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AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v YANKEES

October 3, 2011

Joe Girardi

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Three

New York Yankees 4
Detroit Tigers 5

Q. Joe, can you talk about, uncharacteristic wild night for CC, did you see that coming out of anywhere?
JOE GIRARDI: No, I actually thought he made a lot of good pitches tonight and I thought the zone was a small zone tonight. No disrespect to anyone, but that's what I thought. That's what I saw.

Q. Joe, did you think the zone was the same for both pitchers? And if not, did you think you should have --
JOE GIRARDI: Well, I don't necessarily look at Verlander's pitches. I look at our guy's pitches.

Q. Can you see it was affecting CC, just bothering him at all?
JOE GIRARDI: Well, you make a lot of good pitches. You throw some borderline pitches and you don't get them. It makes the innings tougher. Sometimes you don't get outs that you should maybe get outs. That's all part of baseball. You have to fight your way through it.

Q. Joe, not a lot frustrates CC. Did he express any frustration?
JOE GIRARDI: No, I didn't see any frustration with CC, no.

Q. Jeter there at the end of the game, I'm sure you take your chances with him.
JOE GIRARDI: Yeah, I feel good about Jeter whenever he's up there in those situations because he's been there so many times.

Q. After getting the two runs early, what did you think of Verlander after that?
JOE GIRARDI: Well, I mean he settled down nicely. His curveball was real effective, his change-up was real effective. Obviously when you throw 100, that's going to be effective most of the times, too.

Q. You think after Gardner gets that two-run double to tie it up that it might be your night?
JOE GIRARDI: Of course you do. Even when you get behind, you still feel this club has a very good chance of coming back and they're going to put good at-bats at people and they're going to make people work. We did it in the last inning. Guys swung the bat in the last inning pretty good, too.

Q. I think CC was at 100 pitches or so after five. Did you consider going to the bullpen to start the sixth?
JOE GIRARDI: They had left, right, left. That's why I left CC in there, because of that situation. I had Soriano up in the fifth. But Soriano was coming in after the catcher Alex.

Q. Soriano hasn't gotten more than an inning for you all year. Do you think that was a factor at all? Did you worry about that at all?
JOE GIRARDI: No, I didn't because he was well rested. He missed the location. That's going to happen. He went out and got the next couple of guys out. He was fine.

Q. A-Rod, how much of it is injuries at this point with his effectiveness?
JOE GIRARDI: He had an RBI and two walks tonight. He was on base twice and drove in a run. I know he didn't hit a home run, but he was on base, and that's what you want guys to do, is get on.

Q. Joe, I asked this question before the game, I think it's more significant now: Now that you didn't win here tonight, are you still absolutely set on going with A.J. tomorrow?
JOE GIRARDI: Yes.

Q. How do you feel about it?
JOE GIRARDI: I feel good about it. I feel good about what A.J. is going to do for us tomorrow.

Q. If not A-Rod, what are you seeing with Teixeira? He doesn't look like he's had very good at-bats.
JOE GIRARDI: He lined out to left. I thought he hit that ball pretty good. You're facing good pitchers. Teams don't get to this point by having not good staffs. They make good pitches. Verlander, it's not like you're facing a guy that they pulled out of the stands tonight.

Q. Joe, beyond the small strike zone, were there times you thought CC lacked command or looked like he labored a little bit?
JOE GIRARDI: No, I didn't. No, I really didn't. I thought he threw the ball pretty well. I really do.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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