AL DIVISION SERIES: MARINERS v WHITE SOX

October 2, 2000

Jerry Manuel

JERRY MANUEL: Well, he was still feeling some discomfort, and we didn't want to take a chance in him not feeling good or hoping that he would feel good at some point during the playoff series. So we made the decision that it would be best that we hold off on Cal Eldred since it was such a tough surgery to begin with.

JERRY MANUEL: Baldwin and Lowe.

JERRY MANUEL: Tomorrow -- I mean second game.

JERRY MANUEL: Parque, Sirotka, Baldwin, Lowe. I thought you said "after Sirotka."

JERRY MANUEL: That fourth game, I'm just putting out things out there. (Laughing.) You got to be careful with me.

JERRY MANUEL: He matches up pretty well against this particular club, he's had some success against this club, and also he feels real good, and this period that he'll have in between will give him a chance to get on the mound, which is something that he hasn't been able to do on a regular basis since the, you know, the shoulder flared up on him. So this will give him a chance to have a side day in between the start, and it will put him right on schedule.

JERRY MANUEL: Well, first of all, Eldred, yeah, we'd possibly, you know, depending on how he feels, yeah, he would definitely be a possible candidate later. The answer to the first part of the question is that, you know, I think Lou has done a good job with that particular club. I think a lot of times when you lose a superstar, a lot of other people start to emerge and evolve and, you know, start to take on bigger roles and I think that's what has happened with that team. I think they put some good men together when you had Olerud, McLemore, even, you know, Mike Cameron. Cameron's not only a good player, but he's a good man. So I think that lends to, you know, somewhat to chemistry of a clubhouse, and not that Griffey took anything away from it, but it's sometimes difficult for a team when one guy's getting all the attention and nobody else is. I mean that's just my opinion. I really wouldn't know, you know, Lou would probably be better to answer that than myself.

JERRY MANUEL: (Laughing.) Yeah, they have, since June. We're very excited about this opportunity for this particular group of players. We feel that we have a very special group of young men who have from spring training bought into the philosophy of team rather than individuals, and, you know, have -- we've fought together, we've lost together, we've won together, we've put together streaks. We've had a good year. We've had a real good year. We've had some bumps in the roads, but we've been able to, you know, overcome a lot of things. So I'm very excited about this opportunity for this group of men. This is probably as close a group of men that I've been around in, you know, in all my years of being in professional baseball. I think regardless of what happens, they'll remember this year as a special year for a long time.

JERRY MANUEL: No, we're gonna go with eleven pitchers, and Chad Bradford will be the guy that replaces Eldred on the roster.

JERRY MANUEL: Well, I think he matches up pretty good from all the right-handers that they have, A-Rod and Camerons and Hendersons, so on and so on.

JERRY MANUEL: That will probably be a last-minute decision, we'll probably determine whether we take an extra infielder or outfielder.

JERRY MANUEL: Herbert's okay, we just want to be sure.

JERRY MANUEL: Well, I think in Frank's situation, I think the biggest thing that changed Frank was the fact that Frank decided to make some adjustments. I thought over the years just by seeing him from a distance, you know, his -- I thought his stubbornness was probably his best weapon and his discipline also was his best weapon, but I think the league made an adjustment to Frank and it took the league a while to adjust to him. And Frank, in turn, made the adjustment back. And I think that's the biggest thing that I see in Frank, is that Frank is willing to make an adjustment not only during the course of the game but during the course of an at-bat. A lot probably has been made of our confrontation in spring training, but most of that was really miscommunication and most of that miscommunication was all my part.

JERRY MANUEL: Well, I think the thing is that in order to get to post-season, obviously you are gonna have some casualties. Unfortunately for us, they lie in the area of starting pitching. And what we have to do is to be able to overcome those things, and I think we have enough men that we could do that. And I'm just looking forward to it and excited for our opportunity. I mean we might be sending out a Gideon's Army, but I'll take that Army any time.

JERRY MANUEL: Sirotka threw a little bit on the side today, had some -- threw some breaking balls that he felt very comfortable with, and we could have probably started him tomorrow but we think the extra day will do him a world of good. So we feel pretty comfortable with him going the second day.

JERRY MANUEL: Yeah, that could be accurate. That scenario.

JERRY MANUEL: Basically -- Herbert's fine, we just want to look at everything possible a little bit later this evening, and then, you know, make that final decision before the morning. But Herbert's fine.