MLB WORLD SERIES: INDIANS v MARLINS

October 20, 1997

Jim Leyland

JIM LEYLAND: Basically overthrowing, that's the No. 1 with him. He gets pumped up and has a tendency to overthrow, and when he does, subsequently his control is not very good.

JIM LEYLAND: I think so. He has a tendency to overthrow, and consequently that means he -- he's got to stay kind of calm. And have good rhythm, that type of thing. When he does that, he's fine. I think he'll be fine.

JIM LEYLAND: When you have leg injuries like that, that's a possibility. He's not going to DH, he's going to play. He should be ready to go. You get in a habit of doing that. I didn't notice that particularly, him grabbing his leg that much, I'm sure he was. But that's the one thing you worry about in the cold a little bit. I think not only guys that have a little bit of a problem with their legs, but you worry about anybody with their legs, if it gets real cold, that can happen. That's something that normally happens, early or real late in the season, when you get cold weather that can happen to anybody, somebody that doesn't even have a little bit of a pull to start with.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, it's important to have your best team out there, and Bobby Bonilla is part of our best team.

JIM LEYLAND: I think he's okay, he was all right last night. He had his wrist wrapped and glove on, so I think it's okay. To be honest with you, I haven't seen him yet, I've been in my office working on some things. But I'm sure he's fine.

JIM LEYLAND: I don't think it's that extreme, but it's obviously -- obvious, like I say, most teams normally pick a guy, they don't want to hurt him too much. And it's pretty much been Sheffield for us all year, I don't expect that to change at this point. But Bobby behind him is doing fine, hit 286, I think he's got 7 RBI's, I feel very comfortable. I think Bobby is swinging the bat very well.

JIM LEYLAND: To my knowledge, no.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, one thing I don't understand is why everybody is really making a big deal about the weather, only for the Florida Marlins. If it's real cold, I don't think Cleveland has been playing cold weather all year long, they played it early, and so did we. We played, I believe they checked it, I believe it was proven to be true, that we played in the coldest game in the history of Wrigley Field in the beginning of this season. And I can remember telling my team then, that, hey, it's going to be cold in October.

JIM LEYLAND: It was like zero chill factor.

JIM LEYLAND: I would say so.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, no, not really, but I saw a lot of coats on the plane. So I really haven't talked to them about that. I'm not going to make a big deal about that. I'll tell you one thing, I've always been straightforward with my players, it's pretty hard to tell your players, like that day in Wrigley Field that it wasn't cold. I mean I didn't go out there with short sleeves, myself. It's cold, so what? They know it's cold, I know it's cold, the other dugouts know it's cold. You all have coats on today, you're not in shorts like you wear down in Florida. It's no big deal. That's part of the game this time of year.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, I don't know whether it affects your managing, but they definitely have a very good defense. I don't know that I've ever seen many like Vizquel. I can't get over how good he is. I haven't seen -- they've got a great defense. It may dictate where you bunt once in a while. You might want to bunt right to Matt Williams. I don't think there's a lot of secrets. So the defense can dictate some things, but like I say, what we always talk about in here is the reason why both teams are here. We think we're pretty good defensively, too. It could change your strategy on putting on a certain type of defensive bunt play, depending on who the people are. They're very good at a lot of things.

JIM LEYLAND: It's not going to slow it down anymore than the commercials, I can tell you that. It's a long night during postseason play.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, we only stole three bases. We're not a big running team. I think Cleveland stole a few more than that. I don't have that many guys that would be stealing bases, I don't think that's going to have an affect. We tried a couple. Sheffield got hit on one, if we see fit, we're going to try to take one if we get a shot. But we're not a big base stealing team.

JIM LEYLAND: Tomorrow night it's going to be Eisenreich.

JIM LEYLAND: That's correct.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, I have the pleasure of seeing Marquis for a long time. And I know what an exciting player he's been, and what a great player he is. He's always been one of my favorite players, because I think he's such a class act. He just goes about his business the way -- like a professional, the way you'd like your son to go about his business. He's a true professional, he's an outstanding player. There's not too many players playing in this World Series, there's not any, that can't do some things pretty good. That's why we're all here.

JIM LEYLAND: Yeah, I'm more worried about the cold for my mom more than I am the players, but I'm not going to buy her a fur coat today, I can tell you that.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, I won't touch on it now, other than the fact if you're a baseball fan and you enjoy watching a great shortstop, this ought to be heaven for you, because these are two of the best. It's great to watch both those guys play. Like I say, they're two of the best. And very, very impressive at what they do.

JIM LEYLAND: My mother's name is Veronica, and her age is 85.

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