2001 AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES
NEW YORK YANKEES at OAKLAND ATHLETICS
October 12, 2001
Workout Day
Interview With:
MIKE MUSSINA
Q. You've been away from California for a long time playing for the Orioles and the Yankees, but coming back home to pitch a game as important as this, is that significant to you?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, my home is not California, so I played three years in college here and enjoyed it immensely. It's somewhat like a home game, I would suppose, but being in the American League for 11 years now you get back here a couple of times a year, and I've had some decent games here. So I'm not concerned about it being a road game. I've pitched on the road for a long time.
Q. Mike, you pitched a lot of playoff games before, I think the last one was elimination game in '97?
MIKE MUSSINA: I believe so, yes.
Q. Is this the biggest game you've pitched?
MIKE MUSSINA: Whichever team you're playing for, if you're faced with an elimination game it's the biggest game you've pitched. After tomorrow, yeah, it will probably be the biggest game I've pitched. But we have to -- We have to go out there and play like it's one ballgame. We can't concern ourselves with the fact that three hours after it starts it might be over. We're going out to play like it's one ballgame, and play our best game and when it's over, hopefully we're still standing.
Q. Joe made the point that there's no point in panicking, all we need is a three-game winning streak, and we've done that during the season. Is that the attitude you're taking, that while it's difficult, it's a doable think?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think some of us aren't even looking at it as three games, I think we're looking at it as one game. I can be as cliche as anybody wants me to be, but we can only concentrate on one game at a time. We've got to worry about tomorrow and hope Sunday is still there when tomorrow is over, and that's the approach you have to take or you start pushing yourself or asking for things you can't deliver. In a 24-hour period we're not going to win three games, we're only going to win one.
Q. You've been very effective as a stopper in the postseason, what has made you so successful and how will you carry that into tomorrow?
MIKE MUSSINA: I have no idea. I'm going to pitch like I've been pitching all year, and try to take it as any other game. If I walk out there thinking about all the ramifications if I don't pitch well, then I'm not going to pitch well. Just go out there and pitch like it's a game in the middle of July and try to pitch the best game I possibly can. There's nothing else I can ask from myself or expect from myself except the best I can possibly put out there, so hopefully that's what we'll get.
Q. What are your observations of the Oakland line-up based on the first two games?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think we actually pitched pretty well. I think they're obviously a talented club. They put up a lot of runs. They haven't lost a home game in a long time. They're something like 40 games over 500 since the All-Star break. Their line-up is tough, and I think we pitched pretty well up to this point. We hope we can go out and play as well tomorrow, maybe throw up a few runs and take our chances. But they have the ability to hammer out a lot of runs and we need to hold them down, like we have for basically most of the first two games.
Q. Mike, when you signed with the Yankees, was this what you were always thinking about, just to be a part of the postseason run?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think when we all go to work in February in Florida and in Arizona, anybody on all 30 clubs, all they want to do is still be playing come October. And I felt that New York had as good a chance if not better than anybody to still be playing in October. So that was a big factor in why I went to New York. And here we are. So this is why I wanted to come to New York and get a chance to win a championship, and we're going to go out and see if we can still pull it off.
Q. Mike, what's your sense of the mood of the team and does their experience factor into that?
MIKE MUSSINA: I'm sure the team experience factors into it. Everybody is looking for panic or something because they're defending champions, and I don't see any of that. We play a ballgame and if we don't win it, then you go home, you get up the next day and you try to win the next game. We know we have to win a few games in a row, here, but it's only one game every day. So we have to go out and try to win one right now.
Q. Mike, you signed a long-term deal with the Yankees, but this is obviously possibly the last time you're going to play with the group of players that won these three championships, is it in your mind that this might be the last chance to play with that group of players?
MIKE MUSSINA: I don't think anybody has thought about that really. Yeah, we know that there's some people that may not be here next year, but I don't think anybody has sat down and thought about it. We think we're still going to be playing after the next couple of days, so we're going to take that attitude out there and try to play a good ballgame.
Q. When a game starts in the twilight like tomorrow's will, is that anything that factors into the way you approach hitters early in the game?
MIKE MUSSINA: No, I don't try to change anything. It's going to be tough to see on some parts of the field. There's no question about that. It may be tough to hit. It's going to certainly be tough in the outfield. But you just keep pitching the way I've been pitching. I'm not going to try to change the game plan because the game is at 4:30 local time instead of at night.
Q. You've obviously pitched in a lot of big games before, but I'm wondering if the uniform you're wearing now, the history that's behind it and the fact that there really is sort of a dynasty at stake here, does that add any weight to it?
MIKE MUSSINA: No, I don't think so. I think everybody that puts on this uniform feels like we're representing an organization that's done a lot in the past, but we're still trying to prove something today. So if I sit there and think about what everybody has accomplished before us, then you're not really thinking about baseball, and I'm not the type of person to do that. We're trying to win this one game, and after that we'll try to win one more game and so on. So I'm not sitting back thinking about what Whitey would do in this circumstance. I'm thinking about what I'm going to do.
Q. Talk about putting out of your mind the ramifications of if you don't pitch well. Is that hard to do with the stakes of tomorrow night's game?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, it was asked before, and I have been in elimination games before, and I think the last six weeks or so I've thrown the ball pretty well. So I'm not worrying about what's going to happen if it doesn't work out, because I feel pretty good about the way I've been throwing the ball lately. And I think I'm going to be able to take that back out there tomorrow. So I don't see why I wouldn't be able to and I'm hoping it turns out the way the last six weeks of my season has turned out.
End of FastScripts....
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2001 AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES
NEW YORK YANKEES at OAKLAND ATHLETICS
October 13, 2001
Post Game Interview With:
MIKE MUSSINA
Q. Mike, you talked yesterday about forgetting the ramifications of this game, how easy was that?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, like I said yesterday, I tried to go out there and take it like it was just another game. And it turned out to be pretty exciting, a one-run game again. And I know it was tough for people to see hitters. I know hitters were coming back saying it was tough to see, so I know it was tough for their guys to see. We're fortunate we got in the one baseball. We got one swing on one ball today. I know we swung at some others hard, but we found a way to make one run stand up, and that's what we did.
Q. Can you tell us your view of the play in the bottom of the 7th?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, my view was about -- It started out about halfway between third and home because that's where I'm supposed to be backing up, gauging what's happening. As I went over there I saw Ron Washington cranking to try to score. So I headed back behind the plate, first base angle, and I saw the throw coming in kind of high and cleared both our cut-off men. And Jeter came over from about the mound, scoop it up and back hand shovel pass, and swipe tag and that was it. And I just looked at Kerwin to see what call he was going to make, because it was bang, bang, and he called him out.
Q. This would be your first playoff game, and you had no margin for error. Do you think this is one you're going to remember with your performance?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I'm sure I'm going to remember it, yeah. I thought it was an exciting game. And we found a way to win it, which this team has done every championship run they've had the last five years. So it was an exciting game. It was fun to be involved and I'm glad we came out on top.
Q. Mike, being Derek Jeter's teammate for the first time this year, is he a player who's best appreciated, you see him play every day and those instinctive moves he made tonight?
MIKE MUSSINA: I think there are players in this League and in baseball in general that when you see them occasionally in a three-game series here or three-game series there, you get to see spurts of what they're capable of. When you get to play with them every day, and I've been fortunate enough in my career to play with good players every day, you get to see how talented they really are, what they can come up with, plays they make. And it could be as simple as running the bases or the play he made today. And it's fun to watch these guys, when you get to see them every day. When you get to see them once in a while, you may get an amazing play out of them. But when you see them every day, they seem to come up with something quite often.
Q. How happy were you to see Posada's home run clear the wall?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I was -- I don't know, ecstatic, maybe, I don't know. It's pretty much been my game every year that we try to make a way to score one or two runs. The first innings were tremendously tough for both sides to see the baseball with the windows out there in centerfield. Yeah, it landed right up on the shelf, right on the top of the scoreboard. When I was in the 5th inning, and a lot of game to go, with a team that scores a lot of runs, haven't lost a home game in who knows how long, I was hoping that it was one of a couple that we were going to come up with. But it didn't turn out that way. Mo came in and pitched two full innings, and so we get to play again tomorrow.
End of FastScripts....
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2001 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
NEW YORK YANKEES at SEATTLE MARINERS
October 17, 2001
Pre-Game Interview With:
MIKE MUSSINA
Q. You've been competing against the Yankees all these years, playing against them and now you're sitting in the dugout playing with them. Would you talk about the experience?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think the experience, playing in New York and with this ball team is almost everything I expected. Having watched them for ten years from the other side, the way they go about their job, the professionalism, the competitiveness, just the way they play the game, that's why they have been as successful as they have been, I believe, the last five years. I think it's a direct take-off of the manager. He doesn't get too emotional about ups or downs, and hence, the team doesn't. So if we get hot, we don't take it for granted. If we don't play well for a stretch, we don't dwell on it. For that reason, the last five or six years, we've always had a chance to play in October.
Q. How do you go about facing the Mariners lineup, and is this as different a lineup as you've faced this year?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think they have obviously a quality lineup. They scored a lot of runs, from the top all the way down, you can't pick out one aspect of the game and say, If I can stop Ichiro or if I can stop Edgar or if I can get Boone out, then I'm going to be able so slow them down enough that we can win the game. You have to be able to slow down all aspects of their offense, and if you get one. It doesn't mean that you are going to have a good game against them. You have to be on top of your game, and hopefully we'll be able to do that.
Q. This time of year we're always looking at these veteran pitching matchups. Are those significant at all to you, and if so, how many at-bats do you have to have before it's an indication?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well when you get to these situations, I mean, I know who I have success against and who has had success against me. You try to draw from that experience and use it to your advantage the best you can. I know the guys on this club that have gotten some hits off me, and there were some guys that I can get out. So just go out there for that one game and try to use all your knowledge and all your experience and hope it works for you.
Q. How did the comeback from the last series, how will that play a role in the dugout?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, obviously I think the comeback in the last series was emotional for us. It was exciting. It got momentum on our side because we lost the first two games at home and there were a lot of people that didn't think that we could come back from it. They were starting to talk about our age and all of these things that come into play. We had a hard-fought 1-0 win in Oakland to get us going, and after that, we rolled with the momentum and won the last two. So, hopefully we can keep going with that.
Q. Your last game, you wept into it do-or-die, down 0-2 and you knew it was win or go home. Tomorrow, is there a different approach to the game or is it just same old business as usual?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I try to take it as I took the last game. It's just a ballgame that you have to go pitch. Every game, you go out there all year, being a pitcher when you only get to perform one out of every five days. Games are very, very important to you. It's your one chance maybe in a whole week to get out there and do something. So I basically assume I'm going to take it just like I've taken every other game this year and go out and try to pitch the best game I possibly can.
Q. That game, was there really no different feeling knowing that you were the standing -- between the Yankees and this so-called dynasty ending in that game, was there any different feeling pitching for you in that game or was it just another start that you had to make? And also, have you come to grips with the appreciation of your great game in Boston, the near-perfect game?
MIKE MUSSINA: Could you repeat the first question, please?
Q. I knew you got it. Thank you.
MIKE MUSSINA: (Laughter.) Well, I think if you go out there and try to put the weight of down 0-2 elimination game on the road, 55,000 at the Oakland coliseum on top of you, plus the fact that you have to try to get maybe the hottest offensive team, maybe the hottest team period, the second half of the year, get through them to win a game to keep from being beaten, then you're going to go out there and maybe not get out the first inning. That's the way I try to look at it. I try not to look at the ramifications of it, I just try to look at the game. If I had stood looking around the arena going, "Oh, Lord, if we don't score some runs, we are going to lose, we're going to go home. People are going to start talking about all this stuff about how we overachieved, we didn't belong there." We get one swing on one ball, one backhand to and all of a sudden we are still here. Sometimes in the playoffs that's all it takes. That's really all it takes. That's the way I thought about it.
Q. The near-perfect game --
MIKE MUSSINA: Are we still talking about that?
Q. Yeah, because it's the greatest game we saw in Boston all year?
MIKE MUSSINA: Thank you. Thank you. (Smiles) so what did you want to know about?
Q. Obviously you were disappointed not getting it, but have you come to appreciate it in a month? Have you come to appreciate the appreciation of it at all?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think having been in that situation twice now, yeah, I was upset about it. And it was tough to talk about right after the fact that day, the next day, maybe the next week. But it was fun to be involved in that. And honestly, when I was sitting in the dugout or in the clubhouse in the bottom of the -- the top of the ninth, I guess it was, I was thinking to myself, I'm going to get 27 guys out and we're going to score and I'm going to get an asterisk next to my name that didn't mean diddly down the road. But if I had given up a base hit in the first inning, everybody would have thought it was one of the best games, and people still think that, and I would have been emotional about it and I was excited about it. But because it happened with two outs and two strikes in the ninth, I was upset about it. But a month later, six weeks later, it really got me going through September and October, because I've pitched pretty well since then. Who knows, if I would have gotten 27 guys out in a row, who knows what it would have meant after that, but I didn't and so on. I'm pleased with the way I've thrown for the last six or eight weeks, just because I didn't quite get that doesn't take away from what I've done the last month of the season.
Q. You seem to go about your business very quietly, but you were emotional at the game in Oakland, like when Posada made that out at home plate; what did you feel at that moment?
MIKE MUSSINA: I mean, that was -- when I turned around and saw the ball coming in over the top of everyone's head and Giambi was coming from third to score and it's 1-0, and it runs through your mind, oh, "We're going to get him. No, no, we're not going to get him." And all of a sudden we get him, bang, bang, play at the plate. It's just -- it was emotional. It was emotional for all of us. I think anybody watching the game, especially in New York, people in the whole coliseum were standing because they thought the tying run was going to score. And when he didn't, you could hear the groan of the crowd, the excitement of our dugout. I'm sure everybody watching in New York was jumping up and down as much as we were, because it was the biggest point in the game. That just -- you needed to be excited about it. You just needed to be. There's moments -- a lot of the games you need to control your emotions and there are moments where you need to release your emotions, and that was a moment we got to release some emotion, and it's really helped us the last two games after that.
Q. Is it more difficult for a pitcher to counteract the weapon of speed, as opposed to power for the opposing lineup?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think speed is a factor that is hard to replace if you don't have it. I mean, guys are going to hit home runs from time to time, but a player that gets on, gets on base with his speed, steals bases, covers the outfield, goes from first to home on a ball that doesn't make it to the wall in the gap, there's really -- you can't substitute that. You can't. You have nine home run hitters in the lineup, but they are not going to hit home runs every day. And yet that person that goes out there and has speed, he has speed every day. There's more ways to make something happen with speed than somebody whose going to hit home runs. That home run is one swing one event. Somebody who has speed can do numerous things and cause numerous problems.
Q. This time of year, it seems like there's a lot of talk about pitching on three days rest. Have you ever had to do it in the past and is there an advantage that you've had four days' rest against a guy that maybe has had three days of rest?
MIKE MUSSINA: Yes, I have pitched on three days quite a few times now. As far as an advantage, I don't necessarily think there's a physical advantage, it may be can be a mental advantage. It depends how you feel about it. It depends on how you feel about yourself physically throwing on one day less than you are used to. Most of the year we go throwing on four days rest and pitching on the fifth day and in some cases we get five days off. And depending on off-days and rain outs and such and you get to pitch on the sixth day and just occasionally, we go less time. I think if you can handle it mentally, that you don't really look at the fact that, I haven't had the same amount of rest time that I've had in the past and just go out there and try to pitch and just look at it as a game and it's my turn to pitch, whether it's three days, four days, five days, whatever, and then you can go out there and perform. At least that's what I've tried to do.
Q. You've been on a lot of air planes in the last few days.
MIKE MUSSINA: Yes, sir.
Q. Do you feel it coming to the ballpark today? Are you glad you don't have to pitch today; you glad to have the extra day to recuperate?
MIKE MUSSINA: I think we spend a lot of time on air planes, as a lot of you do all year. You get accustomed of consider having to go perform when your body and your brain don't feel at their best. We've put in quite a few miles back and forth to Oakland and now back here. And if this series continues, then we are all going to come back to New York and we are all going to come back here and eventually one way or the other, we are going to go back to New York again when all that is over. We're going to put some miles out there on our bodies and some time changes. I had to pitch the day in Oakland when we came all the way from the coast, so you just have to go out there and find a way to be ready.
Q. Do you have any secrets for how to combat that, breakfast certain time, eating, sleeping?
MIKE MUSSINA: I have no secrets. Sorry. There's millions of travelers in this country, and I do not have a secret on how to combat it. If somebody does, they are going to get a Nobel prize, I'll tell you.
Q. Thinking back to last November on your decision where to sign, were weeks like this and games like this a big factor in your decision to choose the Yankees?
MIKE MUSSINA: I think a big factor in making the decision was whether or not I thought the team had a chance to still be playing in October. And when you sit around and look at the clubs and what their possibilities were and who their core players or and what do you think their future is going to look like, I thought and I still feel that this team is in one of the best situations to be in. So with the players we have, Jeter and Bernie and Posada and Andy, Roger, Mariano, you just run through a whole list of players that have performed and will continue to perform for this club. It was the best chance I thought to still be playing in October, and that's why I'm sitting here now.
End of FastScripts....
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2001 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
NEW YORK YANKEES at SEATTLE MARINERS
October 18, 2001
Post-Game Interview With:
MIKE MUSSINA
Q. Jorge thought you were kind of high on some of your pitches; that this game was more of a struggle than some of the games recently, can you just talk about that?
MIKE MUSSINA: I agree. I think it wasn't -- it wasn't flowing as well as it has the last few games. It was work. It was tough. You know, you're in a situation where you want to put out your best performance and you feel you have to put out your best performance considering the team you are playing against, and considering the situation. It was a struggle. It was a fight the whole time. I think they even -- the two hits I got in the first inning were pretty good pitches and I was able to get out of that and the ball Ichiro hit to centerfield to get on second base with nobody out, and I was able to get out of that. It was work, but I was pleased that those were situations that I was able to get out of. There's always days you've got to do the best you can without feeling your best, and we found a way to do that today.
Q. Do you believe that there's a carryover, given the streak you've been on, 14 out of 16 games since the All-Star Break you have not given up more than three runs; do you look at each win individually or are you surprised when you are not as sharp as the stats say you have been?
MIKE MUSSINA: I think if you have positive results, you feel like you're throwing the ball well; mentally you feel good about it; then, yeah there's a carryover. If you feel good about the way you're throwing, even if it is a fight, good things are going to happen for you sometimes. Like I said, there are days where you go out there and you really don't have to do much thinking because everything is working and there are days where you are thinking about everything single thing from where your body is to where your arm is to where you are trying to go in the strike zone, there are so many things running through your mind, it's really a lot of work. I think it's getting some of that positive reinforcement over what's happened the last six or eight weeks, it helped today because there were situations where I was just cutting it loose and trying to get the best results I could and it worked out.
Q. When it is a struggle and a fight like it was tonight, how rewarding is it to walk out of the game still giving your team the lead?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, it's always rewarding. It's always rewarding to give your guys a chance to win. Especially in a game of this caliber and in this situation that was, you know, being 3-2. You know, we go out there as starters looking to take the game straight to Mariano in the ninth, and when you can't do that and you try to -- you have to push the bullpen farther than they should be, it's a little disappointing in that respect, but the bullpen has been solid for us. We've been pitching deep in the game for the most part recently. You know, the way the schedule works in the playoffs with these constant off-days, if you don't kill the bullpen on any one particular day, you are still going to be in pretty good shape. I think we are still in pretty good shape.
End of FastScripts....
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2001 MLB WORLD SERIES
NEW YORK YANKEES at ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
October 26, 2000
MIKE MUSSINA
Q. Can you talk about what it means to start Game 1 of the World Series?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, it means that Joe has enough confidence in me to let me go out there and start the first game. It means I get to pitch on the road. That's what it means.
Q. The statistics say that you and Schilling are the hottest and best two pitchers in baseball right now, does it mean anything to be first among equals?
MIKE MUSSINA: Does it mean anything to get to go first?
Q. Yes.
MIKE MUSSINA: In this situation, every game is important. First game or any other game in this series, they are very important games. I'm not looking at it like I'm the first of anything. Just, it's my turn to pitch. He asked me to pitch the first game, so I'm going to go pitch. Hopefully, I can pitch well. When the other guys go out there, their games are just as important as this one is, and hopefully the whole staff pitches well.
Q. The way you've contributed during this post-season, does it feel like you've been part of the team a lot longer than you have?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, people have been asking me that question every month, do you feel more like a part of the team than you did in April, and in June -- I've been a part of this club since the first day of camp. It's been exciting to be on a club that has a chance to do this. I'm just happy to be pitching well now. It's just the way things have gone. I'm just happy to pitch the game that got us turned around in Oakland, and, you know, anybody else on the staff could have gone out there and done that; it just happened to be my turn.
Q. This is your first time in the World Series, this week leading up to it, has it been what you thought it would be. Mark Grace was commenting on waiting 15 years to get here.
MIKE MUSSINA: Obviously, it's exciting. It's something we all want to do. We all went to camp in Florida or Arizona, way back in February, we all wanted to be standing here with a chance to win a title. You know, Gracy waited, what, 15 years to have a chance at it, and this is my 11th year. Sometimes you have to wait a while and sometimes you get a chance to go every year, like Jeter; I guess it's part of the deal. It's exciting. I think once it's all over and we all get to sit back and look at it in a month or so, we're going to probably appreciate it more than now because we are still trying to get something accomplished now. It's still a job and an important one, at that.
Q. Match up wise, would you say it favors you and Curt because there are a lot of hitters that have faced both you and him going into this game?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I don't know. Everybody has their opinions of who it favors, having not seen somebody, if it would favor the hitters or favor the pitchers. I think guys on both sides have seen both of us. I know I've faced a few of their players over the years and I know Schilling has pitched against the Yankees a few times while he was with Philadelphia. I don't know how much of that is going to be a factor. When you get into these games, and a lot of times in the World Series play, one side has not seen another pitcher or whatever. Once you get the game going, you don't think about it too much anymore. It's a factor that is there, but I don't know how big of a deal that is going to be, honestly.
Q. Obviously, you are probably aware of the run that Curt Schilling has been in the playoffs, do you have a mind set that you have to go in and give up nothing, no runs?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I think No. 1, I hope he's tired. When we go to the mound to pitch, our objective from the beginning of the game is to not give up any runs. Once the team scores one run, then our objective is to hold them to one run, and so on. He's been hot, he's throwing the ball great the last few weeks. Obviously, in the playoffs in a big stage, he's the best ball he has all year, maybe. Does that mean we are going to get no runs or I have to give up no runs to win? I don't know. We've seen some hot pitchers along the way, too, and we are able to scratch out a couple and find ways to win. We are going to go out there with the same plan we are going out there with up to this point, and when you are in the playoffs, you are always going to see good pitching. That's the nature of the playoffs and games are going to be low-scoring, because that's the history of the World Series. Hopefully, we can get a couple and hold them to less than that.
Q. What was tougher on your nerves or what would be tougher, pitching Game 3 in the Division Series where you knew you were up against the wall, or Game 1 in the World Series?
MIKE MUSSINA: I don't have a problem with it right now. But thinking about that, Game 3 of the first round, I think was a little strange for us, because we really didn't expect to be down 0-2 coming out of there. It happened kind of fast and all of the sudden we were down 0-2. Really, we had nothing to lose going out there in Game 3, at least that's the way we felt. It was just, let's go see what happens and maybe we can get back in this thing. We felt if we could get them in Game 4, it would put the pressure on them to not want to have to fly all the way back to New York and win Game 5. This one is going five, six, seven games we are assuming. We want to get off on the right foot and have a good game and come away with a win, but there's a long way to go. We're going to try to play well every single night we are out there.
Q. You mentioned the other day trying not to get caught up in all of the hype, how difficult is that to do?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, there's things you have to do. And have to be responsible for, like sitting here. But if you can stay away from all of the flash bulbs and remember that there's a game in there somewhere, we missed all of this first World Series in Arizona and the Yankees trying to win four in a row, and remember there's a game in there somewhere, then you're going to be all right and that's just the way I'm trying to go about it; I'm worried about the game and not stuff that's going on around the game.
End of FastScripts....
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2001 MLB WORLD SERIES
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS at NEW YORK YANKEES
October 31, 2000
Pre-Game Interview With:
MIKE MUSSINA
Q. Joe thought in Game One command was the biggest issue for you. Would you agree with that?
MIKE MUSSINA: Yes.
Q. Would you expand on that?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I don't know what else -- that's it.
Q. Any reason why?
MIKE MUSSINA: I mean, I don't know what to tell you. I could not throw it where I wanted to throw it. Just that simple.
Q. After the game, when you were discussing the aspects of specific pitches, you said it was so bad, I didn't even remember; will you take that attitude and forget about that game or will you build off that in any fashion?
MIKE MUSSINA: I'll probably just forget about it. There's not much I'd like to remember, so I'll just forget about it. You know, it's a different setting, a different situation. We'll start new and try to go after him again.
Q. You had said after your last one that the eight days between starts might have been a bit of a problem. Do you feel like you were able to get more into your regular routine this time and do you think that will help?
MIKE MUSSINA: I always think that a layoff that long is not beneficial. So this time around was more like it had been all year, so I would assume that everything is going to be -- going to be fine. I made the assumption things were going to be fine last time but it did just not work out that way. But to get through the routine this time, having four days off in between instead of eight, is going to be, in my mind, better than it was.
End of FastScripts....
______________________________________________
2001 MLB WORLD SERIES
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS at NEW YORK YANKEES
November 1, 2000
Post-Game Interview With:
SCOTT BROSIUS &
MIKE MUSSINA
Q. Scott, can you try to put into words what this evening was like, the way the team came back in almost identical circumstances?
SCOTT BROSIUS: It's pretty amazing. You can't draw up two better innings than we had other than maybe trying to score some runs earlier in the game. But to have a situation two nights in a row and have it happen is pretty unbelievable.
Q. Can you talk about the ability of why this team doesn't give up, why this team is able to come back?
SCOTT BROSIUS: I don't know. I don't know if you can really answer that, other than just, the strength of our team, one of the strengths has always been that we play hard for 27 outs. You certainly don't want to try to make a living waiting until the 26th out to make something happen but it's just worked out the last couple of nights and it's just -- I don't know, made for just great innings out here at the stadium.
Q. Scott, when you are -- after you hit the home run, it looked just like a replay from '98; did you automatically think about that?
SCOTT BROSIUS: No, I didn't really think about that honestly. There's so many things that go through your head. When I hit it, you've got tons of emotion from hitting the home run, but at the same time you realize that the game is still tied and there's still a game to try to win. So it's weird, you go from just this high to all of a sudden you have to get yourself back together again and realize there's still some game left to play.
Q. Scott, what was the sense in the dugout after the 11th when you guys came off the field after getting out of the jam?
SCOTT BROSIUS: Yeah, Mo did a great job. The leadoff hit and then that little bloop single, you know he made big pitches, obviously we know Mo has done that his whole career in the post-season. He just gets big outs. Obviously, it's a huge lift to get out of that inning right there and give us a chance to try to win it.
Q. Have you ever been involved in a pair of comebacks like this consecutive at any level of baseball?
MIKE MUSSINA: Well, I don't think you go through the clubhouse and find anybody that's been through two games like this. I know I'm a lot grayer than I was two days ago, and, you know, being on another club and watching this team do this for this long, it just has -- these guys for some reason believe that they can come back no matter what the situation is because they have done it so many times and the more it happens the more they feed off of that and believe that the game is not over until there's 27 outs up there. It just so happens that these two nights in a row, in the biggest -- on the biggest stage that could have happened, it's happened two nights in a row for us and we still have one game to play, one game to win. Just the last two nights have been phenomenal.
SCOTT BROSIUS: Not much I could add to that. I cannot imagine ever being on a team or in a situation where, again, in that type of stage, to have, really, three just unbelievable games in a row like that and to pull them all out has never happened to me before.
Q. What made Batista so tough tonight?
SCOTT BROSIUS: He has a good arm. Again, I think everybody talks about the No. 1 and No. 2 over there, but he has a good arm and he threw the ball well, was moving the fastball quite a bit, saw two-seamers in one at-bat and cutters the next. So you didn't have a certain pitch to sit on or a location to look. He was really moving it around and he was throwing his offspeed well.
Q. Tino said yesterday when he was in this situation that he was thinking home run when he went up to the plate; what were you thinking?
SCOTT BROSIUS: He's a better home run hitter than I am. That was not going through my head. Again, you know, having seen him a couple of times last night I was really just trying to find something in the zone and hit it hard and keep a rally going and hit it hard and I was just fortunate; it went up in the air.
Q. Can you talk about your emotions and what was going through your mind as you watched Scott go to the plate and what went through your mind as you saw the ball go?
MIKE MUSSINA: I think we were all feeling the same emotions we were feeling 24 hours ago. We had just not put much together up until that point and we pitched well enough to -- certainly, well enough to win and all of a sudden, last night, Tino put a swing on the ball and we are right back in it and tonight Scott puts one on the ball and you go from being very dejected, especially yesterday because we could have been 3-1 down and all of a sudden, you're right back in the game. You know they are thinking, how in the world can this be happening once, let alone twice, in two nights. I got dressed and went back out in the dugout for the last three innings of the game. You just have to be there. It's the World Series. You have to be there.
End of FastScripts....
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