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AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v YANKEESOctober 9, 2009Joe GirardiNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Game Two THE MODERATOR: First question for Joe. Q. Can we have your lineup, please? JOE GIRARDI: Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, A-Rod, Matsui, Swisher, Cano, Cabrera, Molina. Q. I know Matsui hasn't played the outfield this season. As far as his status goes, I know medically has a lot to do with it. Does it have to do with how he fits into the team or how do you look at that? JOE GIRARDI: Part of that is the pieces that we have that play the outfield. Part of it is his medical. That's the first and foremost, medically. We felt that we just had a better opportunity to keep him healthy if we DH-ed him instead of playing the outfield. I can't tell you if he would have played the outfield we couldn't have kept him healthy. But we just felt he fit great as a DH for us and we were pretty sure we could keep him the whole year. Q. How much of a debate was it in your mind whether Matsui should DH tonight or Posada? And what kind of went into it? JOE GIRARDI: Matsui has been our DH most of the year and is familiar with that role. That is not a role that Jorge has done a lot in his career. You know, if there's a left-hander on the mound maybe you think a little bit different. But Matsui, I mean, he's been great against left-handers. So it wasn't much of a decision. Because of what Matsui has done in the DH role. Q. Actually on the same theme again: With Matsui, as a manager, do you check in on him occasionally just to see how he is, whether he can go that day, or do you just assume as things go along that he's fine until notified otherwise? JOE GIRARDI: You pretty much assume he's good every day. If we run into a stretch where we play him five or six days in a row, then I might check with him just to see how he is or I'll check with the trainers. I don't ask him every day how he is because we really haven't had many issues. Q. Joe, I know you're focused on the clubhouse. There's a lot of talk, talk radio, blogs, all that type of stuff, about Posada's reaction and the impact on the clubhouse. From your point of view what has that been like? JOE GIRARDI: Clubhouse is great. I watched the guys go through practice yesterday. They were loose; guys were having fun. They enjoyed being around each other like they always do. So I think our clubhouse is great. Q. You've obviously caught a lot of pitchers in big post-season games. What is it specifically about A.J.'s make-up that leads to you believe he'll be successful tonight? JOE GIRARDI: I've always found that A.J. has liked the big stage. I talked about his success that he's had coming into here as an opposing player, the success before this year he had going into Boston, some of the games. We were 0-2, I believe, to start the year and he got our first win in Baltimore. I think A.J. likes it and I think A.J. likes pitching in this ballpark. That leads me to believe that he's going to have a good game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Joe. JOE GIRARDI: You're welcome. End of FastScripts |
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