Q. Fernando, you have kind of inherited some chaos in both of your appearances this series, kind of the fireman role. At what point in your career did you get comfortable with the chaos and embrace the fireman role?
FERNANDO CRUZ: I think that's a goal for any high-performance athlete. That's the goal to be in those situations. I started imagining that since I was a little kid. I always shoot for that, to be in those moments, in those situations.
With this team, especially, I was a Yankee fan growing up, and I am always imagining those situations. Now I am completely doing what I was dreaming about, and it has been a blessing.
Q. You have talked a lot about just how this has all been a dream come true for you. When you think about it just with the years of team control ahead, have you thought about just the role you can keep carving out for yourself here? Do you allow yourself to dream of what you could be for this team too down the road?
FERNANDO CRUZ: Yeah, I always talked to my family about finishing my career here in New York. It is my favorite team. It is the team I grew up rooting for. Nothing better than that.
I am looking forward to stay here for a long time and taking care of my body to the way that I can give the best years of my career to this organization.
Q. Fernando, when you come into a game like last night's playoff game, big crowd, two runners on, nobody out, what does it feel like inside, and how do you control those emotions to be able to still do your job?
FERNANDO CRUZ: That's a great question. I have been working a lot with my mental health, mental department here with Chad Bohling, and working towards having a nameless, faceless opponent mentality, no matter what's the situation. Doesn't matter who is in there, you are going to go out there and execute, thinking about the next pitch all the time.
It has been a blessing for me, the mental department here in the Yankees. It is awesome. I give all of the credit obviously to my Lord that give me the strength, but to the persons that He had in the middle of my way here in the Yankee system to help me with it. And I think it is a really important thing that I have been able to work on that part that I never would before in my life.
THE MODERATOR: Fernando, thank you very much.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports