AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 17, 1999

Andy Pettitte

ANDY PETTITTE: Yeah. I feel great. You know, we were able to get the win and, obviously, that's big for us, to go up 3-1 in a series now. It was a very emotional game. I felt like I was in trouble every inning, or what seemed like trouble. The fans were really into it and stuff like that, and I know it's kind of tough to control your emotions out there. Overall, I felt great about it. I gave up some bounces, the ball hit the wall. Other than that, I felt like I was getting ground balls. Most of the hits were ground balls going into the infield.

ANDY PETTITTE: We feel great. It was a huge win for us, especially after last night. It seemed like they got a little bit of momentum back. To be able to keep them from going 2-2 with us, it was huge. I think we feel real confident about tomorrow. I'm sure El Duque's going to throw a great game for us. Hopefully we can close this thing out tomorrow.

ANDY PETTITTE: Again, no, not really. You know, I feel like that -- again, I mean I don't -- I said it 100 times. I really don't feel like that trade deadline was affecting me. I felt like mechanically and mentally I was a little beat up and didn't have a lot of confidence. And me and Mel continued to work hard. I was able to get the location on my two-seam fastball back. That's a big key for me. I feel that's the main thing, the main reason I was able to turn my season around.

ANDY PETTITTE: It was big. Obviously they put together a couple of hits right there, I think. Just to get an out there, you know, especially whenever they have home-field advantage like that, the crowd gets into it. And, you know, like I said, I want to start overthrowing, I think I got that pitch up a little bit 'cause I was in a little trouble. That was a huge out for me, maybe to relax me a little bit.