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AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES v TWINS

October 6, 2010

Joe Girardi

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Game One

New York Yankees 6
Minnesota Twins 4

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Joe.

Q. Joe, just I mean the resilience of this team, you've seen it all year, coming back. With the guys you have do you ever think you are out of a game?
JOE GIRARDI: No we don't. We know the guys have the capability of hitting the ball out of the ballpark and putting tough at-bats and finding a way to get on. You get a big hit from Grandy and from Tex tonight, and we end up winning a big game.

Q. Two things: How was your impression of Sabathia tonight? And you talked before the game about Granderson, the look against lefties how big of a hit was that for him.
JOE GIRARDI: I didn't think CC was bad. When I looked at him, I thought he hits Thome and then he gets behind Cuddyer and, you know, he throws a fastball and he hits the ball out. So he makes a mistake there. We give him the third run, and the fourth run, you know, it's kind of odd that he walks that many guys. But I thought he threw the ball pretty decent. He kept away from big innings.
And Grandy, you know, we talked about Grandy has been a different guy since August in Texas when he made the little adjustment. And I mean, you look at his first at-bat when he lined out to the first baseman, he hit a ball hard to the first baseman; he is a different guy.

Q. Joe, how big do you think these hits can be specifically for Granderson and Teixeira, two guys who came into this postseason with the questions about their postseason accomplishments?
JOE GIRARDI: I think they're big. I don't have any questions about them. You know sometimes when you're in the postseason you are seeing the best of the best, and you are seeing ones, twos and threes all the time. But they are big hits for these guys. Tex had a big hit against Minnesota last year as well. But what they did, to be able to get six runs in those two innings, I mean that's not easy to do in playoff baseball.

Q. Joe, was there ever a point, since you did bring up, it wasn't until mid-August that Granderson was able to do it where you kind of said, you know what, his first year here could be a wasted year, especially against lefties. And the fact he was able to find it so deep in the season what does it say about him?
JOE GIRARDI: I think it is really impressive that you can make that adjustment, and shows you the type of talent that he has and his willingness to try to get better. I think that's important in a player. And never did I think it was a wasted season because we got a center fielder, we got better defensively, and he was hitting right-handers at a pretty good pace. I thought he was starting to get on a roll before he got hurt, I did. And I think, I thought it set him back a little bit, the groin injury where he missed a month. But I've been impressed by Grandy and his determination.

Q. Joe, how many times have we heard people say throughout the season just wait 'til the playoffs and instant replay could really be needed to come into it.
JOE GIRARDI: (Laughing) I commend them, they got together and they talked about it. I never really saw the replay, so I am not exactly sure what happened. I know what our players told me. You know it's not like they were out of position or anything. They hustled out there, it just happens.

Q. Joe, what amount of pain is Teixeira dealing with that he's trying to play through? What is going on with his wrist?
JOE GIRARDI: You know, like I said, when he has to dive that seems to bother it. It's better than it was. I'm not sure Tex would ever tell me how much pain he was in, that's the type of player he is. He's tough. Tex is really tough and has a high pain threshold. He broke his toe and played the next day. So I'm not sure that you would ever get it completely out of him.

Q. Joe, you said you had some trepidation about bringing in Mo for more than three outs. What was your mindset there giving how good Kerry has been.
JOE GIRARDI: I thought it was time to go Mo. It is one thing to sit up here three hours before the game and talk about what you might do and might not do. You get in a situation and you look at a match-up, and I said it is a good match-up for Mo.
THE MODERATOR: Okay, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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