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MLB WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES v YANKEES

November 1, 2009

Joe Girardi

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game Four

New York Yankees 7
Philadelphia Phillies 4

Q. Can you just take us through your range of emotions from the time Feliz ties that game up, through the ninth inning rally and through the end of the game there.
JOE GIRARDI: There was a lot of emotions. Joba was throwing the ball great. I think it's the best he's thrown the ball in the bullpen for us thus far. He makes a mistake to Feliz, they tie it up, they get two quick outs and Johnny battles and then steals second.
I mean, your emotions are -- when they tie it up, you're even, because I feel good about our club, but when you take the lead, they get pretty high.

Q. What Johnny does, taking third, is that something you tell people to watch out for if they steal into a shift or is that something he did on his own?
JOE GIRARDI: That's instinct. You'd better be sure because you've got Tex and A-Rod up behind, and you'd better be sure. And I thought it was a great instinctual play by Johnny Damon.

Q. Johnny's base running will get a lot of attention, but the at-bat he put up coming into that sort of opened up the entire inning.
JOE GIRARDI: I definitely agree. Lidge got ahead of him, he fouled some tough pitches off, and for Johnny to get on base, you know that some things can start to happen then in that situation, just an unbelievable at-bat by Johnny Damon.

Q. Going back earlier in the game when Alex got hit, did you think that was intentional? And how did you feel about the warning being issued and maybe putting a crimp in CC's ability to pitch inside?
JOE GIRARDI: I don't necessarily think it's intentional, but Alex has been hit three times and Tex has been hit twice, and we don't necessarily like that because we need those guys. I mean, it's pretty hard to hit people intentionally when there's runners in scoring position. But you can talk about if you're going to miss that you miss in, and we get concerned about that.
As far as putting anything into CC's head, I mean, the umpires -- Gerry just told me that "We don't want anything to escalate, your guy can pitch inside. Pitch inside, and we'll make a decision if we think that it was on purpose."
I don't think it necessarily took anything away from CC and what he wanted to do.

Q. It looked like on that play that Howard scored the tying run he might not have touched home. What was your angle on that?
JOE GIRARDI: Well, it's hard for me to see. I had actually heard about it later, but that's just tough for me to see. I can't tell, and I don't have replay, and I'm not sitting up above high where I can see it. Whether he did or not, I still don't really know for sure.

Q. There was so much talk about Alex's first two games in the series, the six strikeouts, the home run last night and the hit he comes up with in the ninth, do you feel like it's a continuation of what he's done all playoffs?
JOE GIRARDI: I do. I think both of his hits have been extremely big in helping us win the game. You know, you look at last night's home run, Hamels was breezing along, and he got us going. That one may not get quite as much attention as the one tonight, but I thought that was a real big hit, too.

Q. You guys are one win away from reaching your goal, and also, no matter what happens, has this team showed championship traits, I guess, so to speak?
JOE GIRARDI: Well, I've said all along I've felt this club has been extremely resilient all year. We've been through some up-and-down times and our guys have gotten back up and played extremely well.
As far as thinking about one game, all I think about is playing a good game tomorrow. Go out and play a good game tomorrow and let's see where we're at. Continue to play the type of baseball that we're capable of playing.

Q. Could you comment a little bit on CC's performance tonight, especially in regard to whether or not you felt he was okay on three days' rest.
JOE GIRARDI: I thought he threw pretty well. This is a very, very tough lineup to navigate through. He gave up the run in the first, and then he kind of spread out what he did. And I thought he gave a gutsy performance. He held them almost in check. You know, the third run he gave up, he had two outs in the seventh, and for us to get him through seven would have been great. We weren't able to do that. Marte finished off the inning, but I thought he played a pretty good game.

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