AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES v ATHLETICS

October 7, 2000

Luis Sojo

LUIS SOJO: Just having fun.

LUIS SOJO: No. To be honest, no. Now I know how my teammates feel. (Laughing.) But I mean, this is a great moment for me. I'm having a good time. Like I said all the time, the most important thing for me is to win games.

LUIS SOJO: No chance. I mean, I know they wanted me back. But as soon as they got me back, I never think that I'm going to be in every day. I've been doing this job for three or four years here, and I mean, I got the chance to play before I retire. It's like a dream come true.

LUIS SOJO: No. No. Every time I go in there, I just try to make contact. I think if you make contact, you are going to get a chance to get a base hit.

LUIS SOJO: It's different when you play every day and you're on the bench. I play every day. I come early to the ballpark. I prepare myself for that. Like I said, just hit the ball well all the time. I try to stay right on the ball all the time.

LUIS SOJO: Preparation. That's important. That's what I've been doing all this year. And when the game starts, I just don't sit over there and relax. I always am thinking about, "They are going to give me a chance to play," and whenever they need me, I go there 100 percent.

LUIS SOJO: No.

LUIS SOJO: I love to hit second. I mean, because that's the type of hitter I am. I play to hit the ball. I just have to lighten up. I don't think it's different.

LUIS SOJO: My teammates. I mean, I been all over the place in my career, but I never had these kind of teammates. People think because we win. But I mean, we are a unit. That's important. When you have guys like Joe Torre on your side, that's good, too.

LUIS SOJO: It's easy for me. Today I come, I see the bottom of the line-up, I don't see my name, I say, "Oh, what happened." I was batting second. But it's more easy for me. Like I said, preparation has been important for me. Then that's what I've been doing all these years.

LUIS SOJO: It gives me more confidence. Like Joe, he knows what I can do. I'll play every time I go there, I'll make things happen. I think the only reason I bat second is because he's lefty. If Jeter's going to get on, then I put him at second. If he's at second, I'll put him at third.

LUIS SOJO: Well, I think about that so many times. But I got a difficult job. I mean, I'm 35 years old, believe it or not. I know people told me about that. But I mean, it's hard, what I do. I see too many guys that try to -- guys 28, 29, who can do the same thing that I do. It's going to get hard for me to get a job. I don't want to retire, to be honest with you. I want to play until I'm 50. But I understand what my role is. If I can't get a job next year, I'll just shut it down. I'm thinking about this year. When they put me on waivers, I told my wife, "If I don't get picked up by the Yankees, I'll just shut it down."

LUIS SOJO: The first time I heard that, I was in spring training. They talked about trading me back, when D'Angelo got hurt. But I always keep on my mind that I'm going to come back. Like I say before, I kept talking to Derek, Jorge and Tino for the year. They kept saying, "Luis, we are gonna get you back, don't worry. We are gonna get you back." If you didn't see, I lose my hair in Pittsburgh, but I'm here now. I have a great time and that's the most important thing for me.

LUIS SOJO: We just talk about the game, what's going on, about how to play here. I been there every day. That's basically all we talk about.

LUIS SOJO: The tough part was to catch the ball because I didn't see it come off the bat. He hit it so hard. It's like the last second I saw the ball. But I feel like I got it. I just tried to get the guy on second base because it was a tight game over there. I never thought about not throwing to first. It's a good play right there. El Duque, he's telling me, "He's going to hit it to you, he's going to hit it to you." Throw a changeup. I told him, "Just throw the ball and I do my job, don't worry about me."

LUIS SOJO: Uh-huh.

LUIS SOJO: You can say that. (Laughter.) When I get there, I'm there for three days, I see all over the papers, "Luis Sojo's career was over." You see a lot, a lot of phone calls from my family and my friends. I say, "Well, I still got a chance to go back to the Yankees, so you got to wait." But, yeah, I got to see Galarraga.

LUIS SOJO: No, I was in Pittsburgh.

LUIS SOJO: I went home for three days and came back.

LUIS SOJO: It's luck. Like you say, we lost the last seven games of the series, the first game of the playoffs. Still, we can't hit with men on base. Finally, the second game, Glenallen and myself, we come through with those two hits. I think that broke the ice for us.

LUIS SOJO: Tonight, you mean?

LUIS SOJO: No chance. I told my wife, "We'll see what happen. Something happen, I'll call you after the game." My thing, you got to finish tonight.