AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RED SOX v YANKEES

October 16, 1999

Roger Clemens

ROGER CLEMENS: I felt great. In the bullpen everything went pretty well. My velocity was pretty good. I took it to the mound with me too. I think I had pretty good velocity out there. Right from the get-go, once Offerman hit the ball I knew my location would probably have to get better. I think it was evident I had to go back. I went back and towards the end of the game I saw the replay on Val's ball and it was a cross-seamer away and it ran like a two-seamer. It was up, too. He hit it in the net and you definitely don't want to have a start like that, that is for sure. Because, again, like I stated yesterday, any mistakes you want to keep it a minimum. At that point two runs you are fighting and clawing right there because I feel that we knew that Pedro would be tough.

ROGER CLEMENS: Second inning on I felt good again. I felt I was making some good pitches, they got some hits off some good pitches. Again, my slider was pretty good and talking to Joe in between, he says great, just concentrate on getting the ball down a little bit more. We really started working. I was down a couple of times, I got behind guys, was able to fight back. But again, give those guys credit, they fought. And it is obvious even in the Cleveland series watching those guys a few times, big numbers, they were able to post up, you got to fight, you got to stay ahead or they put up some numbers in their stadium for sure.

ROGER CLEMENS: Just like this year, I mean, 14 wins, you could have more either way and same thing in postseason. I have thrown the ball well in postseason play. I won't consider tonight one of those obviously. Again, I thought that, you know, made some good pitches, but it wasn't good enough. You can't continue to give up runs and have a chance when you are facing Pedro. The two runs; again, once Val hit the homer, you kind of -- you take a couple of steps back and you got to realize you got to make better, more crisp pitches. But playoff-wise, wasn't any different than -- I think I had just about everything I had working in Texas except maybe some location.

ROGER CLEMENS: Yeah, I was it was pretty good even down the bullpen, I was locked in pretty good. You expect that in opposing stadiums anyway. Texas it was loud, just as loud; if not louder. I mean, I am facing some pretty good hitters, so I wanted to be pretty locked in on that. Again, once I got in trouble in the first inning, it is real easy to try and get a hold of yourself and try and make some good pitches and get through it. Any time you are in a visiting stadium, it is going to be loud and so you just -- you are used to that.

ROGER CLEMENS: Girardi?

ROGER CLEMENS: I didn't have a conversation. He came out to the mound and said he is bringing in Hideki. I saw Hideki warming up, just -- you know, there wasn't a real whole lot said, just felt like I wasn't throwing the ball well enough to continue to stay out there. You can't continue to put the guys in the hole and not the way Pedro was throwing. Our guys were -- I don't even think Pedro had his ace stuff. I don't know, you could ask him. But he had that changeup working again and as you give him more and more cushion, he can throw just about anything, throw a 3, 2, changeups, whatever he wanted to throw.

ROGER CLEMENS: I was in a situation where, you know, I knew what I was up against and obviously I'd love to make a better showing than that. Everything happens for a reason, so I can't question -- I will continue to work as hard as ever and, you know, I hope I don't have to pitch again. But if I do, I will be ready. It is one game and our guys will come back out. Hopefully maybe I made them tired. I doubt it, but we will see what happens. I think it is going to be a hard-fought. These guys are tough. I think I know a couple of the guys over there in the opposing dugout too well. I think a couple of them are too comfortable, to be honest with you, against me. I have to make some changes there. But Andy will come out and pitch his heart out and the guys will come out battling. That is the way this team is.

ROGER CLEMENS: I always want to pitch well. Makes no difference if it's here or there. But I am just -- I am disappointed. I wanted to obviously be sharper than I was and definitely I didn't want to give them that much momentum early. They came out and got the momentum early off me. That is disappointing because I don't -- I didn't want to put our guys in the hole either. To me, two runs were too much at that point. I didn't want to walk anybody. I definitely didn't want to get in that stage, and two runs were too much. But I definitely wanted to obviously throw better than that.

ROGER CLEMENS: I don't know on the first question, I don't know if it's ever happened before. I just think I need to expand. I just think some guys are just too comfortable and it is not a great feeling to have, but I just think some guys get too comfortable up there and you like to expand and it is something that I think I need to do more of.

ROGER CLEMENS: Well, the boss was floating around the club house earlier too and I don't think -- I think he is a little under the weather and he came in especially for this. Obviously I am disappointed too. He flew up not feeling well. I wanted to make a better showing with him in the building than that, for sure.

ROGER CLEMENS: I made some -- my location was okay at times. A couple of balls ran back over, like you said, the four-seamer usually doesn't do that, but you know, not -- I don't feel like I was rushing too much. My motions were under control. I felt real comfortable out there. So, yeah, I don't -- I didn't experience like I felt that I was wild and I couldn't get the ball in the strike zone. I made some good pitches. I think someone hit one off the end of the bat; another one hit the ball in the hole. That is when you want to minimize big innings. They just kept coming. I think I had two outs when they pushed another run across.

ROGER CLEMENS: It was off a little bit. Again, they didn't offer at some good pitches I threw down and they got in hitter's counts. But it is just the way it goes. I am disappointed. Again I felt I had plenty of stuff to continue and get the job done, but I was pitching from the wind up a bunch of times with men on second and third.

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