AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: INDIANS v YANKEES

October 8, 1998

Andy Pettitte

ANDY PETTITTE: It wasn't necessary for me. We had a lot of opportunities to win that ball game and there's no way in this world I'd ever say it was all on one guy or blame it on one person. We're a team out there, and no, I don't think that was really necessary. He should have ran and got the ball before and not argued about the play. I know he knows that and everybody said that. But I don't think there was any sense in apologizing.

ANDY PETTITTE: I felt like the intensity level was a lot higher, my focus was a lot greater and I felt like mechanically I was pretty sound and the last month of the season, that was something that I was really trying to get going before the playoffs and get it ready and I felt like my start against Cleveland and then the three innings against Tampa Bay in relief I felt like I was really putting it together and I felt very confident going into the last start, it was a matter of being in the playoffs and turning the intensity up and I feel good there. I feel good physically and my arm feels good. All kinds of stuff that factors in.

ANDY PETTITTE: I'm just going to try to go out there and just pitch the way I did against Texas. Obviously, the key for me is to get all my off-speed pitches going and throwing for strikes and it makes me a lot more effective. You just try to get through that first inning and get in the ball game and get in the flow of things and just try to hold them down as much as you can, try to keep them out in the beginning and let our guys go to work.

ANDY PETTITTE: Probably, not really. It's so early still in the Series. I wouldn't -- you try to approach every start the same way, even last year when it comes down to Game 5 that I was starting in here, you try to approach it the same way. Obviously, the stakes are a lot higher when it's Game 5 or something like that. You think too much with that stuff it can affect your pitching and you can't worry about that.

ANDY PETTITTE: You know, against every team in this league, just staying out of the middle of the zone, try to keep the ball down and like I said, get my off speed pitches going and hopefully be able to pitch a strong game for us.

ANDY PETTITTE: Not really. They both have a lot of power in their line up, so they're very similar. I guess against Cleveland you got Kenny leading off and he's always a concern trying to keep him off the basepath. So I think that would probably be the main difference, you know, with Texas, McLemore had some speed, but he wasn't quite the threat when he got on ways or whatever. That's the key thing is try to keep him and I think Omar off the base where is they don't cause too many problems for you out there running around.

ANDY PETTITTE: Obviously, you lose a game like that and it's tough. I think the main thing I just remember is just the 0-2 pitch to Manny. I had him 0-2 and didn't do a real good job of expanding the zone here and chasing tomorrow you are off and he hit a double and scored two runs and that ended up making the difference, I think we ended up losing by one run. We had a chance to win and it was definitely disappointing.

ANDY PETTITTE: Yeah, last year I was pretty beat up and like I said, I feel great, I feel great this year and -- but I was beat up for a little while last year and I was able to have a great month at the end of the season last year. Your mind can overcome a lot of things. So that's not a really big factor.

ANDY PETTITTE: I don't know. I mean, we've got a good rivalry going. That was a judgment call and you can't do nothing about it. So we just got to worry about us and just try to go out and play hard and try to win the game.

ANDY PETTITTE: Well, I'll always remember that game. That was -- I can almost remember throwing every pitch out there and in the 9th inning when John came in and it is, it's sweet. This time of the year every win is sweet and every loss is tough. This is for all the marbles and it's to go onto the World Series, so much more intensity and so much more fire in the game and stuff. It's definitely -- it's tough on you when you lose these and it's definitely a lot sweeter when you're winning them.