confident in Jorge and what he's been able to do behind the plate this year. A lot of confidence in him. He's come such a long way since way back in spring training, even when we were doing our workout. We have our game within a game, and if things are not going well, we try to make an adjustment real quick. As far as Oakland is concerned, emotions are going to be riding high. They are coming off an emotional win. A lot of young excited players, and I imagine a lot of them for the first time they are going to experience maybe their first postseason action. And I remember when I went through that; it is very exciting.

ROGER CLEMENS: Well, we're just taking the approach -- I think you heard it what our skipper had to say. I don't know what his comments throughout the day have been, throughout this workout day, but we're taking the approach where we need to tighten up a few areas of our game. And now that we have gotten to this point, I think we're one of the three returning teams of the eight; it's just an opportunity. We're back again, and it's not going to be easy, and it gets more and more difficult each time around. Just going to try and take advantage of this opportunity.

ROGER CLEMENS: I don't carry over too much of what I have done in the past, anyway, whether I was coming off two or three shutouts, six -, seven -, eight-inning performances, I wouldn't carry that into this game good or bad. Just a whole different ballgame where you've got to tighten up and be a little more consistent. Not maybe too overaggressive. I got in a very aggressive mode, kind of a mean streak my last outing, and you've seen what happened. I was overthrowing and doing some things of that nature. But I went the opposite way; instead of getting passive, I got overaggressive. There might be times tomorrow, tomorrow night, where I'll be aggressive. I might get overaggressive at times. So I'm going to break down, see how the tone is; and I'm going to try and set a tone early.

ROGER CLEMENS: I don't want to discuss that. Those were not pleasant times, and you know, like I said, just miscommunication. That's all it was. I think it got blown out of proportion. I don't know if the guy lost his job over it or not. I don't know where he went from there. I felt I was in the right, and it worked out. We worked that situation out.

ROGER CLEMENS: I think, you know, again, that's something that he might have to answer tomorrow night after the game. You know, the experience that he's going to go through, I can only tell you my first one. If I think way back into '86, I was struck on the elbow one of my last starts, and I didn't have a very good performance. I think that was one of two or three that I didn't perform well, where I felt I gave our team a chance to win, or I left the game with a lead. I do remember it going by so quick. I think that's what I really tried to enjoy last year, was to really absorb the sights and sound and maybe look around more than I should have when I was not on the mound. But experience-wise, maybe just being able to block out a lot of the distractions that are going to happen. I mean, if anything, that.

ROGER CLEMENS: Well, I plan on, you know, locking in as best I can. Just have to see how the game goes down, how it is starting out. There will be some excitement early, who can settle in the best, and, you know, I'll rely on my defense, at times, too. And hopefully, if I -- in any situation when I'm in a big situation where I have to have a strikeout, hopefully I'll be able to get it. Other than that, I've got great defense behind me. And other than the last couple of weeks, you know, we've got the team that can get guys on base, and score runs.

ROGER CLEMENS: I'm pleased. You know, every game is important. The games that I pitched in last year were important. They had significance because of Texas and the other games -- you know, I can look back in Game 3, we fell behind early and the guys rallied back. I would expect the same this go-around. We're going to play nine innings. I don't think our guys will sit back too much. I think we'll be able to play extremely hard for nine innings. That's our goal. But, you know, we've got plenty of arms and we're expecting to do what we've done in the past.

ROGER CLEMENS: You know, again, we feel that we have definitely come upon our first step here, again. And we've put ourselves in the position to win, and we've just got to go out and do it. It's pretty simple. We're going to have some challenges, and maybe a bump or two, and we're just looking forward to the challenge. We're here as one of the three of the eight teams returning. Just have to make the most out of it. No question about it. Our intensity will be there, and it's just exciting. It's exciting to be back again and have this opportunity. I know that in my situation at this stage in my career, to have this opportunity.

ROGER CLEMENS: Other than color, they are great. A little more of a tan in the back of my right hamstring than I'd like, but it feels great. And we'll go get 'em.

ROGER CLEMENS: Like I said, it's an honor to come out of the gate first. But with myself and Andy and El Duque, you know, I consider them guys to be the No. 1 starter when they are out there, also, too. Pressure is, you know, every time I go out there, there's pressure. I want to perform well. I want to make it exciting. And, you know, hopefully that we'll be able to get some momentum on our side, you know, quick and be able to keep that momentum and just ride it a little bit.