MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 28, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: Obviously, we feel pretty good about it, a lot better than if we were down 0-2 or had split first two games. Give a lot of credit to our fans. They showed up in a big way the last two games and really got involved from the first pitch to the last pitch and I know that means a lot to our players. We know we have got a real rough road ahead of us. It's no trip to the beach going to Yankee Stadium and playing in that environment, and they play extremely well at home, so we know we have our work cut out for us.

BOB BRENLY: I refuse to comment on the second. But we wanted to get another right-handed bat in the lineup against Pettitte. He is extremely tough on lefties, and everybody, but our options were either Greg Colbrunn at first base, but I think that weakens us defensively considerably. We could have run Jay Bell in the middle infield somewhere, but once again it takes away from the defense. Bautista has not won a Gold Glove in his career, he's darned good in centerfield. We felt we could install a right-handed bat and lose the least defensively.

BOB BRENLY: Player switching, that's it. You accepted them up there and you hope for the best. You try to put them in a situation where they have got the best chance to go out there and get something done and then, it's up to them to go out and get it done. It's nothing I am doing. It's the way they are going about their business and the way they are taking over situations when I call upon them.

BOB BRENLY: No question this is one of his lowest pitch counts for a nine-inning ballgame this year. Without checking the records, I would say this is probably the lowest. Yes, he is getting better and better. This guy, he has always had the physical skills and the pitches to dominate hitters, but he's very relaxed and focused in the zone right now, and we hope he stays that way for another week.

BOB BRENLY: With the exception of the first at-bat in the ballgame, I thought he had good at-bats all night long. Even the first at-bat he got the pitch he was looking for. He said he knew Pettitte was going to throw him a first pitch curveball and he was going to lay all over it. He just got anxious and jumped on the ball and grounded down to third base but he just had a great approach tonight. Pettitte, he was as tough as he could be. I think at one point he had thrown something like 60 pitches and only nine of them were balls. Against a team that we like to hack at strikes, but it shows you how good he was that he was able to pitch in the strike zone as much as he did and we could not do much with it. He was tremendous tonight.

BOB BRENLY: When he came off the field after the top half of the eighth inning he was scheduled to lead off and I quite bluntly asked him, do you want to finish this thing and he said yeah and that was the ends of the discussion. I did ask Miller, is he still throwing okay, everything is good and Damian nodded in agreement. His velocity was great, movement on his slider was tremendous and he was still throwing the ball down around the knees and we were going to give him an opportunity to finish and he deserved that.

BOB BRENLY: We've been -- we're probably closer than I am with the rest of the guys on this team, just because of our history. I'm a huge Matt Williams fan. Ther were a lot of times during the course of this season that a lot of people were ready to give up on Matty, but I never was. I know what he is capable of doing. I know what a warrior he is and I will stick by him as long as he wants to play.

BOB BRENLY: I think it affects anybody. It's just human nature. Nobody likes to hear negative reactions to what you are trying to do on the field, especially when you are somebody trying as hard as Matty does to contribute to team victories. I'm sure it stung but he's a professional and knows it goes with the territory. He never used it as an excuse, never used it as a crutch and continues to go out there and play hard every day. The old saying, good things happen to good people, well, he got his reward tonight.

BOB BRENLY: He always says he's okay. We're going to have the docs look at it, take some X-rays, but he seems to think he's okay.