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MLB WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES v YANKEESOctober 31, 2009Mariano RiveraPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Three Q. A lot of people say they are amazed that over the course of your 14-year career that you're basically still getting guys out the same way you did when you first started. Do you agree with that, or have you had to adapt over the years? And if not, how unusual do you think it is that you're still able to do it? MARIANO RIVERA: Well, definitely I have to adapt during the year. It has been a long career, so in that long career you have to make sure that you make adjustments. I thank God that I have made those adjustments. It's been great. I've been trying to get them out the same way, but yeah, sometimes it gets tougher. But it's moving the ball around, throwing strikes, that's the most important thing. Q. When you work a lot, when you throw a lot of pitches like you did the other night or have to do it back-to-back days, what's the effect if you are doing it back-to-back days and doing it more and more often, what effect does it have on your pitches? MARIANO RIVERA: Well, I mean, it's hard, because, for example, last time that I pitched in New York, Game 2, I missed a lot my locations. When you miss a lot your locations, of course you're going to throw more pitches. That I have to straighten out, have to be better on that, make sure I make my pitches and don't throw as many pitches. But also, when you do that, you have to be ready for the next day. You have to do anything within your power to get ready for the next day, and that's what I do. Q. You guys have three games in a row here and then a day off before possibly two more games. How important is it for somebody to be able to pitch in the eighth inning and keep you from pitching two innings in every game if you guys have the lead? MARIANO RIVERA: Well, the bullpen is important always. I mean, it always comes to the bullpen. We have a lot of young guys in the bullpen, that want to do the job, that are capable to do the job. I know they don't have the experience, but they have the heart and they have the desire to do the job. I count with them. I know they can do the job. I know they're able to do the job. They've been doing it for the whole year, and I don't think they're going to stop now. Q. Do you physically feel different after a longer outing like what you had the other night and against the Angels in the sixth game? MARIANO RIVERA: I don't think so. It was only a few more pitches. You know, I mean, you're going to feel if you throw 20 pitches or if you throw 30 or 40 pitches, you're going to feel it. Whatever it is, you're going to feel it. But you prepare for that. You prepare for those innings and the soreness or whatever happens after pitching. You've got to just take care of it and be ready for the next time. Q. You were just talking about the young guys in your bullpen. I know you're not thinking about retiring yet, but when you look at the guys in your bullpen, who do you think would be the best candidate to be a closer or perhaps would be the next Mariano for the Yankees? MARIANO RIVERA: Well, I think all those guys have a good chance to be great closers. I mean, we have -- I don't know how the Yankees are going to use them, though. They have the last word. They are the ones to make decisions. But we have a lot of talent in the bullpen, especially those young boys. They have a lot of talent. Dave Robertson, Phil Hughes, Joba, all those guys have tremendous talent. So it depends on how the Yankees are going to use them. Q. You were talking about how you felt after the two innings the other night. If there had been a game yesterday, could you have thrown at all? MARIANO RIVERA: Oh, definitely. I mean, we're talking about the World Series. You're not talking about just a regular game during the regular season. I mean, don't get me wrong, they are important, also, but this is what we fight for, and we're here. It's not time to rest, it's not time to feel bad or injured or something like that. I mean, if you can throw, I think that you can go out there and do your best. Q. You were talking about the adjustments that you've had to make over your career. As you continue to get older and the evolution of hitters, can you talk about the adjustments that you've had to make throughout your career and what specifically some of them have been? MARIANO RIVERA: Well, I mean, there has been adjustments, make sure I hit my corners. Before I used to just try to go inside, inside, inside, and occasionally I went out. Now I use the whole plate. I use the outside corner, the inside corner, up and down. When you make those adjustments, the hitters will tell if you have to make any adjustments because of what you do, you have to find a way to do it. But that's what I have done. I'm using the whole plate. Q. How have you seen Andy Pettitte mature over his career? MARIANO RIVERA: Oh, Andy has been -- it doesn't impress me because I have seen Andy do it year in and year out, but the way he has matured, he definitely doesn't throw as hard as he threw before, but throwing different pitches and the speed on the ball, using the corners, throwing the sinker, throwing the cutter, change-up, he definitely looks like he can pitch for another six years, because it's not power, it's experience he's using out there. Q. Just to follow up about what you mentioned about some of the young guys that you have in the bullpen and having guys like you and Andy in that clubhouse, tell us a little bit how much of an impact having the presence of a veteran pitcher like you has helped some of those young guys evolve, especially playing at this stage right now. MARIANO RIVERA: We want to do our job, especially with the young boys. I mean, I think that those guys deserve good guidance, and that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to be the best that we can be for them, because if we do, I think we're giving the best advice. And that's what Andy and myself try to bring to these kids, because they're good guys. Q. How much more work is it to prepare your body to take on that workload, especially this time of year, compared to when you were a younger player? MARIANO RIVERA: Well, I mean, definitely when you're younger -- you cannot replace youth. You cannot replace that. But I think when you get older, you get more wiser, and that to me is -- I wish when I was younger I was this wise. (Laughter). But definitely, I'm wiser now. And with that, I think -- to me it's the same. I prepare myself -- I've been preparing myself the same way that I pitched in my first game in the Big Leagues. So I have seen a little bit different, but I try to do always the same. For me it hasn't changed. Q. People have marvelled at you as a one-pitch pitcher for all you've done with one pitch, but it's gone so many different ways. It seems like it's more than location. To what do you attribute your success being a one-pitch pitcher, or do you consider yourself that? MARIANO RIVERA: What I attribute, I have to say I attribute that to the Lord, to God, the Lord, because nobody taught me that. Nobody taught me that but God. Yeah, like you say, it's been one pitch for my whole career almost. I started throwing the cutter in 1997, and since that year it has been one pitch, yes. But it does a lot of things. It doesn't go in the same direction always, and it's not always in the same spot. So I mean, I have to learn how to work with it and make it better. And that's what I have done. But I attribute that to the good Lord. End of FastScripts |
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