MLB WORLD SERIES: MARLINS v YANKEES

October 21, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK MCKEON: Well, I think so. I think for the reason that now they're getting some national attention and really haven't been as brilliant in these series or the other series as they have been all year. But I don't think a lot of players, media, recognize what these guys can do. I'm probably prejudice, but I've never been around an infield like these guys. These guys are like vacuum cleaners.

JACK MCKEON: Well, there's no question about it. I mean, basically they've taken the inside part of the plate away from the pitchers today. You see everybody wants to challenge, if you come close. I mean, I see it, that the reason for a lot of home runs is the fact that everybody wants the ball out over the plate. They're diving in, diving in. If you come close to them, they want to go out and fight. I mean, I would love to see some of these guys have to face Sal Maglie, Newcombe, Drysdale, Gibson. There would be a lot of fights. Them guys, they establish the inside half of the plate. I mean, pitcher's got to have a chance, too. It's like everybody talks about Pedro hitting so many guys. Well, he's established inside, the inside half of that plate. He wants it. If you're gonna pitch inside, you're gonna hit some guys. You're not hitting guys intentionally. You just want to get them off the plate a little bit, give yourself a chance.

JACK MCKEON: Well, first of all, I think he's healthy the whole year, that helps. I think he's been in a regular rotation most of the year. That's certainly given him more opportunities to go out there and work on his stuff, his control. He's had much better command this year than he's ever had. I think it's because he's pitched a lot of innings. I think, once again, the guy is like any other pitcher. The more you pitch, the better you can get. He's finally found the groove on his breaking ball and his release points. I just think the guy has really developed because of the fact that he's got the opportunity to pitch a lot.

JACK MCKEON: Well, I don't know how you want to classify him or how you want to rate him, but certainly he's got to be right up there, one of the game's top pitchers, what he's done for 20-some years has been remarkable. He and Nolan Ryan, those guys are all in the same class. They're great competitors. They know how to pitch. They've got great stuff, number one. But they've worked at it. You look and you read what Clemens, Nolan Ryan, Schillings, the good pitchers today, the effort they put into becoming a good pitcher, their work habits are tremendous. They focus. It all paid off because these guys are always 20-game winners, Cy Young winners. When you look at Clemens, six Cy Youngs he's got, you got to put him right up there with a lot of top pitchers of the game today.

JACK MCKEON: Well, Encarnacion is the odd man out again, like he was in the National League playoffs. Simple reason is that we have nine good players and only eight spots. When you don't have the DH, there's nothing wrong with his ability, just the fact that you got so many good players and you got to use your best judgment in which way you want to go. We had the same situation as I mentioned a while back with Mike Lowell. Mike Lowell was ready. He couldn't get back in the line-up. I think we were 20-8 or something like that with the line-up that was out there. If it's not broke, my theory is why fix it?

JACK MCKEON: Is our pitching rotation out of kilter?

JACK MCKEON: Well, we're gonna go pretty much with the same rotation we had. We did this in the playoffs. We changed one of our pitchers in the fifth game, or sixth game. That's a possibility. We've got to worry about getting to the sixth game first, if it goes that far. Hopefully, we can be successful not to go six games. If we do, we'll worry about the fifth game, sixth game if it comes up. We're not opposed to making some changes in our rotation. I don't know if that answers your question.

JACK MCKEON: Redman has done a good job for us. He's won 14 games. I don't think any of us are gonna have a heart attack if he goes out there. Maybe you are, but I'm not (laughter). Is that a Yankee fan or what?

JACK MCKEON: I just see the Yankee one.

JACK MCKEON: Well, I tell you, these two guys, when you look at our club, you're talking about a unit. When you want to talk about individual guys, I would say that Robby Alomar is the most instinctive player I've ever had, infielder. This guy had great instincts. You didn't need a coach or anything with him. He knew how to play the game, was outstanding defensively. Our guy is like him. He follows right in the path of Robby Alomar. Shortstop, everyone looks and sees Ozzie, Ozzie Smith is a very, very spectacular player. How can you say that Ozzie was not a Hall of Famer years ago? The biggest problem Ozzie had years ago was everybody didn't think he could hit and then later on in his career, he started to hit. I think that made Ozzie the all-around player. I'd probably have to go with Ozzie Smith right now, if that answers your question.

JACK MCKEON: I tell you, my family's really enjoyed this. It's a dream come true for them, myself. It's been a nightmare with all the tickets (laughter). But, really, they're having a good time. I got them flying in all over country today. They want to get an opportunity to be at the first World Series. Like I say, it's something special. After 50-something years in the game, they lived through it all these years, suffered all these years. It's just much more rewarding for them, probably, than it is for me. As much as I like it, too.

JACK MCKEON: Well, I like National League-style baseball. But when you're in a situation like you are now, I'd rather have the DH. But we're looking at a situation tonight where everybody is even again, we may have the advantage because our pitchers have hit before and their pitchers haven't. Our pitchers have bunted a lot; their pitchers haven't in game competition. I think when you can take, I don't know what their line-up is gonna be, but you can take one of their hitters out of the line-up, it makes it much easier for us. Like in the American League park, we're probably better off 'cause we got the extra hitter in there. But I like the National League-style of ball for the simple reason that I think there's more strategy, you're forced to make more decisions, more players get used.

JACK MCKEON: I don't know when my first memory was of Clemens. I know I followed his career. I can go back to remembering when I was general manager of the Padres. We kept talking about players, and I only had seen -- I hadn't seen him pitch in person but I'd seen him pitch on television in the college World Series. I remember saying to one of our people that we ought to take this guy. It was a couple guys, "Oh, we'll get so-and-so is better." Same thing goes with Mussina. I wanted to draft Mussina. Some of our people decided he wasn't the answer. I don't know about the first time I saw him, but I know he's a heck of a pitcher. Should be a Hall of Famer.

JACK MCKEON: I can't answer that right now. I don't know. We're trying to play Game 3 tonight and we'll worry about Game 3 tonight and Game 4 tomorrow and we'll see what happens. We got a long way to go before we go to Game 6 and it's too early to tell. He's the kind of guy right now that we're using him out of the bullpen because he gives us some strength on the left side. We'll wait and see what the outcome is next couple games, and see where we go from there.