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AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v YANKEES

October 4, 2011

Joe Girardi

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four

New York Yankees 10
Detroit Tigers 1

Q. Joe, you've talked for a couple of days about your belief that A.J. would come through with the big game. How happy were you to see him come up with that performance?
JOE GIRARDI: I was thrilled for him, but I was thrilled for us. What he did 5 2/3 and only giving up that one run. A great performance. Struggled a little bit in the first inning. And then really settled down nicely.

Q. Joe, when you saw that ball leave Kelly's bat, did you think that might be trouble for Curtis?
JOE GIRARDI: I thought, you know, it was going to be an out. Then it just kept carrying and carrying, then I got a little bit nervous. Curtis made two great grabs. If that ends up a base hit, it very well could have changed the complexion of this game.

Q. Joe, I think you had Phil up in the first inning when A.J. loaded the bases. How seriously were you considering getting him out of there?
JOE GIRARDI: Well, I wouldn't have gotten him up. A lot of times for starters that first inning is the toughest inning to get through and you kind of get your feet wet. He hadn't started a game in a while, in about eight or nine days. But he got through it, and then he pitched really well.

Q. That's what you meant by a short leash?
JOE GIRARDI: I think you have to be prepared when you're in a must-win situation.

Q. Game 5, can CC pitch, do you think?
JOE GIRARDI: I plan on him being available to us.

Q. When you went to get the ball, still in the sixth inning, there seemed to be sort of a nice exchange out there. I think you and maybe a couple of the other guys felt good for A.J. for walking off the mound in a good situation. Can you describe what that was like.
JOE GIRARDI: I was proud of what he did. In a must-win situation for us, he pitched one of his best games of the year. I've said all along, the Tigers swing the bat. To be able to shut them down, he gave up the one solo homer and gave up a double and proceeded to get out of that inning. We were all excited for him and very proud of what he did.

Q. Joe, I just want to check, did you have Hughes up or Wade in the first inning? If the ball does get over his head, is he definitely out of the game? And after Peralta's hit, is he out of the game if there's another base-runner?
JOE GIRARDI: I can't even tell you who I had up. I thought it was Wade the first time, yeah.
I can't tell you. That's a decision that you make if it happens. I can't tell you that I was going to take him out, I can't tell you I was going to leave him in. But I had the guy up in case that first inning got away from us a little bit.

Q. In the fourth, after the --
JOE GIRARDI: Very possible I make a change there, yeah.

Q. Joe, when Burnett turns it over to you with a 4-1 lead at that point, does it automatically immediately go through your mind that finally I've got the situation I've been waiting for this whole series? I've got a 4-1 lead and I've got the bullpen to --
JOE GIRARDI: Yeah, it's how you try to set it up. Every day you go in with a game plan. It doesn't always work and it doesn't always set up the way you want it to. You hope it does. With that lead, we got our relievers, and you expect them to do the job.

Q. Joe, what did you say to A.J. when he got to the mound?
JOE GIRARDI: I just told him "great job," congratulated him. A.J., I've said all along, A.J. has pitched some great games for us in the playoffs. 2009 he had some big wins. We're down to Philly 1-0, he shuts them down. He's pitched pretty well for us in the playoffs. Last year against Texas he gave up the homer late. But for a guy who hadn't started in two weeks, he threw the ball pretty well that night. I told people I felt good about him, and I did.

Q. Jeter's two-run double in the third, how big a lift do you think that gave A.J., particularly when he went back out and put up a zero?
JOE GIRARDI: Any time you get a lead, it gives you something to work with. It was an incredible play by Austin Jackson the way he caught that ball. It was hard to see if he really caught it from our viewpoint.
But it's always great to get a lead. It gives your starters a little wiggle room.

Q. Did you go into the sixth one base-runner and you take A.J. out? Did you have a specific plan in mind?
JOE GIRARDI: I'm trying to think.

Q. The first two guys --
JOE GIRARDI: I had him up. I had him up. That was the bottom line. I told Soriano to get up. I was going to watch the inning. You make the move when you think it's the right time.

Q. Do you confirm Nova for Game 5?
JOE GIRARDI: Yes.

Q. What's your team's mindset? You get the series back to New York and you have the decisive game in your home stadium.
JOE GIRARDI: We have an opportunity. We have an opportunity to win a series. We fought all year long to have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Hopefully we can get it done on Thursday.

Q. Joe, Porcello didn't make many mistakes, but can you talk about the ones that Jeter and Granderson took advantage of that were right over the middle of the plate.
JOE GIRARDI: I thought his stuff was good tonight. He has a lot of movement on his fastball. A lot of these games come down to hitting with runners in scoring position. That's the bottom line. We did a real good job tonight. Jeet got a slider up and Grandy got a pitch up, and they didn't miss it.

Q. Joe, all year late runs included some hits from guys who would been struggling, including Alex getting two. Do you think that gets some of these guys going a bit?
JOE GIRARDI: I hope so. I said our guys are having decent at-bats. They have a pretty good pitching staff here. There was a lot of talk about it. I talked about Adrian Beltre today. It doesn't take much for a guy to be a huge impact. I thought Al had a huge RBI after getting down 0-2 in the count, I thought that was a big RBI.

Q. For A.J. in the first inning, was that kind of rust? Did he make a mechanical adjustment after that?
JOE GIRARDI: I can't tell you exactly what it is. As I said, I don't have a crystal ball. It could be rust, it could be excitement. There's a lot of different things it could be. I'm actually thrilled the way it kind of worked out that we had him throw an inning on Wednesday in Tampa, at least to a hitter. I think that probably helped out.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Joe. Safe trip.
JOE GIRARDI: Thank you.

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