MLB WORLD SERIES: INDIANS v MARLINS

October 17, 1997

Mike Hargrove

MIKE HARGROVE: Sandy has had a very good year for us, solid all the way around. We've seen -- I don't want to say a tremendous improvement, but we've seen a part of Sandy's game really pick up, and that's the way he's handled the pitching staff and got the most out of the pitchers we have. It's been a very difficult pitching year for us because we've had so many people hurt, and Sandy's has been a big part of how we survived that and get back to where our pitching has settled in and became consistent for us and do what we've done. Sandy's year has been a big year for us. I think something he can do every year, I don't think this is the peak of his career, I certainly think what he's done offensively and defensively is something he can continue.

MIKE HARGROVE: I could, and then I'd have to kill you. We are going to go with Hershiser in Game 1, Chad Ogea in 2, Nagy in 3 and Jaret Wright in game 4. We feel that gives us the best possible people to come back and pitch in the late series and we're not sure that we want to risk bringing the kid back on three days rest, if we had to. And we feel giving him a Game 4 start is the best for him and the ball club.

MIKE HARGROVE: David is fine. David will play left field.

MIKE HARGROVE: No, we'll go with 14 players and 11 pitchers, just like we had in the ALCS.

MIKE HARGROVE: I don't know how Charles Johnson couldn't figure in. That's the premiere defensive catcher in the game today. We still have to be aggressive. You win ballgames by putting pressure on the other ball club. And running the bases and putting pressure on them in that regard is part of it. We want to be aggressive on the bases and he figures into that. Is Bip going to play tomorrow, I'm not sure yet. But we'll look at it.

MIKE HARGROVE: I'm just not sure. I'm just not sure that I don't want to go with Tony Fernandez.

MIKE HARGROVE: His thumb is okay. I talked to him today and he said his thumb is fine.

MIKE HARGROVE: We designed it because we're not sure how much Jaret Wright has left in his tank. This is the longest he's pitched in his career, the most innings he's pitched in his career, the first time he pitched in postseason, we're not sure how much he has left in his tank, and for that reason we've gone the way we've gone. We've gone with Hershiser the first game. The earliest Nagy can pitch is Game 3. So say Jay fits in Game 2.

MIKE HARGROVE: There's every chance he will be. I'll make that decision before tomorrow. If you wrote he was going to hit 4th I couldn't argue with you right now.

MIKE HARGROVE: Not a problem for me. I've said all along since Orel has been here, that Orel does not doctor the ball, he doesn't put any foreign substance on the ball. Orel has a very, very good sinker. When he has it going, you can see why he set the record for scoreless innings. The accusations that came out of Baltimore, that's part of it, that's part of the game. I played with Perry, they did the same to him. But Orel, as far as I know, and I've got to believe that Orel does not put anything on the ball. And I know that Ogea doesn't. I think that's best dropped.

MIKE HARGROVE: Obviously you want me to say yes, but I can't think of anything. I think we all learned. Anytime we go through any kind of experience -- have any kind of experience with anything you learn from things or it's been a wasted experience, the other things I've learned, I've learned a little about the National League game that I didn't know before, having never played it or been involved in it. I think that there's certain time, certain things that I learned that taught me to go ahead and trust my instincts more than I did at that time, and so, yeah, there's a few things. Nothing huge, but a lot of little things.

MIKE HARGROVE: Oh, no, not at all. The Marlins have a very good ball club, very good organization. I've got a lot of -- I've got a few good friends on that ball club, and the hard work they've put in getting here, just like we have, no, I think it's fantastic to come to South Florida and play the Marlins in the World Series. It doesn't seem strange at all.

MIKE HARGROVE: I think it's one of those experiences that I'm not having a lot of fun right now, but talk to me in two weeks and I'll tell you I had a blast. There's a lot of stuff that's going on that needs to be taken care of and I can't afford to let myself lose focus, just like the players cannot afford it. Now is not the time to have a lot of fun.

MIKE HARGROVE: The obvious things you've got to look past the glitter and glamour, to understand there's a job to do still. The biggest thing I learned between '95 and now is how terribly difficult it is to get this far.

MIKE HARGROVE: The way Brian Anderson throws I couldn't care if he's from Alaska or Ohio. He throws the ball very, very well. It's a really neat thing that he is from Ohio and has been an Indian fan all his life. I think that's a very good story. But the fact that Brian Anderson is a good Major League pitcher and can get hitters out for us is more important to us. Talking to Brian about being an Ohio native and playing for the Indians, you'll have to talk to him about that.

MIKE HARGROVE: I think his physical conditioning has changed from when we saw him last year, I believe it was last year. The last time we saw him was in Puerto Rico. He had good stuff then. And it was by no means an easy job to do what we did against him. He is a very good pitcher, has good stuff. From the game that I saw in Game 6, I believe it was -- has very good command of his pitches and located them very well in that game. And that probably is the biggest difference. It is the command and location that I saw out of him on TV watching. He looked like a much better pitcher in that regard. He's very good or Jimmy Leyland wouldn't be starting him in Game 1.

MIKE HARGROVE: The only time that's an advantage is if we play better than the Marlins. That's really what it comes down to. I don't mean to be smart or facetious, it comes down to what team plays the best, and the most consistent. And experience at times has nothing to do with that.

MIKE HARGROVE: As I said, one of the things I learned in '95, we expected to be in the World Series and win the World Series. So when we got there I don't want to say it was a breeze, because it wasn't, we had to play good baseball to get there, but as you said, we dominated a lot of teams that year. This year we haven't done that, we've had to play exceptionally well to get here and I think we appreciate it a lot more but we realize how terribly difficult it is to get this far and really has nothing to do with the 86 wins. I think if you were willing to look below the surface at the 86 wins, you'll see that one of the contributing factors to that was the fact that we had a lot of pitching that was hurt all year long. And I don't think it was any coincidence that we started playing consistently well once our pitching started getting healthy in September.

MIKE HARGROVE: Yes and no. Anytime a team struggles the manager's job is in jeopardy, that's the nature of the business. So from that point it didn't surprise me, it didn't make me feel very good, but it didn't surprise me. Do I feel any vindication? I've had a lot of confidence in my abilities for a long time, and I think I do a pretty good job at times. And so if there's any vindication it's in that regard, if that's the way it is. But maybe it's more validation than vindication.

MIKE HARGROVE: If I tell you they did a terrible job then I'm out of a job (laughter). What they've done, I think, is incredible or maybe remarkable in that it really changed the entire face of this club, the entire personality of this club really from '96, even, or mid season '96. But it doesn't surprise me because of the people there are very, very good, very well prepared in what they do. And I'll go back to what I said the whole time in Baltimore, when people kept talking about us getting all the breaks, and I said good team put themselves in the position to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves, and I think good front offices do that and ours certainly has consistently done that. So I think they've done a great job, obviously. The second part of the question is --

MIKE HARGROVE: The biggest difference is we have a team now that understands the value of playing fundamentally sound baseball. The teams in '95 and '96 we had players on that team that had tremendous talent, didn't pay attention to the fundamentals, because they could out hit their mistakes. That was a fact of those teams. You could go blue in the face talking to them about certain things. And it was very hard to get your point across when they'd go out and club people to death. This team can't do that or hasn't done that, so consequently the importance of playing fundamentally sound baseball was even more obvious.

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