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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES v RANGERSOctober 17, 2010Derek JeterNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Workout Day Q. Derek, when you see Elvis Andrus playing shortstop, what do you like about him? DEREK JETER: I haven't seen him much. We haven't played him too much. But he's aggressive. I think he's improved over the last couple of years. It seems like he's not afraid of making mistakes, which is always a good quality. Q. You've seen him do it so many times. What makes Andy so good in these situations when you guys are coming off a loss or when you really need a win? What makes Andy especially effective then? DEREK JETER: I think the thing with Andy is his demeanor. He's got a great approach. He sticks with his plan. He knows what has made him successful. He doesn't deviate from his plan. He's got a lot of confidence in himself. He's been in every situation, every scenario. Doesn't mean he's going to be successful, but you know he's not going to be flustered too much on the mound. Pretty much every situation you can think of he's been in. He's been successful. So when you have had success, I think he really uses that to his advantage. But we have a lot of confidence in him as he has confidence in himself. Q. Joe talked about how to face Lee. What's your feelings about facing Lee and how to go about it? DEREK JETER: I really don't change my approach against anyone. You try to get a good pitch. You try to hit it hard. With him, he pounds the strike zone. He doesn't walk too many people. So you always hear people say, "try to be patient." But with him you can't be too patient because if you fall behind you're in trouble. We have an approach. We have a game plan. Hopefully it works for us tomorrow night. Q. Obviously, everybody misses Bob Sheppard's voice and what he did for the Yankees. Probably do something for him on TV. What does it mean for you that his voice still introduces you and how come it was you that perpetuated it? DEREK JETER: It means a lot. I had them record his voice a few years ago, because I wasn't aware of how long he was going to be doing it. So this was before we left the old Yankee Stadium when I had them record it. It was something being a Yankee fan coming up, it was the only voice I heard coming to the stadium. I always wanted him to introduce me when I went to the plate. It's something I thought of a few years back. And I do it to honor him, and I'm fortunate that I was able to get him to record it a few years ago. He's the voice of the Yankees. Yankee fans, there's a new generation, obviously, younger fans, that aren't too familiar with him. But Yankee fans from the past really -- when you come here, that's one of the things -- I think he was as big a part of the tradition here as any player. He really made the experience. Q. Derek, what one aspect of Cliff Lee makes him so tough? DEREK JETER: He has good stuff. That goes without saying. He knows what he's doing. He has great control, I think, is probably the number one thing. You don't see too many pitchers that -- he really doesn't walk too many people at all. Most pitchers you face can get wild from time to time. It seems like with him he always has his control. Q. In your experience, your career, have you come up -- I'm sure it's happened -- when a pitcher like Lee has almost an aura about him. He has a reputation of being this great postseason pitcher. Do you take that as extra motivation? DEREK JETER: No. Q. Do you embrace that challenge? DEREK JETER: It's always a challenge. We've faced a lot of pitchers throughout the years that have had great reputations. Reputation doesn't win games. You still have to go out there and pitch. He's been able to do that. He's gotten a lot of attention, and rightfully so, because he's had a lot of success. He's had a lot of success in the playoffs. But for us, it's a challenge whoever you face this time of the year. When you're in the playoffs you're facing the best teams, you're facing the best pitching staffs. If you're going to be the best, you have to beat the best. Cliff is as good as anyone in baseball right now. Q. You've been through this so many times. You win a game, and we say they're obviously the champions. You lose a game and it's a crisis. How do you personally, what's the secret to maintaining an even keel throughout this experience? DEREK JETER: I don't read the papers and I don't listen to the newscasts I think is the biggest thing. You have to take the approach that every game is a big game. If you play every game like it's a Game 7, then you never have to change your approach. And we've been pretty good at that this year. We've been pretty good at that in years past. You don't get too high or too low. You try to maintain the same approach. We've been able to do it, but yeah, playing in New York you understand that you win a game, you lose a game, and it's up and down. But for us as players, we try to maintain that same approach regardless of what game we're playing. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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