AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v INDIANS

October 6, 1999

Bret Saberahagen

Q. The weather report for tomorrow night is about 40 degrees. Is that going to affect you and is it a concern?

A. I don't think it's going to have a real big effect on my shoulder. I'm able to keep it warm in between innings. I think it's going to help me if anything because I love pitching inside and hitters do not like to hit the ball inside when it's cold. When it's warmer they feel a lot more comfortable at the plate. I think I can be a little more effective inside with the weather cold.

A. Well, it's been a long season for me in respect to the injuries I've had, not being out there every day, so it's taken some toll on my shoulder as well because it seems like I've gone through spring training four times this year and not really building up the arm strength that I needed to get by taking the time off for different injuries, so in that aspect, it's been tough to get the arm strong, I think as strong as it's going to get throughout the rest of the year. It's almost about 100 percent chance that I will have some surgery done at the end of the season on the shoulder to clean up some stuff in there just so I don't have any ill effect coming in next year.

A. Well, unfortunately, we don't have Reggie swinging a bat if we need him. I think that's the bottom line. He's done a great job pinch-hitting all year for us and it's out of my control who is on the play-off roster and who is not, but I think the team as a whole, we'd love to have Reggie here supporting us, but, you know, that's something he's decided that he really wants to get away and clear his head for a little bit.

A. I appreciate it a lot more. My first year in the big leagues, we lost to Detroit three nothing, they ended up winning the World Series. My next year we make it to post-season and we win a World Series. So my first two years in the big leagues, I'm in post-season and it just seemed like that was the easy part of it and not getting back to post-season until 1995 with the Colorado Rockies and with my shoulder completely blown up at that particular time, I'm not able to do anything out there, I hurt the team more than helped the team. Then last year again for the first time really being, feeling halfway decent being able to help the team in post-season. So it's something that I don't expect to get to each year and now that I am, I'm not getting any younger, I realize that I don't have a whole lot of opportunities left to win another championship and try to take advantage of them while they're at hand and to win another World Series. It would be a great feeling.

A. Well, I think our team as a whole, you know, last year -- we had a lot of guys back from last year. I think everybody is going to be a little bit more relaxed. I'm in the clubhouse this afternoon and everybody is sitting around watching some TV, you know, relaxing. It doesn't seem like anybody is up tight. Everybody is looking forward to this and everybody knows the task at hand. We've played Cleveland very well this year and last year and we gave them a good run in the playoffs last year. We played each game very well against them. We just came up a little short. We hope to change things this year. I think myself, you know, everybody has gained a little experience since last year, so you just realize that the long haul is over with. That marathon we had to go to get to this point. Now it's a sprint to try to get to the finish line and each game is very critical. You lose one game and you're kind of digging yourself a hole but fortunately I've been in situations with Kansas City where we were down three to one against Toronto and came back to win the American League Championship and then we were down three to one against the Cardinals and came back and ended up winning that. So you know the old saying, the fat lady might be warming up but she's not singing until the last out of the game is made.

A. Like I said, you try to take each time that you go to post-season and try to win that championship because you really don't know what's going to happen to you from year to year, whether you're going to still be with a ball club that's contending, whether you're going to make it to post-season, a lot of things can happen. It doesn't take one or two guys to get you to post-season. I've seen it, you know. It doesn't matter how great two or three guys are, their years, it really takes an entire ball club to get you to post-season and that's what we had this year. You go up and down the line. When Tom Gordon goes out after a month of the season, guys filling in saving games. There were the Kansas City Royals this year who have blown 20 something saves. That's a lot of saves, that's a lot of wins and fortunately we had the guys to pick up the slack in the bullpen. Brian Daubach stepped in, a guy nobody expected to do as well as he did. So we have a good nucleus of guys and I think everybody filled in when needed, so, you know, I feel very fortunate to be in this spot right now and hope to take advantage of it.

A. Well, we've been doing everything that I know to get my shoulder right. Is it 100 percent? No. I've seen a couple people to loosen up the shoulder, to work on the shoulder outside our team, taking some antiinflammatories to keep the swelling out. We're going to do some stuff before tomorrow's game to loosen it up, so we're doing just about everything that we can. I'll know tomorrow when I go to loosen up how it feels, but I have a gut feeling that it's going to feel pretty good especially with the adrenaline with the importance of the game. Once you start getting the blood flow going and the excitement going on, you seem to be able to overcome some aches and pains at times.

A. Well, there's a lot more put on me. Tomorrow is a definite win situation for us that we have to go out and win if Pedro doesn't win tonight; so we go out and win tonight, it takes some pressure off me. That's a given; but I enjoy the big games. Regardless of the situation, I take a lot of pride in coming through. I'm not the pitcher that I used to be, but I'm still pretty good at times and hopefully I'll have my stuff regardless whether we win or lose tonight to go out and win tomorrow.

Q. With everything you've been through with your shoulder the past few years, do you ever think about how lucky you are to be back in a Division Series again?

A. Well, first and foremost, I thank God that I'm able to pitch the way I have after surgery and pitching with the modern technology now. Ten years ago the technology probably wasn't there to reattach my shoulder, so to speak, and be able to come back and pitch, so I just feel very fortunate and I appreciate the game a lot more now because I realize how special it is to be able to pitch at this level and be successful. Before it was always something that I've done and it kind of came natural to me, the stuff that I had. I worked hard to keep the arm strong and to be at the top of my game, but I really didn't know what I had until I lost it.

Q. As far as you're concerned, what's the most difficult part of this Indians' lineup?

A. Well, I think if you keep the first three guys off base, that's a big part of it. You know, when you get Lofton, Vizquel or Roberto on base, they can cause a lot of havoc for you and when you get them up on base and then you've got their big home run hitters, instead of maybe a solo home run, you're looking at a two or three-run homer. So that's their ignition right there, getting those guys on base, that's the key to their success. Manny is not going to have 160 something RBIs if these guys aren't getting on base. There's a reason why he's got all these RBIs, so I think our primary goal is to keep those top three guys in check and if the big guys do some damage, it may be a solo home run rather than a two or three one.