AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: INDIANS v YANKEES

October 5, 1998

Jaret Wright

JARET WRIGHT: I think this year more than any other there have been starts where I have gone out there and not had it and that is when it helps. That is when you have to learn how to pitch and I think when you do have it, it is just a plus because if you know how to pitch, and use a good fast ball than you can be successful for the most part.

JARET WRIGHT: To me that is over. That is in the past. I know what I have to do to, you know, to pitch tomorrow and so, no, I am not going to talk about it.

JARET WRIGHT: I can -- I don't think I can take it for granted that somebody is up there, you know, in the back of their minds that I might hit them that it would mess up their approach or anything like that hitting because they are good hitters. I think for me, inside is part of my game, and I am not trying to hurt anybody or hit anybody. That is just the way I was taught to pitch. Hopefully I can get a couple of outs, you know, pitching insides.

JARET WRIGHT: I think last year sitting right here I was a lot more nervous. I didn't know what to expect and I think this year it is a little more easy going for me and I can concentrate solely on pitching and trying to do my job the best way that I can this year.

JARET WRIGHT: I think you know, when I took the mound for the first time in the first inning how loud it was and how much the crowd is into it here on every pitch and how much they don't like the opposition here was -- stuck out in my mind but it was a great experience for me and I am looking forward to it.

JARET WRIGHT: There is not much I can say about that. I am out there to do my job and, you know, I don't think we need to turn this into anything more than it is. It is about the third time I have been asked about whether I am hitting people or not. I am out there trying to get outs. I am out there trying to keep my team in the ballgame and you know, it is baseball, you know, people get hit sometimes. But it is nothing -- it is not a revenge factor or anything like that, I don't think.

JARET WRIGHT: Yeah, you know, he has been hitting the ball real well. He is hitting it out of the park and you know, you just got to -- with a guy like that, that you might not know too much about you have got to talk to a couple of guys who have faced him and know during the course of the game that if you get him out one way you got to see what you did, maybe go back to it and kind of learn as you go with him for the most part.

JARET WRIGHT: Yeah, whether to say that is the right way we will see tomorrow.

JARET WRIGHT: When you say I beat this team, it is more, you know, we beat this team when I happened to be on the mound and my job stays the same to keep it close and hopefully put up some zeros that we can score, you know, against a guy like David Wells.

JARET WRIGHT: I think you know, it is just what baseball in general boils down to is hitting, pitching and defense. If we can do three of three of those or two of three of those and score more runs than they do, then we are going to win.

JARET WRIGHT: I think the bottom line there is winning. I mean whether you hang around or you go out and do it in a flamboyant way or something like that, if you are in that 6th or 7th game in the World Series or something like that, then you are doing something right. You are winning and that is where everybody on this team and in this organization wants to be in.