AL DIVISION SERIES: ANGELS v YANKEES

October 4, 2002

Darin Erstad

Adam Kennedy

DARIN ERSTAD: Yeah, probably won't sleep real well, but we put ourselves in a position to have a chance to close it out. So we'll see what happens.

DARIN ERSTAD: Just looking for something up in the zone to at least get a fly ball, elevate something in the outfield. I chased a pitch, first pitch he threw the slow curveball. Probably a little overanxious. Just got to get down in there and do your thing. You know, a cutter away, get to two strikes, just try to battle now. Just put the ball in play. Last thing you want is a strikeout there. So I don't know... Just kind of reacted.

DARIN ERSTAD: Pretty much. We've been there quite a few times this year, I shouldn't say that. Pitching's been fantastic. When our pitcher, starting pitcher has struggled, we've picked him up. It's just been a total team effort. Ramon's been fantastic for us. (Inaudible) try to do something to help him out. You know, it's not about getting, you know, all five runs right away and getting back, you know, we're just scratching, clawing, we scrape. That's what we do. Get one here, get two there, next thing you know, you're back in the game. Our bullpen just did a fantastic job.

ADAM KENNEDY: Like Darin said, we have one guy trying for a 500 homer. We had a bunch of guys trying to get on base, few runs here, few runs there. Guys like Spiezio coming up huge for us, Garrett got a double in the 7th. You know, it's been a battle all year long and we enjoy it. You look in the guys' eye next to you and you don't want to be the guy to let him down.

DARIN ERSTAD: Again, if we would have lost this game, we'd come back with a lot of confidence. Are we going to have more confidence tomorrow? Probably not. We're going to have the same. As a group, we've been through a lot together. We've had some tough times. It's just got to a point where, you know what, just give it everything you have on that given day and whatever happens, happens. Kind of had that attitude after we started off 6-14, guys were pressing. You know, trying to do too much. You know, we just said, basically said, "Screw it, let's go out there and play. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. But give your best effort." Now, that's what we're doing. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. You can't look back and say, "I could have done this, I should have done that." Just go out there and see what happens.

DARIN ERSTAD: I play for one reason, that's to win. I can't even describe to you what it feels like to go out there with the group of guys, every single guy, every single coach, and not just the 25 guys we have on the roster or whatever the number is, but guys that were up here from Triple A, they're all in it together, and it's just been a great situation that you just don't see very often at a professional level. And, you know, we basically, in spring training, patterned ourselves after what the Yankees do. We said, "Hey, we got to play the game. We got to move runners, forget about your stats. You're not going to get three, four hits off great pitchers in a row on a consistent basis, so you have to manufacture runs." We have taken that to heart and it just kind of clicked.

DARIN ERSTAD: Because we've been doing it pretty much all year. We've had a few games like this. You know, I think in the past, like Adam said, we've kind of -- we probably try and hit five-run home runs. Guys have understood that doesn't work, you can't do that. There's no such thing. That's why you just got to get guys on base. Once you do that, then we can do our thing. We're more of a doubles hitting team. When you do that, you can get guys in motion, you do the first to thirds, you do the first to homes. I guess that just, I don't know, really don't think about it anymore. It's just something you don't have to tell anybody. Scioscia doesn't have to say anything. It's something he has instilled in us. We believe in it, and that's probably the most important thing, is the players believe in the system that we have. And I believe that, and believing is everything.

ADAM KENNEDY: Yeah, we're used to that. We haven't seen him struggle. One homer to Soriano, four outs that inning. We haven't seen him struggle, those pitches he had, (inaudible) defense, I can't imagine what they're like to hitters. They're not comfortable at the plate. You've got some of the best hitters in the game, having some half swings up there. So, it says a lot about him and his composure is one of the reasons I think they put him on this roster. He looks like he wants to be out there, he knows what he's doing.

DARIN ERSTAD: I couldn't be any happier for them. They've been through a lot through the history of this organization. You wouldn't believe how many people come up to you, season ticket holders for 30 years or whatever, they come up to you and they're like, "We've been waiting for this. We've been loyal." You know, during the tough times, we probably have had a base of about 13 to 15,000, and they've been awesome. We have a whole stadium of people that are in our corner. Talk about goose bumps, yeah, I got them. You know what, it does give you an extra lift on the field. So it is fantastic what they're doing for us.

ADAM KENNEDY: All of them pretty big, too, you know. Troy got his swing going in New York, all three of his homers there were New York. Garrett, he does what he does all the time. I got one tonight off Mussina. It's guys just having good at-bats and putting themselves in position to hit the ball hard. Like Darin said, we hit doubles and we score runs by a couple hits in a row. When homers come, we'll take them. But if not, it's not something we're sitting back and waiting for.