Oct. 8 Joe Girardi postgame interview

Q. What did you think of the opportunities you had against Chen tonight?

JOE GIRARDI:  Well, we had some, and we weren't able to capitalize.  He made some pitches when he had to, and obviously it was a pretty well‑pitched game on both sides, and that's why it ended up the way it did.

Q.  You just mentioned pitching.  What did you see out of Pettitte tonight?

JOE GIRARDI:  I thought he pitched a really, really good game.  I thought he had really good command of his fastball, his curveball, really all of his pitches.  The one inning they got to him, I thought they put some decent at‑bats on him.  I thought Andino fought off an inside pitch and got it to center field and McLouth hit a pretty good pitch.  The slider to Davis was probably one of the few mistakes that he made tonight, and that's kind of the difference.

Q.  Was running for Teixeira in the eighth inning an option for you?

JOE GIRARDI:  I knew we weren't going to be able to run on Matusz in that situation, so if I'm going to use Gardy, it's going to be a situation where I think we can run.

Q.  What did Chen do to get out of those jams do you think?

JOE GIRARDI:  I thought he pitched inside pretty effectively tonight to some of our right‑handed hitters.  I talk about his fastball, it seems to get on hitters quicker than what the speed indicates, and that's one of his strengths.  I thought he threw some good off‑speed pitches when he was behind in the count, as well.

Q.  A lot was made about the new format.  You got what you need in a split and now you get three games at home.  Does that seem a little more agreeable now, the way that it's set up?

JOE GIRARDI:  Well, we get to go home, and we've played very well at home, and we're going to have to continue to do that if we're going to move on.  It seems like Baltimore and us have kind of went back and forth all year, and that's what we did here.

Q.  You guys stranded runners in scoring position in four different innings.  Did this feel like a game dozens of times this year with your team?

JOE GIRARDI:  No, I thought our approach was pretty good for the most.  I really did.  As I said, he made some pitches and he has pitched some pretty good games against us during the course of the season.

Q.  When you had opportunities with runners in scoring position during the season, you didn't let on that it worried you because you had a lot of season.


Q.  You don't have a lot of season.

JOE GIRARDI:  Correct.

Q.  Does it worry you now?

JOE GIRARDI:  No, I believe these guys are going to come through.  I believe they're going to put good at‑bats, they're going to keep putting runners on, and they're going to break through.  I believe in them.

Q.  Did you think Cano could have knocked that ball down and kept that run from scoring on Reynolds' single if he dives there?

JOE GIRARDI:  I don't know.  I don't ‑‑ I didn't really think so.  I mean, I think that you look at Reynolds and he's a pull hitter and he kind of insided‑out a pitch, and that's not where you expect him to hit an inside pitch.

Q.  For Game 3, if only for the sake of giving Alex a little bit of a different look, would you consider moving him down in the order?

JOE GIRARDI:  You know, right now I don't plan on having any changes to our lineup.  You look at ‑‑ he squared up two balls tonight.  You look at the ball he hit in the first inning, he squared it up.  And then he had the other hard single.  Right now I don't have any plans to make any changes.

Q.  Ichiro had a crazy slide in the first inning to give you guys the lead.  Talk about what you saw from your point of view.

JOE GIRARDI:  It's an incredible play.  They put together a good relay, and we know that Davis has a strong arm, Andino has a strong arm, and somehow he got around Wieters.  Wieters is not an easy guy to get around, I can tell you that, with the size of him, but somehow he did it.

Q.  You guys have played the Orioles 20 times now and you're dead even.  What's going to separate the two teams over these last three games?

JOE GIRARDI:  Whoever plays the best.  I mean, that's the bottom line, whoever pitches the best and scores in their opportunities is really what's going to make the difference.