AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v INDIANS

October 6, 1999

Charles Nagy

A. I really don't think there's any bad blood or anything like that like people are trying to play it up to be. You just get two really competitive teams and two really good high caliber teams going head to head. You're going to get those kind of games and things are going to happen, but, no, this is the playoffs and you go out and you just play hard and you try to beat the other team.

A. The only thing I think it does, I've been in this situation before, irregardless of what happens in today's game, I've pitched some big games, some high pressure games where they had to win to move on. As far as stopping their lineup, it's just the same thing. You just go out and you pitch your game, you try and make your pitches. If you're able to do that, keep the ball down, you should be able to get most guys out most of the time, anyway.

A. It's just great to have Sandy's presence in the locker room, not only behind the plate, in the lineup, but also in the locker room. He's a team leader. He's very outspoken, scares the hell out of you sometimes, but it's just great to have him back. He's been here longer than I have and it was tough not having him here just being around. He's a good friend, he's a great guy and he's a great competitor and not to have that was kind of, you know, you miss it throughout the season, but once he came back, you saw that fire he has that he brings to the team. It's just great to have him back.

A. Maybe we should wear gray uniforms tomorrow. I don't know. It's great to be home. The old adage is you sleep in your own bed, you get up, blah-blah-blah, you know, all of that. I can't explain why I've won on the road. I've pitched some decent games here at home. I think and it's just one of those things. I was slotted to pitch game two. It happens to be at home, so I'm just going to go out tomorrow, do my best, pitch my game and if I'm able to do that, hopefully we'll be okay.

A. I've never really pitched a game in the shadows before, at least I don't think I have, but if it's anything like it was today, it's been overcast here the last couple days and there really hasn't been too many shadows. We've taken BP the last couple of days around 4:00 or 5:00 and it really doesn't seem to be there. So I don't expect them to be there tomorrow and if they are, it's nothing I'm going to have to deal with. I'm going to go out and just continue to make my pitches.

Q. Was there a sense of disappointment at all when you found out you were slotted to pitch game two here instead of Fenway?

A. No, not at all. How can you be disappointed just to be selected to pitch in a playoff game. Whatever Mike and Phil decided on where I would pitch, whether it be game two, game three, game one or game four, I really didn't care. Just to get the opportunity to pitch in the post-season, that's what you play this game for.

A. No. I was, I lived closer to New York than Boston, so no.

A. Yes, you can figure that out.

A. He's just a consummate professional. He's been around for quite a while. He's a big game pitcher. He knows how to pitch. It's just fun to watch him pitch. He moves the ball in and out, he changes speeds. He makes the big pitch when he has to, he's very aggressive when he's on the mound. I've only seen him, I saw him when he pitched with the Royals and back then, that's when he was really, he had that good 95 to 97 mile an hour fastball and you just sat there and watched in awe. He still throws the ball really hard, 92 to 94, he works his change-up a little more now and he throws his breaking ball when he needs it and he works ahead on the hitters and he just goes out and he's just got this presence about him. He carries himself really well and he's a big game pitcher.

A. No. This is why you play the games, this opportunity here. We've had a great team for the past five, six years now. John Hart and all of those guys have just assembled it year in, year out. We might lose a great player, but we'll pick up a great player in exchange. They put together a great team and you never get sick and tired of this. I mean, you can't.

A. My groove. I feel good. Yeah, I gave up a few more hits and a few more runs than I would have liked to. In Detroit, I just threw the ball real bad. I didn't have a good game in Detroit. Came back, I felt like I threw the ball well in Kansas City. Felt good on the mound. I felt good yesterday. I just made a couple of bad pitches, got hurt. But other than that, I feel like I'm throwing the ball where I want to and I feel comfortable out there. My groove.

A. Not really because they always throw that old adage out there that good pitching, great pitching can beat great hitting any day. I've seen that come to form many times in the past, in the past post-season; but like you said, we've got a great lineup, they can score runs at any given time. They do a lot of different things. We can play small ball, we can play yard ball with people. You get those three guys in the front of the lineup, they get on base, they reek havoc. Then you get the big hitters coming up behind them. So we have that potential to score runs, but it's the playoffs and you're playing other teams that have great pitching and they're not here just not because of that. They're here because they got good solid pitching and good hitters and you got to go out and shut them down. You can't rely on your offense to score a lot of runs.

A. Pretty loose. The guys are just loose, having a good time in there. Playing ping-pong, cards. I don't really feel any sense of urgency or anything like that. We know what we have to do. We know what we're capable of doing and it's just a matter of going out and doing it. We know, we've been to the World Series a couple of times. We've come up short. We know what it takes to get to the World Series and we got a great team. We know that and it's just us going out and doing our job. If we play the game right, play the game like we know how to play it, we should be okay.

A. No. When I first came to the Indians, things were pretty bleak. I got made fun of a lot being with Cleveland, but the transformation of the team and the city, '94 when we got the new stadium, it's just been a lot of fun to be a part of this. Once we changed that losing attitude around here, all of a sudden, you come to the park expecting to win. The players want to play in Cleveland and you got guys who go out on the field day in, day out and just play hard. It's great to be a part of that and it's great to be a part of the winning tradition that we've built here over the past four or five years now.