AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v YANKEES

October 3, 2006

Derek Jeter

Q. Joe said about your approach to the post-season, failing doesn\'t scare you. Could you talk about that a little bit, and do you feel like your demeanor is the key to post-season success?

DEREK JETER: Well, you\'re going to fail more than you succeed in baseball, that\'s the bottom line.

We\'ve been in this position a lot. We\'ve been in a lot of post-season games. So you can\'t be afraid to fail. I mean, you always have to think positive.

You know, you\'re not always going to come through. There\'s been plenty of times that I haven\'t. But when I\'m in that situation, I feel as though I\'m going to produce, or if I come up with a hit or make a play.

But like I said, it doesn\'t always happen. You just have to try to treat the post-season like a regular-season game.

Q. How big do you think that hit was earlier in the game that sparked the big five-run rally?

DEREK JETER: The thing is, every at-bat means something. Bobby had a huge day. I thought for the most part, everybody swung the bat well. Wang did a great job. Bobby did a great job with runners on to give us that lead. When you\'re playing at home or on the road, you want to get the lead first, and give Wang a little breathing room. He\'s been doing exactly what he\'s been doing the entire year. He kept us in the game. Only time he got in trouble, he kept a few balls up, but overall I thought we played well.

Q. The double play ball in the third when it\'s scoreless, how tough of a turn was that?

DEREK JETER: Well, I almost threw it to Bobby in the right field because I never really had it. Sort of in-between hop, you try in that situation to get the ball to Cano as quick as you can. He did a good job turning it. With Wang you know you are going to get a lot of ground balls and you have to be ready on defense. That team over there can hit. Don\'t be surprised because they have had a tremendous year. I think everybody has been talking about them struggling at the end of the season, but they know how to win. This obviously makes tomorrow night a huge game for us.

Q. Seemed like a big play at the time, though.

DEREK JETER: Yeah, because we got out of the inning. That\'s the thing that Wang is capable of, even when he gets guys on, he\'s one pitch away from getting out and he\'s able to do that.

Q. When you have nights like that, do you believe it lets your teammates breathe a little easier, calms down the anxiety?

DEREK JETER: Not necessarily when I have a night like this. When the team has a night like this, you\'re able to relax a little bit. But it\'s a short series. You can\'t relax in this series. You come right back tomorrow. You want to win the first game, especially at home. I don\'t think we\'ve done that the last few years.

It\'s big for us, but it means absolutely nothing unless we win tomorrow night.

Q. You\'ve had so many opportunities to play Detroit over the years, I know you\'ve been asked this over the years, but does it magnify, being a Michigan guy, having a chance to do this against them in the post-season?

DEREK JETER: Yeah, I don\'t think they like me too much in Detroit to begin with. Every time I\'m there, they say I\'m a sellout for playing in New York.

But I enjoy going there. Like you said, I grew up in Kalamazoo, so it\'s fun. My dad was a huge Tigers fan growing up, so I watched all the games; I unfortunately wasn\'t.

But it\'s fun. I went there a lot when I was a kid to watch games and it\'s going to be fun to go there. It\'s great for the city that they have a winner again.

Q. How do you feel about throwing to Sheff at first base?

DEREK JETER: He\'s done a good job. I think the thing with Sheff is he\'s been working real hard on his footwork. He\'s an athlete so he comes out to short and takes ground balls with me, even when he\'s in the outfield so you know he\'s capable of that.

First base is a tough position because of your footwork and knowing where to be on relays and stuff like that. I think he\'s only going to get better with time.

Q. Can you talk about the challenge of Verlander tomorrow and what he brings to the table?

DEREK JETER: I\'ve never faced him so I have no idea. But he\'s had a lot of success obviously. He throws extremely hard. I\'ve looked at some film but I really don\'t know. The game we played in Detroit when he pitched, I was hurt, so I didn\'t play. You can\'t have the type of season that he\'s had without outstanding toughness. We\'ve seen a lot of highlights from him so we would anticipate another low-scoring game.

Q. How is it hitting with Abreu behind you?

DEREK JETER: Well, it\'s pretty much like that throughout our lineup. We\'ve got a lot of guys that are protected in the lineup. We have some tough outs.

You know Bobby sees a lot of pitches. He\'s fit in perfectly with us. He gets hits, he hits home runs, he hits the ball the other way. That\'s what makes him such a good hitter. He\'s done a tremendous job for us and he continues now to do it in the post-season.

Q. Obviously you\'ve played all year to get here, that\'s all you talk about in Spring Training, how eager were you to get started tonight and get this thing going?

DEREK JETER: Well, yeah, you want to get going. You look forward to this. Obviously we won the division a little while ago, so everyone\'s a little anxious to get the post-season started. We\'re fortunate to have home-field advantage and play here in Yankee Stadium. But yeah, you want to get out there and get things underway and hopefully win Game 1 and we were able to do that.

Like I say, especially in a five-game series, every game is important.

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