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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES v RANGERSOctober 22, 2010Ron WashingtonARLINGTON, TEXAS: Game Six Q. Your club has been able to maintain a wonderfully loose and positive approach throughout this whole thing. What accounts for that? RON WASHINGTON: Well, I think it has to do with the way they have been playing baseball. You know, when you play the game the way you expect to play the game, you have the right to be confident and loose. The main thing, you know, I always try to get those guys to understand is just be ready to play the game the way it asks you to play it when you go out there. And I think all of the tension goes away, because there isn't anything that the game can ask you to do that you haven't already done. So why concern yourself with it. So we stay loose. We work. And we just go play. Q. With having an off-day yesterday, do you concern yourself with the other series? Do you have any thoughts? Have you watched much of the Phillies/Giants? Have you allowed yourself to look at that and have any thoughts on those teams and how the series is going? RON WASHINGTON: Well, I do when I get an opportunity to watch the games. I mean, I'm a baseball guy, so baseball is on TV, I watch it. But as far as thinking about who we will play if things work out or anything like that, that's getting out of the moment; and the moment is the New York Yankees. And you certainly cannot look past the New York Yankees. I don't care what position you are in, they are champions. They will play like champions. I can't allow myself to think about anything else. But I have watched the game. I watched the whole game last night, then I went to bed. It was a pretty good game. When I get a chance, I do. But other than that, my thoughts are in the moment. Q. So you're not thinking about scouting reports or anything like that? RON WASHINGTON: Well, we have got scouts out there. You know, they are doing their job, and if we need to get those reports, they will get to us in time and we'll be able to prepare. Q. Does it seem like getting the victory that closes out a playoff series, is the hardest one? RON WASHINGTON: It is the hardest one. Why? I don't know. But you know, sometimes I do believe it's already written, and if it's supposed to happen, it usually happens in a huge way. So all we can do is go out there, and prepare to go against Hughes, and prepare to go against the rest of the Yankees team and execute what we want to go out there and do; and execute what they allow us to do. And I think then it will work out. But, wow, everybody knows it's the last time, it's like you're on the mound as a pitcher and you've run through a ballgame and now you've got to get those last three outs, and they seem to be the toughest to get, because you know its finality. It's hard to stay away from thinking that way, because you are only human. Human nature is always going to come into play. But I don't know why. But it is, and you know, I just hope we can go out there today and put a game together; that we can get it done. Q. When you say sometimes it seems like it's already written and it happens in a big way, was that the case when the Tampa Game 5? RON WASHINGTON: Well, you know, with the Tampa Game 5, I mean, we were as confident as we are right now. We had two very, very good pitchers on the mound that wasn't giving up anything, and it took a break, when we got the breaks on the base paths to do some things. It took Cliff Lee to get out of some tough situations. And then, you know, maybe when they had a chance to get a run, Kinsler comes up and puts up a two-run bomb to put us up 2-1 and Cliff Lee comes back out and it seemed like everything relaxed after that, and that happened in a big way. Hughes is a tough pitcher. We had success against him the last time. We certainly had better make sure that we are on top of things tonight, because he certainly can throw up a gem. Q. When you hear Nick Swisher say things like, "I'm tired of hearing about Cliff Lee," can't wait to get his rear end out there; what thoughts come to your mind? RON WASHINGTON: That's Swisher. He's a tough competitor. He's not afraid to say what he feels, and I have nothing against him saying what he feels. I think if I was sitting in his shoes and I had to face Cliff Lee, I'd probably feel the same way. But you know, the game is not played with words; it's played between the lines. And if he can back it up, I'll pat him on the back. But Swisher is a big competitor. Always been. You know, he's developed -- he's always had the heart of a champion and now he's playing in an organization that are champions. You know, he's probably the only one that would probably come out and say something like that on that team. But if he believes that, I have no problem with it. Q. You have a lot of youth on this team with Andrus and Feliz, Moreland, Kinsler, on and on, and even more coming up in the Minor Leagues. Can you talk about the kind of window that you think you might have opened up here in this past season or two seasons, going forward, what you think this team is maybe set up to be? RON WASHINGTON: I think this team is set up to be heard from for many years to come. We have talent up and down our system. We have guys that finally believe that they can; and more than believing that they can, they will go out there and get it done. So, you know, we have changed the thought process in the Texas Rangers organization. We have changed the culture in the Texas Rangers organization. Expectations have gone up. You know, if you can't meet them, then I don't think you're going to be around here. That probably includes me, too. But that's the way you want it. I mean, take the Yankees organization, for example, they have done it many, many years, 20-something times, 27, 28, whatever it is. But every year they come into Spring Training, their expectation is to get to the World Series and win it, and anything less is a failure. Well, you know, we are starting to feel that. We haven't done anything yet in the way of winning a World Series, or even getting to one. But I mean, that's the expectations you have to have, and if you miss those goals, you find yourself at the cusp. And that's what you shoot for, and you shouldn't shoot for anything less. And as long as you can believe and you can get 25 guys to go out there and believe, and y'all can get on the same page, and you trust one another, extraordinary things happen when you believe. I think the Texas Rangers are believing, and I do believe as the future comes, extraordinary things are going to happen for this organization. We have the talent. And now we have the teachers in the organization, we all are on the same page up and down, and when you have got that, good things can happen. Q. What kind of factor, if at all, is there in experience in these kind of situations? RON WASHINGTON: You never can downplay experience, because sometimes this game can move fast and that experience can slow it down. It continues to move at the pace that it moves, but experience does this to it, and sometimes youth can't slow it down. But it's not always the best team that wins; it's the team that goes out there and plays the best on that day. And that's the attitude my young guys have. We just are going to go out there tonight and try to play a better game than the New York Yankees. If we succeed, they may be better, but we played better than them tonight and that's all that matters. End of FastScripts |
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