News:at Seattle Mariners-April 27, 2002

Lilly came within five outs of clinching the second such convergence of greatness- a no-hitter!

"When Roger told me that Lowe had thrown a no-hitter, I thought to myself that it would be fun to keep the momentum going for the pitchers," Lilly said. "I went at it today with everything I had, but I came up a little short. I'm disappointed."

"You know that you're walking a tightrope, playing in someone else's ballpark, with Freddy Garcia on the mound pitching his tail off too," said Yankees Manager Joe Torre. "It's a tall mountain to climb. Teddy was wonderful, he really was."

"I felt sharp. I went out there and gave it everything I had tonight," Lilly said. "Obviously there were mistakes I made throughout the game, and I was fortunate to get away with them against a club that can hit like this team can. We probably took away four hits from them by playing great defense."

"Once you get through the fifth inning, you realize it's a possibility. Once you get by the sixth, you get into it with every out," said Derek Jeter. "He had a chance, he pitched well -- he gave up one hit and lost, which is pretty hard to swallow."

"I was certainly aware that I was carrying a no-hitter, but I was much more aware that I was out there trying to win. I didn't want to be that guy that loses on a no-hitter," Lilly said. "We were in a close game, and I needed to keep us in a position to win the game. That's where I needed to be mentally. I wasn't trying for the no-hitter -- I was trying to win. That's the objective of the game."

"I wanted to make a better pitch than that," Lilly said. "If I get that ball up more or down more, who knows. It's hard to second-guess once I get that far. The fact is, I didn't make a good-enough pitch."

"The guy had been tough all day. He was keeping us off balance and we weren't getting many good swings off him," Relaford said. "He had pretty much everything working for him, he was using both sides of the plate, had a good fastball that was touching 93-94 at times and a great changeup. I didn't have any really good swings my previous at-bats."

"If it was 5-0 or 10-0, I would have been disappointed about giving up a hit," Lilly said. "But the games are won and lost on runs scored, not hits, so that was the toughest part. My disappointment was in the fact that it was 1-0 and we only had one more chance to score."

"I am happy with the fact that I was executing my pitches, and for the most part locating my ball well," Lilly said. "But to work as hard as I did and come up short is disappointing."

The one-hitter marked the 58th time a Yankees pitcher had accomplished the feat, though it was the first time that New York lost such a game in the regular season. The Yankees lost a no-hitter on July 1, 1990, when Andy Hawkins lost a 4-0 decision to the White Sox, despite holding Chicago hitless.

"He's done a hell of a job for us, he really has. He had every right to be proud of that performance, and I'm sure he was," Torre said. "I'm glad we have this opportunity to give him a chance to pitch a little bit. It's confidence for us, but I think it's a lot more confidence for him. I think he can go back to the bullpen with a lot more ease, knowing what he's done for us and for himself."

"I just wish we could've gotten Ted some runs," John Vander Wal said. "What he did was awesome."

"Higher or lower would've been fine," Lilly said.

"He was feeling it out there," said Jeff Cirillo. "You could see that he had a lot of confidence, he was throwing 3-2 sliders, fastballs inside. He had it all working." He was wonderful, he really was," Torre said. "The kid has really shown us something."

"I felt like, at times, they were up there guessing, sitting on a pitch," Lilly said. "To have them there is an advantage."

"I'm happy with the fact that I executed my pitches," he said. "But to work as hard as I did and come up short is disappointing."

"Its disappointing," Lilly said. "I realized where I was going and definitely felt that I was going to get there. But my attention was still on the fact that we were in a 0-0 game and I needed to keep it that way until we scored." "We were on the same page with what we wanted to do and the guys would pick me up with great plays," Lilly said. "Its tough to get into a game like that and work that hard and come up a little short."

"Today I had my best stuff. I was feeling pretty good and I had everything going," he said. "It was beautiful in the eighth when we scored the winning run. I had a lot of confidence in my teammates and I was really focused on what I was doing. I made good pitches at the right time."