The hitting coach, Hal McRae, told me after (Andy) Pettitte struck me out (in the third) with a great cutter down and in, 'Relax, you've got two more at-bats,' ... Obviously, I had three more at-bats.

We just told each other we can't lose. This is the way (interim head coach Andy Kennedy) put it - someone was going to be a nail and a hammer. Someone was going to have their coffin shut tonight. We couldn't let it be us.

I told [third-base coach] Mark Berry to give him the lineup card.

It doesn't matter what the scoreboard says. I'm always having fun, talking to other guys. They even come to first base and ask me about hitting. I try to help them out as much as I can in the 30 seconds before the pitcher throws the next pitch. That's me. I don't think I will ever change that.

Coach [C. Vivian Stringer] told us before it even started that it was going to come down to the last seconds.

[Hurdle] told me the tryout was over, and as long as he is the skipper, I'll be hitting cleanup, just keep doing what I was doing,