AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES v ATHLETICS

October 7, 2000

Roger Clemens

ROGER CLEMENS: There wasn't much of a bat. It was a fastball up and really middle to middle end. He flipped it right out of here. That's obviously not a great start, and from that at-bat on, going down 3-0 right away, at that point you got to buckle down. I really had to really buckle down when I felt good early. From the first hitter, just trying to find out where I needed to go, up or down, in the zone. That was a little bit of a struggle to find out where we were going to go with the ball to get where I needed to go, to get ahead of guys. I think that was my -- early that was my biggest problem other than -- that was really it. I felt great other than that, and just trying to -- it's a little puzzling, trying to find where I needed to go in the zone. The two walks, I think there was an out and then maybe the homer. Going back to look at that. From that point on, like I said, I just had to buckle down from that point on and try and keep it close to give the guys a chance. I mean at 3-0, I think we still had a chance, we had an opportunity later on in the game. Let's see, looking back, the sixth inning where they got the other runs, or it was an 0-2 pitch, I think it was 0-2, made a good pitch, they flipped it in the center. Then I got the ground ball, was looking for a double play, it stayed down under Scotty's glove or to the -- or to his bare hand side. Then with the infield in, I tried to induce another ground ball and got it. But it wasn't at Luis like earlier in the game. That was pretty much it.

ROGER CLEMENS: None. I felt great. The only problem I had was early, just really trying to -- George and I were talking about where we wanted to go with it. I started to locate way down and moving the ball way out. I was able to get some great movement. Then from the second inning on, really started to be aggressive like I wanted to going out there. We wanted to be real aggressive and just like Joe said, go as long and as hard as I could go.

ROGER CLEMENS: As far as...?

ROGER CLEMENS: It's been a -- nothing's been -- nothing's really come easy this year at all. If I wasn't throwing the ball as well as I did actually during the season, who knows what position we'd be in? As far as playoff ball, I've been in a lot of playoff ball and pitched what I feel extremely well. Whether you get the win or loss, I'm not real -- that's not as big a deal. I would rather keep the guys in the game in a better position than I did tonight. But still, going down, in my situation, we want to be aggressive. The guy flips the ball out of the ballpark, from that point on you try to get a little finer without getting behind in the game. But at that point, it's a battle just for the fact that you're putting even more pressure on our guys to score runs when we're not able to do that at this point, we're not having a lot of luck to do it. I think 0-0 through four or five, then obviously I think it's a different ball game.

ROGER CLEMENS: Well, I'm sure it looked like that. Just when I told you from the get-go, I think it was -- I came out, throwing strikes, trying to throw strikes anyway. That was it. I think that was the only problem about it. I just needed to know where to go, what part of the zone, up or down. So that's what I was, as far as rhythm, that's all I was trying to do.

ROGER CLEMENS: Well, again, it's been a grind. It seems like we're not -- we're obviously not trying to do it the easy way. But we're going to deal with it and get out there and get what rest we can, and just hopefully come out and, again, I think it's something we have to do. I mean, it's not going to be easy. Nothing's easy right now. Like I told you, I think especially the path that I've taken, for sure, and just trying to really grind so hard over the last month, month and a half. But I didn't expect it any different tonight. I mean, I was -- I felt really good and was ready to go. I just hated -- you're being aggressive and a guy flips one out and you're down 3-0 just because you got a couple guys on from walks, too. It's disappointing. There's no question about it. But you're going to have to go out there and win a ball game.

ROGER CLEMENS: Other than he zoned us down. Basically, that's what I had seen, I was inside doing things and a couple quick innings, got a couple quick outs real quick when I was changing and doing different things. But just kept us off balance, obviously. You'd have to break it down with the hitters as far as what he featured. I didn't watch it that closely. I'm not watching the other guy that closely, I'm just trying to prepare myself. And fatigue was not a factor.

ROGER CLEMENS: Yeah, I don't know if we worked before together either, but Jorge and I were just trying to work the zone as best we could to find out where we needed to go definitely to get ahead without -- to stay aggressive and not feature the ball middle, middle. I was able to do that, there was a couple balls I had to throw middle, middle and I was forcing to get away. Then I went to, unlike Game 1, I threw a couple two seamers and was able to get some good movements, got a broken bat, ended up getting the two-seamer, I think we cut the run down at home on that play, similar to when I was trying to get Greg to do to get that ground ball late. But, again, I was -- just had to sit back a little bit and I remember looking back in the first inning and standing on the mound and just trying to focus on where I needed to get the ball. So, that was a big situation for me there, to bear down and try and get through that inning and just really locate where we needed to go to get strikes.