AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v INDIANS

October 5, 1999

Jimy Williams

A. I think it is behind us. This is a whole new series. Two playoff teams going at each other. I have a lot of respect for their club. They have an outstanding ball club over there. I like our team a lot. But as far as those things, I don't think they even come in to play.

A. They have a guy over there by the name of Colon. He has a good team. If everybody knew what was going to happen, why are we all here? That's why you play the games. There's a lot of interest, you know, two good pitchers going at each other, two good teams going at each other. I could give you that thing about assume, you know, about you and me. But that don't make any sense. We got to play the games. That's why we came here. We look forward to coming to Cleveland because that's a good sign for our club that we attained a level. We're here because our club earned something to come here and play against this team. They're Central Division Champions and they have an outstanding club. I like our club a lot, too.

A. Every season is special to me just to have the opportunity to wear a major league uniform. Fortunately I'm a Red Sox. I feel good about that. So as far as anything else that happened, you know, came out of spring training, you know, the club focused from the standpoint of trying to do things right, win games at the outset, we used a lot of people, I'm not trying to replace anybody. Take the roster that the general manager signs, put those kids out there, let's see how many games we can win. We play 162. We got that marathon. Let's go play it, boys. Let's go play and see how many games we can win. That's all we want is games and we're here. But as far as anybody else that's not here or wasn't even here, we focus on what we have and I think we're good in our clubhouse.

A. I'll tell you, he's having some kind of special year. To be that deft, that ability to command with velocity, change-up, curveball. I was with the Cardinals when Gibson was there. He played, certainly I didn't. You guys don't even know I was there. I had a uniform there, too. So I had a chance to watch him pitch. I'm not going to really compare him to anybody, Pedro, but I mean Gibson threw hard, too. But I really don't like to compare pitchers or players. Like I told the writers in Boston, you realize what you're seeing here with this kid, what he's doing this year with that ball? Especially when the ERA in the American League is what it is. Especially when throughout all of baseball to have 20 home runs today is nothing. I mean a lot of people have 20, 30, 40, 60 and yet he has that ability to take that baseball and stop some awfully good teams.

A. With all he's done -- he's been on the disabled list, too, for two weeks. But after that two-week period, the one thing that stuck in my mind sitting in that dugout watching this kid perform was his breaking ball. His hook, his curveball. I know it's always been good but just to me, he has been throughout the regular season so much more consistent than I had seen it before. He has an outstanding change-up. We certainly know what his fastball is. Great control. But he has command. Command is different than control for me, the two words. Control is the ability to put it on the plate. Command is the ability to put it on a special part of the plate. Up, down, in, out. But I think probably his curveball if I was to think about one particular thing. I mean, he's got a nasty ball.

A. He is an integral part of our defensive scheme and offensive scheme but he's had some bumps, you know. But from the standpoint of injuries here and there, to do what he does day in and day out, it's a pleasure, I'm honored to have the opportunity to watch this kid play, too. He's a baseball player. He's a throwback. I don't know. He's an awfully lot of fun to watch play. Certainly we're fortunate to have him in a Red Sox uniform. But his numbers speak for themselves. He's an outstanding hitter with power. He runs very well but he takes an awful lot of pride in his work, too. And he works hard at it every day.

A. You said what if. Any question for me with an if or what if, I can't answer it. I don't have an answer for you.

A. How do you know he's on our roster?

A. All right. He is on our roster. I didn't think he'd make it back. I mean this kid is back, he threw good on that road trip those last few games and not necessarily as a closer but he has that mentality. We'll use him in any part of the game that we think is the right spot to use him to help us win that game. I don't think it would be smart to bring him in in the middle of an inning. I'm not saying it won't happen because I don't know how much time you have to warm up because of what he's been through. But he has thrown the ball very well, especially the last couple of times out.

A. He took batting practice today and he stayed out there for the complete round. I was out in the outfield watching him hit. He hit the ball good. He went through his infield drills good. Is he 100 percent? Anybody in here 100 percent? I don't think there's any player on either side. There is one back there. I don't think there is any player on either side that is 100 percent. I mean, he has a glitch. He got hurt. So medically, our organization tried to take care of him the best way we could. Today is his first workout day since he played the game that locked up the wildcard situation for our team. But even at that, in that game if he was hurt, he had a two run homer and he hit a ball off the wall in Chicago. But with five days off, hopefully it will improve, and whatever medication they've given this young man will help him. He's going to play. But is he 100 percent? No. But I don't think anybody in either dugout is 100 percent. You just keep playing, just play.

A. Which hitter do you want to start with? Then we'll just continue. I mean, they have them all the way up and down their lineup.

A. Well, we have three guys out there that are double figures in saves. Plus we traded for Rod Beck. So with that type of closer mentality, I think it means something. We can use them, all of them in different ways and that's not even talking about Garces who we left in the game the other day against Baltimore to close the game out. So we must believe in him, too. And Cormier and Wasdin, he has a couple of saves. We have a different kind of bullpen, maybe different kind of team, you know. We use these guys a lot of different ways. Sadler second, short, third, played left, center, right. We try and use the skills of these people the best way that we know to help us win a game. We expose them to those positions in most cases in spring training. I don't know if I've answered your question the way you wanted it to be answered, but I like our relief corps out there and they're certainly going to be important in this series.

A. You know, I don't even remember that. This is a new year. This is a different team. I don't even think, I don't know how to really answer the bottom of the order question. It doesn't mean a whole lot to me from the standpoint of guys that didn't do something. Are those guys all here? What the hell was our line up? I don't know. We're going to try like hell though, seven through nine, they're going to try like hell out there. I know that. We'll see.

A. I don't remember.

A. We talked about carrying 11 pitchers last year, here I go, last year, we carried Jim, but this year we carried 11 maybe because our pitchers, our stars are, we protect them. There was a question about Nomar about his wrist. There is a question about John Valentin. I think he's played like seven games in the last month but certainly in the last ten days. How healthy are these kids? You know, you need to protect, you need to protect your pitchers and your players, too. You have to make those decisions. They're not easy decisions, but you have to think about maybe the utilization of pinch runners and something and who is going to play here and is this knee going the hold up. But we're going to ride with those kids because they deserve to play and they're fine as we speak. Certainly things can change but right now they're fine. But that's basically why you got Merloni there. We talked about Gordon, Sadler. You can't have everything. We are trying to protect what you can as best you can.