MLB WORLD SERIES: MARLINS v YANKEES

October 21, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK MCKEON: Yeah, no question about it. We thought they were strikes. Certainly high enough. We're not gonna get into that. I just don't like coming over here first. I'd rather be the second. You always end up losing when you come in first (laughter). To get back to that other question, you saw both clubs arguing about the calls, so take it from there. That's all I have to say.

JACK MCKEON: Well, he has over 100-some pitches. He was getting a little stiff. He had a long delay. We had programmed that if Giambi's turn came up, that was the time we were gonna make a move. Otherwise, we were gonna let him finish that inning then take him out so... That's my, you know, if I don't agree with your thinking, I can't help it (laughing).

JACK MCKEON: Well, it's tough, third base coach, that's a tough situation. You either do or you don't. You got to make up your mind in a split second. When he comes around that base, do I think he has a chance to score or should I hold him up? Then all of a sudden the guy kicks the ball. I been in that situation as a third base coach in the Big Leagues. It's probably the toughest play. You don't have time to wait and see. You got to make your decision. He either goes or you stop him. Well, we still had first and third and one out. We had opportunities to score, no question about it. We had first and third, one out, didn't score. We had first and second, one out, didn't score. We had our chances. But, you know, let's give credit to Mussina, he did an excellent job out there of stopping us. Their whole pitching staff so far, except well, we won one game. But their whole pitching staff's done a pretty good job. It's been a low-scoring series except that ninth inning. Bases on balls killed us tonight. It's been our down fall really. Every time you walk two, three, four, five, six guys, you turn that Yankee line-up around over and over, you get into crunch time, they're pretty good ball players. Messing around with Williams too much or some of those guys, Giambi, you get them out four times, be thankful. Don't let them keep going up five and six times, you're gonna get hurt.

JACK MCKEON: Well, I don't know what Ozzie was having him do, but let's face it, first and third, you go on a ground ball. Whether he got a good jump or not, I couldn't tell you that. You generally go on a double ball hit back to the mound, you go. Rather have the play at the plate than you would have them make a double play. Just so happened to kick off his glove or leg, whatever, and probably he would have had a tough time getting Lee at first, I think. But it's one of those situations, your reaction time is very limited there. You got to make up your mind go one way or the other. Sometimes you get stuck, get caught in no man's land.

JACK MCKEON: Well, we're not hitting like we're capable of, no question about that. But, again, you must give the Yankee pitchers credit. They're good pitchers. They've proven three or four of those guys have been multi 20-game winners throughout their career. So you know that you're not facing an easy task here with these guys, and the playoff experience, the World Series experience. They're pretty good pitchers. They know how to pitch. In our case, being in the World Series for the first time, some of our guys might be a little bit anxious. But I don't see really that being a problem. We been down two games to 1 to the Cubs, we were down 3-1 and we were in the same position where we weren't hitting. We were giving up too many bases on balls. All of a sudden, it turned around. Our pitching became pretty good. Our hitting picked us up. Guys that you see out there not doing their job now, not hitting the ball now, all of a sudden in a crucial three-game series against the Cubs, when we had to win all three games, they delivered. I'm looking for the same thing to happen in the next three or four games.

JACK MCKEON: He's been playing that thing all year long. You know what I mean? I get a kick out of some of these questions, really. I'm not being facetious or smart about it. If you got an idea you got to be playing him on the line, please call me. Let me know about those things, you know? Basically, the guy has played out there all his life and this is the program that we had -- we don't have a set program to play the line. A guy hits the ball down the rightfield line, how many guys in this room thought Jeter was gonna hit it in the rightfield line? We didn't. We're trying to keep him from going on the other way. Every once in a while, a guy hits the ball somewhere, the outfielders, infielders aren't there. It's not because the guy was out of position. Maybe the guy was late swinging the bat. We can't cover that whole thing like they do.