AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v ATHLETICS

October 3, 2003

Ted Lilly

TED LILLY: It was tough last year, especially the situation, I think, that I put a lot of expectations on myself and the fact that we had a chance to win a couple of those games. So, obviously, the memories that I had from last year aren't very good. It's definitely nice to be able to get the chance to be right back at it again the following year.

TED LILLY: I think I'm the same guy, pretty much, that I was in August. I felt like for the most part I've been pretty consistent the last two months of the year. I've had a couple of games that have been tough. This is a fun place to pitch.

TED LILLY: Not so much that, I think a win tomorrow night cleans the slate as far as the ALDS is concerned.

TED LILLY: It was something where I was battling with it as far as consistency is concerned, so it was something that I never completely took out of my repertoire. I've been able to go back to it a little more recently, which has helped. There's a game where you go out there and you're feeling good about certain pitches and you might use them more than others, whatever pitch that is.

TED LILLY: I'm surprised that you say it's unusual. I think a lot of the guys I've talked to, especially on our club, think it's exciting in the sense you come here, there is a lot of energy in the crowd, which is fun. You generally know when they're happy and when they're not. I say it's exciting in that way.

TED LILLY: I think that if I can take something -- there's always something from whomever in the certain way they go about what they do and had success in certain ways. Obviously you come to learn that you can't really emulate one person, but at the same time there's always something you can take from each person you've been around and I have been very fortunate to be around some great pitchers in New York and also some great young pitchers here in Oakland.

TED LILLY: Well, for the most part, I thought both of them, both Timmy, on the first night, and Barry last night, were aggressive. You still have to go up there and throw strikes to them. If you don't, then you're going to put yourself in a situation where they've got good hitters hitting behind them, too. I think that's something that has worked pretty well the last couple of games. For the most part, they've gone after them and been aggressive, made good pitches. Sometimes when you're facing hitters like that and you're trying to be too careful, you're going to have a tendency to make mistakes and they've avoided that.