AL DIVISION SERIES: MARINERS v WHITE SOX

October 3, 2000

Paul Abbott

PAUL ABBOTT: Something growing up that I definitely dreamed about, big-time baseball fan, Dodger fan. They were in the post-season a lot. Really excited just to be able to say I've done it, but hopefully it doesn't stop there. Hopefully it's one of a few more to end the season.

PAUL ABBOTT: Well, it's kind of a good thing that I get to see Freddy pitch before me, I get to chart, watch the pitches. Because we're very similar in our styles, fastball, changeup guys. I had one start with them this year, I have one tape here, watch it, kind of see how I threw to some of the guys, make adjustments if some are needed. Just really mainly to pay attention to what Freddy does. That was in May, and they're probably a lot different than they were then. Just kind of gauge on Freddy.

PAUL ABBOTT: I think it's tomorrow. (Laughter.) I don't think I'd be here right now.

PAUL ABBOTT: Chart's in my locker, so I'm assuming it's tomorrow.

PAUL ABBOTT: Well, definitely I think they're such a dangerous line-up that the more pitches they see, the more they're gonna learn from the pitcher, the pitcher's stuff that they have at that time. So the more pitches we're gonna throw, the more of a chance we're going to get to our bullpen. I really think that if we come out throwing our strikes, our job is to come out throwing strikes, force them to swing bats and play more of our hands. If they're kind of patient and we're not around the plate, it's going to play in their lines. If you get behind the count in a line-up as potent as this, they're gonna hurt you.

PAUL ABBOTT: Well, that's kind of a Catch-22 with this team, that they're a patient team, with a lot of sock. You get a team like the A's who have a lot of bombers, they're really overly aggressive. This team isn't like that. They're very patient and they're also very dangerous. So you just got to make sure you get ahead and make sure that we're in pitcher's counts instead of putting them in hitter's counts. That's the whole key to pitching anyways, but a lot of teams are overly aggressive; you can get away with getting behind every once in a while and throw some good pitches and still get away with it. But this is a different kind of team; one through nine, they're patient and dangerous.

PAUL ABBOTT: No, not really. I remember what he's done off me. I don't think it really matters what I've done off of him this year. I've had some success. He's also had some success. It's just a matter of making quality pitches to him because he's definitely their main guy in the line-up. You don't want to let him beat you, but there's so many guys that can beat you, you can't be too passive with him, you still have to be aggressive to him. Otherwise, you're gonna have to put him on base and let other guys do the damage. So just preparation with him is just to not be too fine and treat him like everybody else.

PAUL ABBOTT: I guess it means that I've battled through some adversity with injuries and such that -- I've kind of got lucky that I got a team as strong as this to be able to get in this position. But, you know, I've learned not to take anything for granted at this point in my career. Hopefully it would have happened a little bit sooner, but I'll take it now. It just means it's a great opportunity also to add to my longevity, just to be able to stay here longer.