AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: INDIANS v YANKEES

October 5, 1998

David Wells

DAVID WELLS: The Cy Young candidate is something that you guys -- it is out of my hands. I just try to go out there and do my job really nothing has transpired from me from being an every day five-day-kind-of-guy. Just go out there and do my job. I just try to stay focused out there and you know, keep my ballclub in the game, but anything to make me a better pitcher depends on how my teammates behind me produce as well.

DAVID WELLS: It is good for the fans as well as -- because of all of the hype that is brought into it, but sometimes it can be personal through the course of the year when things, you know, when things go on through a game and very aggressive and they are an aggressive team and I think we are too. It is something that you just got to go out there and basically fight to the death. When you go out there and try to win ball games, things can happen, guys get a little bit out of control at times. But that is going to happen. So it makes -- that is what makes it a great rivalry for the years to come when situations like that happen.

DAVID WELLS: Just be aggressive. We have played them very well this year. I think that when you go out there and you face a lineup like them, like they have, I think it is -- you know, the key -- I think the key to any game is: Go out there and get ahead in the count and I think that is what we proved with Texas. We went out there. We threw strikes and made things happen. They can be beat. Anybody can be beat, but I think that for us we just got to pitch to their weakness and try not to make too many mistakes because they have got a good lineup there that can hurt you.

DAVID WELLS: Well, we are two different style pitchers. He has got some good stuff. I challenge guys a lot more than David because he has got a lot of pitches. He has got the Laredo, the fork ball, he has got a bunch of stuff. And, to me, it is fun just competing with him and I out there because he is fun to watch. He is a strikeout pitcher. I am not. I think that when you get out there and you see a guy like Coney, you know, dealing the way he does and especially if you are following him in the lineup, in the pitching lineup, it is something that, for me, I try to go out there and out-do him. But it is tough. It is tough with -- but you can learn a lot. I think from right-handers, from left-handers and right-handers, it is either way, you look at the lineup, guys still got to hit pitches and if they are having trouble with us --

DAVID WELLS: Yeah, absolutely. He is a gamer. I think that you can learn a lot from a veteran pitcher like him.

DAVID WELLS: Not much because they are both solid. I think that you makes the mistake with Cleveland, they are going to hurt you. I think they had a little more speed and made a lot more things happen on the bases, so you can't really mess around with anybody in the lineup, especially with guys on base because those guys are going to try to make things happen and they can create a lot of havoc out there. But I think for a pitcher facing a club like Cleveland, you have to just be aggressive and just pitch your game and try not to worry too much about guys over there. You got to hold them on and try to change some things a little different. If you got to hold the ball a little more, whatever it is, try to keep them off stride. But there is really not a whole lot difference between Texas and Cleveland in my eyes.

DAVID WELLS: Well, I am not a follower and I like to believe that I am a leader going out there and trying to set the tone, especially if I get the ball first. I mean, even so, if somebody else was to start the first game, it is still something that I would take the same approach. I like the opportunity to go out there and get the opportunity to go out and pitch and try to set the tone for the rest of the team. It is something that, like I said before, I am not afraid to fail. And I hate to lose. But most of all, I just -- I want that opportunity at any given time and I just -- I think a lot of people through my career have been aggressive and I think a good inspiration on my life was Kirk Gibson. He was a very intense player and being over there in Detroit and talking with him just made things a lot easier for me because he can get in your ear and get in your head and make things work. That is what he told me - I went there and he knows a lot about hitting so I just -- I picked his brain about pitching to certain guys and I transpired to that. I used that to my -- to my knowledge and tried to put everything together and so far it has been successful.

DAVID WELLS: Not really. I try to go out there and do my best every chance I get. I think in the past, my second half performances have lacked a lot, but this year, somehow, it has picked up. I give all the credit to my teammates that have kept me -- scored me runs and played good defense behind me because without that I don't think that I would be able to -- I won't have the record or be in the situation that I am in. I am very aggressive. I go out there and try to go as long and hard as I can, and anything after seven or eight is a bonus for me. But I have been fortunate and kept my arm in shape for the second half. But, no, I don't think it has really made -- after the perfect game, I was just lucky. I had one lucky day and that is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

DAVID WELLS: It is not personal to me. It can be personal for other people, and for other reasons. But I think when you get two teams that are very competitive and it can lead back too far back as spring training, what that situation with Luis Sojo, that was a long time ago. And, sometimes you just got to let bygones be bygones, but if things happen and there has been situations to where guys let me say -- if guys are a little more aggressive and -- you have to pitch inside, I understand that. But you don't really have to be -- you don't have to pitch up and in, and head hunt. That is one thing I don't believe in. I don't think it is right because you can really hurt somebody. But I think if everyone is looking for situations like that, no, because I think that can lead to a lot of disturbing thoughts on both ends. I just think you should just go out and play the game, play it tough and try to play as aggressive as possible, but try not to hurt anybody. But you know, I think things have passed and we settled down because there is no room for that. I don't really believe in going out and trying to hurt somebody.

DAVID WELLS: For myself?

DAVID WELLS: Like I said, I give a lot of credit do my teammates. But then I also got to give credit to myself at times for pitching some games where we really needed it. I think just bearing down and really concentrating and being very aggressive and not trying to pitch in pattern. I think I have changed my pattern a lot this year over the -- over my career so I think that's really what has made me a better person inside and out as a pitcher.

DAVID WELLS: Well, just growing up San Diego being a Padre fan, being a Yankee fan because I had to have an American team and started early, but just watching old films of Yankee baseball, the tradition, all the winning teams they have had and to me, it was very -- it was awesome. I think that how can you not be a big fan of Yankee tradition with all the greats they have had. Just watching old films of all the players and just the way things have happened for this organization and just the way they have played. They have been very aggressive. Everybody hated them and as a kid, people who hated certain teams that I have-- that I liked, I was totally the opposite. But just wanting to be in this city and hearing so many stories about New York, just made it even better. Then when I had the opportunity, it is like I got goose bumps walking out here because you walk out to that monument you see all the legends that have played in this stadium, you know, I was -- I was saying to myself hopefully one day I can be in that monument and be a part of this. But I am a part of this and I feel that every time I go out there it just helps me out mentally and physically. My most prized possession is Babe Ruth's hat, the one I wore against Cleveland last year and I think that, you know, shows that how much of a Yankee fan I am, not only Babe Ruth, but Yankees in general.

DAVID WELLS: Absolutely. He has been there through thick and thin. Not only with myself, but with everybody else. And there are times in the season where you are just going to -- you are going to lose it. You are going to be flat. You are going to be lost and that is what his job is to do to, find out the certain things about us. He has got to know everything's habits out there on the mound and if they are rushing, if they are not staying back and -- the whole shaboom about pitching but Mel has been a major -- a major factor for myself because of the fact that I am stubborn and I get lost out there at times and he is there to give me moral support and also he sees things in me that he can tell me when I come out after an inning: Hey, you are not doing this, you are rushing, got to stand back; you are slinging the ball. It helps. So I adjust. I have been very fortunate in my career to go out there and adjust during the course of a game to try to better myself.