AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: INDIANS v YANKEES

October 13, 1998

Mike Hargrove

MIKE HARGROVE: Well, that is -- there is no comparison. There really is no comparison. When I played for the Indians we didn't have much of a chance from the first day on. And we knew it. So while it was disappointing when you lost, we were out of contention by the middle of May some years. I mean, that is how bad it was. So there is no comparison. There is no comparison. Absolutely disappointed that we didn't go on, but we realize that the Yankees have a very good ballclub and they played better than we did. They deserve to go on.

MIKE HARGROVE: I hope they don't. I am -- I am very loyal to the American League, and the Yankees are our representative now, and it is going to take a very good ballclub with a very good effort to beat these guys. They have got a tremendous ballclub.

MIKE HARGROVE: You know, I thought -- yeah, but don't quote me on that because I haven't picked a winner yet. I want them to win.

MIKE HARGROVE: I did not see the play. The way the dugouts are situated in Yankee Stadium, you can't see the base. I was standing up, you still can't see the base. So I didn't see it. I was told on replay that he was on the bag and Omar said that he thought that he stayed with the bag. I was told that on replay showed that the man was out at second base. That was my read on that. The read on Joe bringing the trainer out to talk to David Cone, I didn't -- I thought that something was wrong with David. He had Mendoza up for a long time and Mendoza -- I don't think, that he was trying to kill time to get Mendoza ready. Mendoza had been up for a while. Mendoza I thought was ready to go, so I didn't think there was anything going on there.

MIKE HARGROVE: You can't give any big lead team extra outs and expect to win if you do that consistently, much less a team of the caliber and talent of the Yankees, especially in postseason. So we played with fire all night long with the three errors that we did make. And we got burned by it. The play in right field it looked to me like the ball was off the wall and Manny ran into the wall that is what I saw. I didn't see a replay on it. I didn't think there was anything weird that happened out there but I didn't see it.

MIKE HARGROVE: The throwing error was Omar got under the ball and threw the ball and the wind caught it and it took off. That is the first time in three, four years that I have seen Omar make a throw like that. So I attribute that more to the wind than anything else. It was an error, I am not trying to excuse that, but that is what I saw happen. Do I sense a vulnerability about the Yankees? Any team at this level, any team can get beat. So they are as vulnerable as any other team at the Big League level. There is a lot of talent with San Diego, a lot of talent with Atlanta. Also a whole lot of talent with the Yankees. I am solely surely in the Yankees corner -- I am in the American League, they are our representatives, I wish them all the luck in the world. They deserve it.

MIKE HARGROVE: It hurts worse. It didn't hurt any worse going on, you know, I mean as it goes on. I am very thankful that we were given the opportunity to be able to be in postseason. We have done a good enough job the last four years to be here. And really two of the last three years not counting this year to be in a World Series. So the disappointment is tempered by the fact that we have done a good job to get where we are and where we hope to be.

MIKE HARGROVE: Not with David Cone on the mound. David Cone may have thrown four fast balls the entire time out there tonight. He didn't throw a lot of fast balls at all. Mainly sliders and splits. When they split finger pitcher -- when a pitcher throws a split finger and it is working for him, that is a nasty pitch and David Cone is the kind of guy that can spot a slider, throw a lot of back door sliders. I think he struck out Justice with one, struck out Omar and was trying to bunt Kenny over and struck him out with a split off. It didn't shock me. I was gratefully disappointed. That was a very good opportunity to take a little bit of momentum away from the Yankees as being -- with a large crowd and the crowd was fired up and we didn't do that. We burned two runs tonight early, I think the first and second inning or first and third innings, to where we should have scored, you know, easy runs and we didn't do that. That is costly. You can't do that with a team like the Yankees.

MIKE HARGROVE: Well, there are obviously spots that we feel that need to be strengthened. We feel that our rotation could be improved a little bit, could be strengthened. The back end of our bullpen, we'd like to see a little bit of help. Second base has been a problem for us really the last -- this whole -- this year and part of last year. I mean, you know, I don't know that we will be able to do all of those things. Hopefully we can. If we can't, then I feel like we have got people in place that can do the job for us and we will see where we are at. I don't think there has to be a whole lot done with this ballclub. I think this a good ballclub, just a few tweaks here and there and we will be okay.

MIKE HARGROVE: Well, extremely difficult. I don't think that anybody that has never been there, they don't realize absolutely how difficult it is to do. But that is not to say that I don't think it -- you know, that we can't do it. But, yeah, that is very difficult, but everybody has to do the same thing you take your shot and you catch a few breaks along the way as we did last year and you got a shot at it. We came within two outs of winning one last year. This year we didn't win either. We will try again next year.

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