MLB WORLD SERIES: INDIANS v MARLINS

October 22, 1997

Mike Hargrove

MIKE HARGROVE: Yeah, I did in the 9th inning. I thought that when the ball went into the -- bounced off Bonilla and went into the photographers, I thought we lost a little focus, yes.

MIKE HARGROVE: Yes, anytime you lose your focus you're concerned, not only that it's Game 3 of the World Series, but anytime it's understandable that anytime you don't pitch well, the combination of that usually ends up that people lose their focus. I think we saw it in Florida in the 5th inning, we saw the same thing out of us in the 9th inning. I think that's a normal human reaction no matter what the situation is.

MIKE HARGROVE: The same line-up as we had last night.

MIKE HARGROVE: Jimmy is swinging the bat well, and when he does that he hits anybody. And Jimmy gives us a dimension that anybody that takes his place can't give us. Jimmy can hit the ball out of the ballpark and can drive in a lot of runs, so that's the reason.

MIKE HARGROVE: We've got Jeff Juden and Brian Anderson in the bullpen. Anderson didn't throw that many pitches, so he'll be available long, and as the game progresses, he'll move to the back of the bullpen, much as we did in the ALCS and this one, too. Pretty much everybody is available tonight.

MIKE HARGROVE: It's not predictable, so I don't know that we can say. To tell you the truth, if the wind doesn't blow it's not as cold tonight, it doesn't feel as cold as it did last night, if the wind doesn't blow, if the wind gets up, as it did when it starts snowing, it was pretty chilly.

MIKE HARGROVE: I think it's a combination of damp and the cold. It's not a good combination. But you have to play in whatever the conditions are, and this is the World Series, and it's amazing how that can keep you warm. So we'll play it.

MIKE HARGROVE: Well, I think it is, sure it is. Any time that the conditions are other than perfect, yeah, it takes a little bit of your mind away from what you're doing. It makes it more difficult to concentrate. But it's not something that can't be overcome and done. That's the least of my worries, to tell you the truth is the cold taking away from the focus and the concentration of the people that are playing.

MIKE HARGROVE: Oh, gosh, I think to blame the weather -- the quality of play from both teams on the weather last night, I don't think that's the way -- I would not do that. For five innings Florida played terrible and for four innings we played terrible. And sometimes you get games like that, you don't want them, you hate to watch them. You hate to play them and they can't get over soon enough. To blame it on the weather, I don't think you can blame that a hundred percent on the weather. I think you have to blame it on poor play.

MIKE HARGROVE: Well, I'll talk about Orel, I'm tired of talking about the weather (laughter.) Again, Orel is the big game pitcher for us. He has been since he's been here, and if Orel is throwing strikes and staying ahead of the hitters and throwing the good sinker, then Orel can be very good, and that's what I anticipate, that's what I'm looking for Orel to do, as I'm sure that Orel is looking to do the same thing. But with all pitchers in pitching, if you pitch ahead, pitching is a lot easier, if you pitch behind, as we did last night, it's very difficult.

MIKE HARGROVE: I didn't see anything that surprised me. I was very impressed with him, he came out and threw strikes, had a couple of different breaking balls and located his fastball well. I didn't see anything that surprised me. I saw pretty much what I had seen the year before in Spring Training, maybe a little better composure on the mound, which was good to see out of him just as -- if I could stand back impartially and look at him, I would just as soon have seen the immaturity that I saw a year ago out of him the other night but I didn't see that.

MIKE HARGROVE: I think he said something to Sandy, I don't remember what it was. It was something very light.