MLB WORLD SERIES: INDIANS v MARLINS

October 25, 1997

Jim Thome

JIM THOME: I think so. Obviously you've got two great hitting teams, and I think offense has dominated it. In World Series in the past usually pitching and defense win, and it's been totally different. So I think if we're going to win this thing and come back and do it, I think we're going to have to get good pitching in the next couple of days.

JIM THOME: I think you're talking about a different ball club, where we went out and traded guys to get guys. I think the players that we traded were superstars. I think the players that we got in return were superstars. And you know, adding Bip Roberts, you can't forget Smiley, even though he had the injury. All around, I think not only did we get good players, but we got good people. And I think it's showing here in postseason. Everybody is willing to give themselves up and do different things to try to win, whether you hit 40 homeruns or whether you win 15 to 20 games. It seems like everybody on this ball club from top to bottom has give even themselves up to win the game. And that's why I feel that this is an all around better team.

JIM THOME: Well, I think it's totally different. I think it's the same kind of feeling, but we know tonight if we don't win the ballgame it's over with. We weren't supposed to beat the Yankees, not that we're supposed to beat the Marlins, but it's a total different atmosphere because it's the World Series. We know tonight we've got to go out and we can't expect Kevin Brown to throw like he did the game before. He's a quality guy that's going to go out and he's going to give you 7, 8 plus innings, and we can't expect him to have the same type of outing he did, so we've got to concentrate even more. Hopefully Chad will come out and throw the same type of game he did I think it was in Game 3 or 2 or whatever. We just need to go out and play our game, stay positive and have fun. I think this is a time you need to sit back and say it's draining, but it's also fun. And we're going to try to do our best.

JIM THOME: Well, I think I was swinging the bat in Game 5 and 6, in Baltimore, I hit that one ball that I think the wind knocked down that Brady Anderson caught, I think that mentally got me back into the groove. In baseball you go through periods, and it was unfortunate that my biggest slump of the year came during the postseason. As far as the World Series goes, I've tried to have good quality at-bats, and it's been working out. Like I said before, it doesn't matter what I do personally, it's about what we do as a team and getting back, I think, that's why this ball club is where we're at today because guys give themselves up. They really don't care personally what they do, yeah, if it helps win the game, great, but the bottom line is winning, and we've got to win two more.

JIM THOME: I don't think so, I really don't. I mean it seems like a month ago since we played the Yankees. We've been on such an emotional high that I think the only thing we can concentrate on is Kevin Brown and try to do the things to try to get little edges on him and try to do the things to score runs off of him. If we don't do that, we're going to be in big trouble. I think if we can go into the game and not get caught up into his gameplan and try to make him pitch the ball up in the zone and not swing at bad pitches on him, I think we'll be fine. But you can't expect for him to throw a game like he did, because he's -- Kevin Brown is too dominating for that.

JIM THOME: No, I think yesterday was a rest day as far as -- we got in at almost six in the morning. I think it was a nice day to sit back and relax and kind of soak everything in and hopefully today it will work out. We've been going hard for a month or so and traveling and you come out for workouts and I think you get so wrapped up into the ball games, that I think it kind of takes away from the fact of why we're here. And I think yesterday was a good mental day for everybody to come out and say, hey, let's get the rest, let's heal everybody up. I know we've had a few guys with a few nagging injuries, and hopefully that will work out.

JIM THOME: Well, I've seen the fact that there's been a lot of runs scored. The first question that was asked is why hasn't this Series been dominated by pitching. When you lose a ballgame you can always point the finger to different things that happened during the game, it can be the pitching, the lack of defense, it can be the lack of your offense. We knew coming into this Series we were playing a very good team, both pitching-wise and both -- or offensively, and we can't get wrapped up into what they do. We've got to do our thing. Even though we lost that game, we put ourselves in the situation to tie it and go ahead. Like I said, I feel the big key for us to win it is we've got to get good pitching these next two days.

JIM THOME: Yeah, we're taking it to six games. I think everybody is excited, but yet we know we've got to go out and bare down tonight.

JIM THOME: Well, I've been here when Sandy was hurt and I've seen everything that went on as far as Sandy is such a competitor that he plays 110 percent all the time. And I think a lot of his season is the fact what he did last off-season. We spent a lot of time in the weight room working out, getting ourselves physically prepared for this year, and I think it's all showing. And everything that's happened to him is well deserving. He's a great person, he's a great player. I think all throughout that family you look at his dad and you look at his brother, and I think the reason why Sandy is doing what he's doing is because he's got a good family and good people around him.

JIM THOME: Well, I'll tell you, really to be honest, here in the World Series, I think the strike zone has been very good. I haven't -- personally I haven't had any complaints at all. When Hernandez faced the Braves, you heard about the big strike zone with Eric Gregg. I haven't seen much of a difference all year long. I'm the guy that's seen the most pitches in baseball, so I take a lot of pitches, and to be honest I think the umpiring has been very, very good.

JIM THOME: Well, to be honest, you would look at it and say we -- if we do lose, we didn't accomplish what we wanted to accomplish. But also I think we proved to a lot of people that we could do it without them. To be honest I really don't even like to talk about that, because we're focused on winning, too. But if it would happen I think you would look back and we can say -- look at yourself in the mirror and say, I think every guy on this ball club has given it everything they've got and truly, truly cared about winning, not only for themselves but for the people around them.

JIM THOME: Oh, yeah, proving the fact that we could go back, even though we lost Albert Belle, even though we lost Kenny Lofton, even though we had injuries all year. What's amazing is we're in the 6th game of the World Series and we don't have Jack McDowell or Smiley, there's two guys right there if you throw them into our pitching staff who knows what could happen. But everybody is always going to say, well, if you do this or if you'd had this, and I truly believe that we've done a great job with what we've got. I think our young kids, this has been very good for guys like Jaret, Brian Anderson, I think there's a guy that in some sense needs to be looked at. He's done a great job. And you don't see it in the box scores, but next year and the year after I think it's going to prepare them for this situation, it did me, it did Manny, Omar, Sandy. And I think all in all I think this team's got a bright future ahead.