MLB WORLD SERIES: INDIANS v MARLINS

October 23, 1997

Jim Leyland

JIM LEYLAND: Well, I didn't say that.

JIM LEYLAND: Well (laughter), I want to answer one thing, I talked to somebody in Miami today on the Division and talked about we have no excuses, we haven't pitched well in this Series. I think the weather has had something to do with it for both teams. Neither team has complained, I don't think it's given either team an advantage or disadvantage, but I think if you saw Renteria slip last night under those conditions, it can have an effect on the game. We make no excuses. But I think they keep talking about the ratings and I read the papers today and I was very upset about some comments along those lines because basically I'm sick and tired of hearing about New York and Atlanta and Baltimore. Mike Hargrove said it best, they had the same chance that we did. We won it. We are the teams that are supposed to be here, and it makes me puke when I continue to hear people talking about the Marlins and the Indians. Aren't our fans entitled -- 67,000 fans, the second largest, since the White Sox played in '69. I'm sick of hearing the weak comments about the pitchers and everybody crying because Atlanta, Baltimore and New York aren't here. We beat them. And the Indians beat everybody they had to beat. And to be honest with you, the subject is over and it's making me puke.

JIM LEYLAND: .462 over Hershiser he gives us better defense. We have been a little sloppy. I think the conditions have a little something to do that. It's fair for both teams. And I want to reiterate. We have no excuses, we walked too many people and if we continue to do that we're not going to win this Series. You cannot -- any team cannot give any team, let alone the Cleveland Indians, like they gave us a chance to come back with some walks, and we won the game. We walked too many people. I'm not defending our ball club right now, but I'm also telling you with everything that's happened so far, this Series is 2 and 2. And I feel very good about our ball club. I feel outstanding about our ball club. And I get tired of having to apologize because the Florida Marlins and the Cleveland Indians are in the World Series. It's great for baseball, and it should be great for baseball.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, yeah, I don't disagree with that. But I also think it would be good for baseball if we started earlier. Everybody else is always throwing stones, and I try to take care of my own furniture. But everybody else is always throwing stones at everything, and in my opinion we contradict ourselves a lot in baseball. We're trying to get the youth back involved, for God sakes most youth are sleeping by 9 o'clock, and more importantly, so is the guy that works from 7 o'clock to four or five in the afternoon. The blue collar guy is tired. By the 6th I think he's in lala land somewhere. So I don't want to hear about everything that's not perfect about us being in the Series. We've got a hell of a lot more problems in baseball than worrying about the time we're talking about, the TV thing with NBC, we've got a lot more problems than that. That's not very high on the list, in fact. The ratings of this World Series is not very high on the list of problems we've got with baseball.

JIM LEYLAND: I think they did a great job and Alfonseca saved us last night. It was pretty ugly. We've had a couple of pretty ugly games here. There's no question about. I'm not defending that. I don't think the games in Florida were ugly. I think they were okay, but the games here for whatever reason, they got a little ugly. And I have to believe when you're taking batting practice and you feel like you ought to be downtown Christmas shopping, it's not exactly good. I'd also like to tell you that we are not working out tomorrow. No offense. We're not going -- this is the reason why, so I don't want people to misunderstand. To me it would be cosmetic if I worked my team out tomorrow, because we're not going to get home until 5, 5:30 in the morning. As we speak, we are going to play our 207th game of the season tonight. And if we're not ready by now we're in big, big trouble. So we will not be at the ballpark tomorrow. So if there are any questions that you would have that you think you want to save for tomorrow, I would be more than happy to answer them now, but we will not be at Pro Player Stadium tomorrow.

JIM LEYLAND: I'm not going to get into that. I'm a field manager. And I usually keep my mouth shut. But it hurts me to be honest with you, to think that the Cleveland Indians and the Florida Marlins worked as hard as we did to represent baseball-- doesn't it seem like we're getting cheap shots consistently, almost having to apologize for being here. And I've been in baseball 33 years, loading the buses for 18 years, and I'm not apologizing for anybody being here.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, there's not much to talk about. Two good pitchers, Kevin didn't have a good outing, Ogea did. Hopefully we can get that reversed in Game 6. Both good pitchers. The weather is going to be more conducive, I hope that's the right word to use in baseball, I would think. So it's Game 6, two good pitchers.

JIM LEYLAND: Well, I think it depends on how they did. I know somebody told me earlier in the year, when Valenzuela was still playing, and Gene Lamont told me he beat them in San Diego, and beat him again in Pittsburgh and pitched totally different. That's the one concern I have tonight. I believe we have the best guy as far as making adjustments in the history of baseball, Orel Hershiser. He's going to be better tonight, I know that. I think everybody has to make adjustments. But you can do that during the course of the game. Jaret Wright last night threw more 2-seam fast balls than I thought he would, I thought he would throw more 4-seam fast balls. Obviously if you overpower somebody you're not going to panic too much. But if you have trouble with the team, we look at tapes and films, what they're hitting and what they're not hitting, what's the best way to attack a certain pitch.

JIM LEYLAND: Yes.