AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES v ATHLETICS

October 6, 2000

Barry Zito

BARRY ZITO: Well, I don't know. I wish I had experience in there, but I never went there. I mean, I was just telling someone. It's kind of like the college playoffs, when you're real excited about the playoffs. Just multiply that by 100.

BARRY ZITO: Yes, luckily I had the experience to face Clemens and come into Yankee Stadium about a month and a half ago. I think that's something that will help me with my confidence and also with the whole atmosphere. It's not my first time here, and I've pitched well last time and I'm just going to build off that.

BARRY ZITO: Yeah, it's definitely different. I mean, it's Yankee Stadium. There's all that history and stuff, you're not pitching to the history, but you know about it. The stands are right on you. It's not like a lot of fans. Also the fans are a little bit crazier than everyone. You can't get all hyped into that and you can't let that bother you. I think when I'm out there on the mound it doesn't really matter where I'm at as long as I'm throwing to hitters in the same game. I've been playing for 15 years.

BARRY ZITO: Yeah, I know what's at stake. Every guy out there knows. I don't think it's going to get to me. I try to go into it like any other game, nice and loose, relaxed. All that stuff's external and it's just pressure that guys can put on themselves. I try to just stay out of that, stay in my routine and work pitch for pitch.

BARRY ZITO: Well, I mean, it's kind of funny. My pitching coach tells me, "Hey, your game right here, just pitch your game, you're gonna get this." My style is similar to a guy like Wells or another lefty with three pitches, I have got the curveball and the changeup. I think these two pitches will be on, you know, real good, and I'll have the other one for show. The best-case scenario I'll have all three. But I think that any hitter, if you have three pitches, you can work well. You can get some hitters out.

BARRY ZITO: I think that could be true because when you're at home, you always have your home fans. You want to show well in front of them. On the road you know, especially in Yankee Stadium, you're everyone's enemy out there. You have nothing to lose by going out there and just pitching your game. I think it's fun, me and Hudson were talking about it. We're just going to thrive off of this, it's funny when guys rag and try to get in our heads and stuff. It's a great atmosphere and it's an atmosphere that everyone would want to play in.

BARRY ZITO: Well, I mean, you get that first game at home, you definitely want to go out and win two. And have that advantage coming into the road series. We knew that there was possibly going to be a split. We're glad we got Game 1 and we got the momentum going. I don't think it slowed our momentum down to lose that game. Pettitte pitched a great game, our hitters are on and we can score some runs in the series.

BARRY ZITO: We knew the Yankees were a playoff team. Regardless of what they do in the regular season, at the end of it it doesn't matter because they're a team that's geared up for October every year. We know they're going to play harder than anyone. But we know coming here in Yankee Stadium, we fared well here, we've won some games here, we know they're definitely beatable.

BARRY ZITO: As far as... I mean?

BARRY ZITO: I think every start I go out there, I have the same feeling in myself that everything's on the line, you have to go out do-or-die. I don't think I'm going to get more geared up, more fired up for this start more than any other. I try to go into every game similar with my preparation and everything. It's great, it's national coverage, everyone's watching, there's lots of pressure. I try not to feel that stuff. I just want to go out and work pitch for pitch, inning for inning.

BARRY ZITO: Yeah, I threw the first game here so I didn't have time to check out the sites and take it in. But after I pitched, I took a couple minutes, went out to Monument Park, checked out all the history and stuff. It's a pretty amazing thing, but then you can't get caught up in it during the game. After the game I can reflect on what I did or where I am. During the game, it's just business.

BARRY ZITO: I don't feel like I'm part of it. I'm trying to be a cheerleader on the bench. You get fired up being on the bench but it doesn't hit you until you contribute and until you have a chance to make a difference. I've been waiting for that opportunity all year. Now it's coming tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight.

BARRY ZITO: It's weird for me to say this, but I guess I was pitching the Cape Cod championship two years ago. I don't want to say that because... (Laughter. ) It sounds like college and everything else. I was pitching there and the game of my last start against Texas was a pretty big game. We knew we needed two games back to back to get the AL west. That was a start where I didn't put a lot of pressure on myself, same as tomorrow. But it was a big game, and after the game you kind of realized, "Wow, that was pretty intense out there." During the game, it was just business as usual.

BARRY ZITO: We lost that game. (Laughter.) Try to make a change of events for tomorrow.

BARRY ZITO: I mean, yeah. I'll kind of get -- he'll set an example for us. He might -- I guess he'll tell me how it was out there. It's pretty easy to realize how it is out there, I'll pretty much know his answers to his questions because I'll be right there with him on the bench and stuff. I think it's going to be just a different scenario but the same game, the same thing I'm used to, the same thing I've been doing my whole life.

BARRY ZITO: No, I mean I know most of the hitters pretty well. I know that they have a certain line-up for lefties and a certain line-up for right-handers. I assume it's going to be pretty much the same line-up I saw last time give or take a guy. But I mean, whatever they have, whatever change, I can adjust to that pretty quickly.

BARRY ZITO: I don't -- I mean, I've heard a lot of the hype about the violence -- not violence, but the hostility towards the other team. It was actually a pleasant experience playing here last time. Guys didn't really get on me too much. I've heard it's a completely different stadium during October and the playoffs. So I guess we'll see how it goes. I don't anticipate any kind of violence towards me or throwing stuff.

BARRY ZITO: Yeah, you try to leave it as baseball, you try to bring everything back to your roots and just staying on that mound, 60 feet, 6 inches. Then you can also look at it from the standpoint, if I'm on the bench tonight, I'm going to realize, "Wow, this is insane." The playoffs, October, Yankee Stadium. When I get on the mound, it's baseball. When I'm looking at it from the third-person point of view, it's pretty intense out there.

BARRY ZITO: I'm from LA. I have a lot of Italian family out here in New York, Brooklyn. You know how the Italians are out here. So they're going to come out and probably be the only four or five people rooting for me out there.