Last year was the toughest year of my whole career. I feel a lot more comfortable in New York this year. |
Loved it. It was well organized. Just meeting the kind of players you get to play with [was fun]. It's just a neat experience. |
Mo has been great all year, ... We can't expect him to be perfect for six months. |
Mo makes the perfect pitch, shatters the guy's bat in 25 pieces, and he hits it into right field. The whole complexion of that inning changes when the strike [on Castillo] wasn't called. |
Most people aren't going to understand that. They're going to ridicule and make fun of it ... unless you understand my background, where I come from, my passion for my family and my heritage. I don't expect anyone to understand. |
Mr. Steinbrenner has a beef. I understand, with the commitment he has. |
No. I haven't heard anything. There's so much positive talk going around ... I've heard about zero talk. |
Now that you're back and you're counting down to Opening Day, it's more of a clear thought process of what's going on. |
Now we can go and try to win in New York, and try to go to the next level. |
Obviously, October is something I need to improve on this year. Winning a World Series, that drives me to the core. |
October is what I need to improve upon. But you can't think about October on Opening Day, you have to think about the present war. |
Once the ball was thrown away, we thought, 'O.K., let's take advantage of it,' |
Only two runs ahead, you'd go out there trying to hit corners. But with a three-run lead, I don't want to walk people. I tried to get ahead in the count, and I left a pitch right down the middle for [Posada]. |
Our offense is very capable. We'll come out fighting tomorrow. |
Our state of mind right now is that we're feeling good about where we are going. We're playing with a lot of urgency right now. We're playing with a lot of grit. |