AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 17, 1999

Joe Torre

JOE TORRE: Pretty much the way he's pitched every time he's had to pitch a good game. He was something. This ballpark is tough to pitch in, obviously. Got himself in some jams, got out of jams, made some great pitches. You know, he's such a good guy to go along with everything else that he's been through, and it was a big emotional game for us tonight.

JOE TORRE: What do you want me to say?

JOE TORRE: He called it right away. We're sitting in the dugout. That's the worst seat in the house as far as to see anything. But he didn't hesitate. From our angle, Knoblauch caught the ball, it looked, you know, he was trying to tag or did tag. You can't tell if he tagged or didn't from the dugout, from that angle. He called him out right away. So that's the only thing I could say. I haven't seen anything other than that.

JOE TORRE: Well, I mean the second half has been his season. First half he really scuffled; bottomed out one game in Chicago. He just seemed so tentative and feeling his way, very nonaggressive, I guess the trading deadline passed and he worked with Mel. I think that was the biggest part of it really. Mel worked with him on making some alterations in his delivery. And then he started trusting his stuff. His stuff has been good all year, he just hasn't been doing the right thing with it up until August.

JOE TORRE: Well, when we start taking players off the field, obviously the bullpen is part of that. My opinion of what happened is the sad part about it is you have a ballclub, the Boston Red Sox, who have busted their ass all year to play and give this city something to be proud of, and I think it's inexcusable -- not that Jimy Williams did what he did. I'm a manager; I understand the frustration that goes on inside, and especially everything he's been through this year, trying to keep this club together. But to have people -- and it surprises me. I really haven't been exposed to Boston before these last four years. Everywhere I've walked in the city these past couple of days, people have been genuinely nice. But to have people throw stuff, that's -- that's disgraceful. It really is. I know it's not an indication of Boston, Massachusetts, because I mean I've been around the city now for four years, and it's been shown a lot of class to me. But tonight was a bad mark against a very good team.

JOE TORRE: I think the crowd was frustrated. Jimy Williams, if he incited the crowd, that wasn't his intention. I know Jimy Williams, he's got too much class for that stuff. He was frustrated. I mean I can tell you, it was a very emotional game for us tonight. We left bases loaded, we did this, we did that. Then you find out you win the game, and there's a lot of emotion. And, you know, fortunately for me, our emotion is good, and his was of frustration. Maybe the fans used what Jimy did as an excuse to do what they did. I don't look at Jimy inciting the crowd.

JOE TORRE: Yeah, quite a bit. Quite a bit. Plus the head of security for the Red Sox was screaming at my players about staying in the dugout. That was a disappointment, the show of absolutely no class whatsoever.

JOE TORRE: Yeah, I can't describe it because too many kids are going to be watching it. I think you can get from that that the language wasn't very pretty. And I thought it was uncalled for. That was it.