MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v BRAVES

October 24, 1999

Scott Brosius

SCOTT BROSIUS: I don't know. You know, again, I really believe that each year, each game is a clean slate. And I don't think there's such a thing as a carryover really in baseball, but at least from the team perspective and on the personal side, it's nice to, you know, start any series off on a good note. Obviously, to be able to pull that one out last night to get us ahead, you know, by a game, is a good start. It's always nice, too, to kind of get those first couple hits out of the way, maybe feel like they will come a little easier for the rest of the series.

SCOTT BROSIUS: I'm not sure you have an approach against those guys. He's a really good pitcher. My thought was try to be aggressive and hope he makes a mistake. That's really all that happened. Both the first couple hits, he was ahead in the count, and I think he would be the first to say they were just fastballs that stayed up in the zone more than he wanted them to and they found holes.

SCOTT BROSIUS: That is kind of ancient. I was excited, obviously. Just because when, you know, you go through a year like I went through in Oakland last year and as a team struggling like we did as a team to come over and realize that you have a chance to play on a team that can win the championship, it was like a shot in the arm for me, personally. I mean it's -- you know, not that I didn't enjoy my time in Oakland, but this is what you play for, this is, as a player, you want the opportunity to get to the World Series and try to win it. So for me, it was a real lift to know that I had a chance to be a part of that.

SCOTT BROSIUS: Coney is just, he's just a competitor. He's a battler. Everybody knows the history on him. I know when I was in Oakland, he came off after the aneurism surgery and threw seven no-hit innings against us having not pitched in months. He's just a guy that's capable of going out there every time with great stuff, whether he's had two days off or ten days off. He's resilient, and you just know every time he's going to give you 100 percent of what he's got.

SCOTT BROSIUS: I'm not sure it's displayed right now, to be honest with you. It was downstairs, I have a room downstairs that has a pool table and I was honestly, when I had said last year I didn't have a place for it, I really don't. It's kind of sitting on a shelf down there, it just doesn't get torn up being on the floor. At some point I'll have somewhere for it, but I'll just kind of wait and see if there's a -- just by the time everything's said and done, you know, just a place to display things like that. But until then, it's kind of hanging out at home.

SCOTT BROSIUS: It's exciting. I love to play in New York. It was totally -- and I really was -- when the trade happened, I thought: Oh, boy, I got to spend six months in New York. It's not a very comfortable place to come as a visiting player. Everything you hate about New York as a visitor, you love as a home player. And we stay outside the city up north, and that's as much as Oregon as any place I've played at. Even California. I feel comfortable out there. Jennifer and the kids love it out there. It was a comfortable place for us from day one.

SCOTT BROSIUS: Well, weather, surroundings, you know, the place -- we live up north there. You have trees, you have lakes, you have rivers, so as far as just, you know, surroundings, it's very much like Oregon. And also the people. The people that we live near, it's like a throw-back almost, the town. We leave and we don't lock our doors. We never did that in California. It's just -- we just felt like we were real fortunate to just end up in a place not just with the team but just personally where we fit in real well and are real comfortable.

SCOTT BROSIUS: The only time we were disappointed is not having him around. We weren't disappointed in him or those type of things. Everybody understands that there's nobody that walks around here that hasn't made a mistake. And we all understand that, so we're excited to have him back. You know, everybody, we welcomed him back with open arms. He was a big part of things last year and didn't get a chance to go through the post-season, so to have him back this year and be able to go through it, I think everybody feels good for him.

SCOTT BROSIUS: There's been times. No question it's been more difficult this -- a more difficult year this year than it was last year focus-wise. There's been times where, you know, obviously my mind's kind of been in two places at one time and it's difficult to, you know, to really keep the focus 100 percent. But we're also at a time now where, you know, I know that this is what we play for, this is kind of the apex of the year, and in another week, you know, win or lose, I'm going to go home. So I'll have the opportunity at that point to deal with the things that I need to and take care of the things that I need to, so it's a little bit easier at this point now to kind of put those other things on hold knowing that -- you know, some time soon I'll be back to take care of that.