AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: INDIANS v YANKEES

October 5, 1998

Mike Hargrove

MIKE HARGROVE: We decided to go with Jaret Wright in Game 1, come back with Charles Nagy in Game 2 and Bartolo Colon in Game 3. Game 4, tentatively Doc Gooden is scheduled for that game.

MIKE HARGROVE: No, I really won't -- I am not going to get into a word battle with David Wells. David Wells is very good at what he does. He is a very good pitcher. He needs to stick to that. David has an opinion. He is more than entitled to voice his opinion. But I disagree with that. I don't think that that is an accurate statement.

MIKE HARGROVE: Well, as you know Doc started off if you didn't know that Doc started off the season really in spring training with tendinitis in his shoulder, battled that on and off throughout spring training and really into the season kind of had a so-so first half. From the All-Star Game on, really picked it up and we saw, you know, we saw the good side of Doc Gooden to where he threw the ball very well. Had a nasty breaking ball for his out pitch, located his fast ball -- velocity was 91 to 93. Was really one of our better pitchers. I think without the production and what Doc brought to us the second half of the season, I doubt that we would be where we are today.

MIKE HARGROVE: Yeah, he needs not to give up those three-run home runs. That would help. The thing that Jaret did in the Game 1 of the Divisional Series when he threw against Boston is he was behind a lot of hitters, he was up with his fast ball. The key to getting anybody out whether they be good hitters or bad hitters pitching down in the strike zone and Jaret needs to do that. But as a lot of power pitchers are, they -- they can be, you know, high ball pitchers. If you throw the ball 98 miles an hour up in the strike zone, you will get by with it, but you won't if you throw it 93. The big key for me is as it is with anybody that pitches, is you pitch ahead of hitters, you stay down in the strike zone. If Jaret does that, then he has a chance to be very good.

MIKE HARGROVE: Mainly because it has been so long since Doc -- last time he threw was only 22 pitches. Plus Nagy has been our hottest pitcher, best pitcher here the second half of the season. Last time in he pitched very well against the Yankees here. Wright, Nagy, Colon and then you know, tentatively Gooden, it really gives us, you know, the ability to have three guys, Ogea, Burba and Gooden in the bullpen that we can go quickly if things start to unravel with our starters. Gives us more flexibility.

MIKE HARGROVE: If I had one, I would run down it. I haven't put one down yet. I am still in the process, but it won't be far different than what the lineup was in Game 3 in Boston.

MIKE HARGROVE: I think that -- do you remember the regular season, yeah, I think they probably were in the regular season, but I think also, you know, in postseason you are going to throw everything away because it is a brand new deal. And it really is unlike anything that you ever experienced in the regular season, but they have got a very good ball team. You don't win 114 games by luck. You do it because you have got talented people on the field and in the dug out and the Yankees certainly from Mr. Steinbrenner on down have shown that they are very good at what they do. Are they the best offensive team? Yeah, probably.

MIKE HARGROVE: When you look at who they have got and they can throw Andy Pettitte, David Wells, and David Cone at you and not even touch an Irabu or Hernandez I think that says a lot about their pitching staff. They go to Nelson and the people they have got out in the bullpen, I don't think it is surprise that they can shut anybody down. The old truism, that good pitching is going to beat good hitting, it is a truism for a reason, and that is certainly what we saw in that series.

MIKE HARGROVE: Because if we get into Game 1, 2 or 3 and have to go to our bullpen early and Doc is one of those guys we use, then obviously he is not going to be able to pitch Game 4. It will be one of either Gooden, Ogea or Burba in Game 4. Tentatively it is Doc.

MIKE HARGROVE: Obviously it is not official yet. But, probably we will drop Doug Jones from the roster and add Chad Ogea, but that is still to be -- it is still to be deemed official.

MIKE HARGROVE: David Wells, I have always seen David Wells throw well. So I don't know how different he can be. He is always -- I have never -- everything you see and hear about David Wells is good. He never turns down the ball. He goes out there and gives it everything he has got. He is a high-pitch-count pitcher. Pitches deep into games, he throws strikes. I think if anything probably I saw him pitching with more confidence after the perfect game. I think that is probably what Joe was talking about, but I can't -- I don't want to put words in Joe's mouth. Joe is very good at speaking his own mind.

MIKE HARGROVE: I heard that. If I got those questions from you guys in spring training Winter Haven when that happened. First of all, there is no reason to throw at anybody at spring training. Much less at that point of spring training and Jaret was not throwing at anybody. Jaret is a power pitcher that occasionally the ball will move and get away from him and that is what happened in Luis's situation. Jaret is not a head hunter. But for Jaret to be effective, he has to pitch inside. And that is part of the -- that is part of the game. I certainly don't think that we should all get carried away in dragging out old grudges or new grudges. I think this is a good game the way it is set up, and that is all how we are going to approach it. As far as I know, there is no bad blood between these two teams. Two very competitive teams and go out and try to win.

MIKE HARGROVE: Yes, by the number of games they won, and yes, by the way that they went along, they got a lot of breaks. But even if you get all the breaks in the world, if you don't have the talent to take advantage of those opportunities or you are not focused and mentally alert to be able to take those opportunities, they pass you right on by. This is a very -- they have a very good ballclub. Haven't had really one guy that is just gone off the charts, though O'Neill and Bernie Williams have had tremendous seasons has had Scott Brosius. But you look at all the people they have got and Martinez, and Knoblauch and Jeter and Williams and now Shane Spencer is coming along for them. They have had a got of guys that had very good solid years. Then you add on to that the starting rotation they can throw at you plus their bullpen that is why they are good. This club for the Yankees in '98 is a more -- is a deeper club as far as talent than maybe there one in 95 but they are very similar in that they won a lot of ball games.

MIKE HARGROVE: But we, I mean, this shouldn't beanything new for anybody because we saw the same thing happen with Seattle. I mean Seattle was concerned with it. We have see the same thing. We are concerned with it. We are willing to live with it because of the things that Joey can do for us offensively and defensively. Does it worry me? At times, yeah, it does worry me. But you have got to take the good with the bad and there are things that we can do to help rectify that.

MIKE HARGROVE: No, I don't think you can turn it off and on at will. I think that again our team was described as playing lethargic by a number of people the last month, month and a half of the season. There are times that we would run into pitching that made-- that would have made anybody look lethargic but I likened it then and I liken it now. There are people that don't agree with me. I don't care. That you know, it is like the duck on the water, he looks real calm along the water, but your feet are pedaling like hell underneath. We didn't play well obviously, but there isn't a time that we didn't play hard. That is why I don't buy into the theory that you can turn it off and on. I do not think you can do that. But you can step your game up and I have seen this team do that from really from 95 on.