AL DIVISION SERIES: MARINERS v WHITE SOX

October 5, 2000

Aaron Sele

AARON SELE: Obviously they are a great offensive team, and, being down two games, they are going to come out and throw everything they have got at us. You've just got to be careful. They were the best team in the American League all year long. You've got to go out there and pitch them tough and see where we go from there. But I guess a little bit of everything.

AARON SELE: I don't know if I've picked anything up in particular. We played them tough all year long, and I think I threw against them four times this year and picked things up from that. The five starters that we have got, we all watch each other really closely and we really try to give a lot of information. So as the game rolls along, our starters are just as important as they were in the first two starts. As a group, we are really tight that way and we like to give a lot of information back and forth. But as for the first two games, nothing in particular.

AARON SELE: You made a great point with the second part of that question. It's got to be your game. And you have to be careful, if a certain pitcher is having success and he is a totally different style of pitcher than you, you have to throw what he does out the window a little bit. You've got to stay with your strengths out there but if you can pick something up from one of the other pitchers and convert it to your style, that's a bonus.

AARON SELE: I think the key word in that question is that he is a "superstar" and you pitch those guys carefully anyway.

AARON SELE: Really, there's no change in the approach. I've talked to you guys all year long about trying to stay the same: Don't get too high, don't get too low ask stay within your game plan and for the most part that's been successful for me. We'll go out there and give it everything that we've got and see what happens.

AARON SELE: Things have been going -- once the season starts, you're so busy, your focused on the teams that you're playing against. I have not looked back at any of the off-season situations and how that developed. Obviously we're sitting here in the playoffs and that makes it a lot of fun coming home. But the people in the northwest, the people that I played college ball with, even senior Babe Ruth and American Legion and those leagues, it's fun seeing those people along the way and it's been a lot of fun. And for my wife and I, to have the grandparents around to help us with our child, that makes it real special to play at home.

AARON SELE: They are big baseball fans over there. Obviously, their youth programs are big. And growing up over there, we always followed the Mariners, and so I'm sure the whole county, along with the whole state, is very excited to see the games here.

AARON SELE: Like I said before, it's the same approach and the same game plan I've had all year long. You've got to go out and throw quality pitches. If you throw quality pitches, you're more apt to have positive results from that. So that's really -- you've got to make it simple and just go out there and throw quality pitches, regardless of what pitch it is. Make a quality pitch just off the plate or down the strike zone.

AARON SELE: Well, it changes game to game throughout the regular season and throughout the playoffs because situations at that time change. Really, you are pitching off situations, what inning it is, the hitter, how many outs, the score, etc., And you're mixing up your sequences from that, and, of course, the feel of your pitches at the time.

AARON SELE: Really, I haven't. It's been such a whirlwind for the Mariners. We had to play real tough coming in the last couple weeks, and just to get in the playoffs we're just excited to get in the playoffs and boom, we're off to Chicago and now we're back home. Things have been happening so fast, we have not had a chance to do anything but focus on the game.

AARON SELE: SAFECO Field, I think it's a fair ballpark. I think we were sixth in the League in home runs. Edgar had his career high in home runs. Alex was two off his career high. You can hit them here. It's not the most difficult thing and it's definitely not a pitcher's park and it's definitely not a hitter's park. You make some pitches, you know, and they hit a few to the track here as compared to 15 rows back in some fields.

AARON SELE: It all depend on location of pitches. We played a series here with Oakland, and it was a day game and we had a lot of shadows, and it didn't seem to bother anybody either way.

AARON SELE: Obviously, you know, you get into the post-season and you've got events like this, and the crowds are out there and really pumping it up and really it has taught me just to be able to calm down, slow things down, get back into focusing just on the pitching, not get too excited and try to overthrow. You've got to stay within yourself and throw your type of game and your pitches.

AARON SELE: I don't know why anybody would want to rub New York Vinny. No.