|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS v ATHLETICSOctober 11, 2012Jim LeylandOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Game Five Detroit Tigers – 6 JIM LEYLAND: First of all, let me congratulate the Oakland organization on an unbelievable, magical year. A great team and a great manager. And they were tough to beat. I tip my hat to them. And also I can't go ‑‑ I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the way that their fans stuck through them throughout this whole thing, even in the 9th inning. They can be proud of themselves. And I would like to congratulate them on behalf of the Detroit Tigers. Q. Congratulations on the win. Verlander ‑‑ he was incredible tonight. Were the A's a really good matchup for him this series or is he pitching better than you've ever seen him pitch? JIM LEYLAND: I think he's a pretty good matchup for anybody when he is right. He had that look in his eyes today. He was determined. He had a complete game look in his eye. And we were thankful to get that. And we got some big hits. Q. When the game ended you walked over and said something to Bob Melvin. Have you ever done that with another manager in a similar situation? What did you say to Bob? JIM LEYLAND: If the situation presents itself I have. I know Bob very well. We were together a long time ago. And I just felt like while my players were celebrating, let them celebrate. It's their moment. And it was a good time to really congratulate him on a job well done. I thought the time was apropos and I'm glad I did. Q. Verlander was clearly on his game tonight. But how big was it to break the game open in the 7th inning, against a team that ‑‑ JIM LEYLAND: I don't know if you believe this, I told one of my coaches on the bench, I said, We need about a four spot to take this crowd out of this thing. And we never did take them out of it. They were through them through the thick and thin. As we were celebrating, they were applauding their players. It was a great gesture on the fans' part. It was a magical season for Oakland. And they're the real deal. This was no fluke, they're very impressive. Q. You've been through a lot. What do you feel about your club right now at this point? JIM LEYLAND: We got this far. We've had to work hard to do it. We had to work hard to win the division. We certainly had to work hard to win this series. But you know what, I've been saying this since April, I like our club, through thick and thin I've been saying that I like our club. And I still like our club. We're going to get ready for another really, really tough opponent, no matter who it is. So we're going to enjoy this. We're going to go home later on tonight and we're going to enjoy this for a while and get ready for whoever we play. Q. What effect did last night's sock in the gut have ‑‑ do you think it had an effect on the mindset at all today? JIM LEYLAND: What I said earlier, I wasn't as upset as everybody else was last night. As I said earlier, we didn't make errors, we didn't walk anybody, we didn't hit anybody. They beat us. It didn't look like it had any effect tonight. But a lot of it started with the fact that we had Justin Verlander on the mound. Q. I know you like to point out unnoticed things in the game. After you score two in the top of the third to go ahead Peralta made a couple of nice plays on Pennington and especially Crisp. Could you just talk about those plays and just what Peralta ‑‑ JIM LEYLAND: I think when you have someone like Verlander or Fister or Scherzer, I think the guys are ready to make plays. I think the guys were pumped up. They played a perfect game last night, pretty much, and we played one tonight. And we played it at the biggest time, obviously. And as good as this team is, this Oakland team, Justin Verlander is a pretty tough chore for anybody. And certainly they don't have anything to be ashamed of. They were a terrific opponent. And I just hope that there's no lingering disrespect over the situation that happened earlier at our place. We apologized for that, we meant it sincerely, and we would never show anybody up. And I think that's past us, and we had a competitive series and we were fortunate to win it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|