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AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v YANKEES

October 11, 2009

Joe Girardi

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Game Three

Yankees Â– 4
Twins - 1

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Joe Girardi.

Q. Joe, just another monster shot by Alex. Can you discuss his games here.
JOE GIRARDI: He was patient, and he had good at-bats. All series long. Six RBIs, I believe, couple homers. Without Alex, we are not in this situation right now.

Q. Your thoughts on Pettitte tonight and the decision to take him out and just being a big game for him.
JOE GIRARDI: Andy is used to pitching in these situations, and he was great, he was as good as we have seen him all year long tonight. And Delmon Young has been someone who has had some success off Andy, and I know Andy had handled him to this point, but my gut told me to go to Joba in that situation and Delmon ended up with a hit.

Q. Joe, when you see Pettitte, Rivera and Posada play like they did tonight, do you think back to the fact you played with these guys and how long they have lasted? And just sort of put that in perspective a little bit.
JOE GIRARDI: I never really thought about that. I played with them as the game was going on, but I thought about these guys have been doing it for so long here.
These guys are used to playing at this time of the year and they seemed to relish the moments, they seem to enjoy the moments together and what they have been through, coming up together, in a sense.
And they know how to play this time of year. It's -- the situation is not going to phase them and they are just going to play their game. And Georgie came up huge for us tonight, what he did with our staff, his base -- his homer and his base hit. It's heads-up play, as well as Derek Jeter's heads-up play. And then what Andy did. I mean, Andy was awesome tonight, and you were very fortunate to have all those guys. The Yankee organization is very fortunate to have all of them.

Q. Joe, first of all, your decision to leave Hughes and go with Mo to get the last four outs?
JOE GIRARDI: Mo is more experienced this time of year. I know Joe Mauer is a great hitter but Mo is more experienced in that situation, and that's why I didn't, and he has been doing it since 1996. When I saw him burst on the scene, I was behind home plate, and I just thought it was time to go to Mo.

Q. And then secondly, with all the hitting and everything, you can't avoid the fact that Derek Jeter, Swish make several unbelievable heads-up plays and base running.
JOE GIRARDI: Yeah. You know, you talk about -- when you put a team together, pitching, defense, hitting, and we got all that. Our defense was excellent in this series. And we are going to need that moving forward. You have to play great defense, and I think our defense has improved since last year.

Q. Can you talk about just the one play, the ball up the middle where Jeter heads-up goes right to the plate and gets thrown out?
JOE GIRARDI: It's an extremely heads-up play, and it's always great to have a shortstop that has a lot of experience and as smart as any player I have seen, to scoop it, take his time, not rush his throw, perfect throw, Alex on the bag, it took heads-up plays from a lot of guys, and that's why you like experience this time of year.

Q. Joe, you talked about it in pre-game a little bit, and maybe with the Red Sox today, but the feeling of giving Mo the ball, is it almost sit back and watch him do it?
JOE GIRARDI: It was a great feeling as a catcher when he came in, and it's a great feeling as a manager when you have him doing this. You feel really good about when you put him in the game, that you are going to win that game, and that he is going to shut down the other clubs, and we all know there is no one perfect, but Mo is really, really good.

Q. Joe, on Posada, he made clear the other day he was disappointed that he didn't get to catch, maybe got a little criticism for it. Did you think that was fair, what he went through, that it looked like he was being a little selfish, or whatever? In that game, was it gratifying to see what he did tonight?
JOE GIRARDI: It was extremely gratifying because I told him in Game 2 that you might have to win this game for us, and what he did tonight is extremely gratifying.
As I told the people before, I don't want Georgie to be happy that he is not playing, I don't ever want a player to be happy he is not playing, I want guys that want to play every day every, every inning, 162 games a year, every play, and I don't want pitchers to be happy when I take them out. They want to show displeasure, that's fine, I am okay with that. I want players who are hungry, and Georgie is extremely hungry.
It is very important to this club, the intensity he brings to the club every day, and I was okay with it.

Q. Joe, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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