{An excerpt of Don Mattingly's interview with Al Trautwig on MSG Network's postgame show Monday night:}


Trautwig: Does the chill in the air affect you at all negatively?

Mattingly: It just feels like I haven't gotten my body back since the Seattle thing [back spasms], missing those games, but it's a situation where I feel like it's my last 20 games with the Yankees and I really want to be on the field. I don't want to spend it sitting in the dugout, you know, it's time to go.

Trautwig: Is that how you're taking it, like it's your last 20 games with the Yankees?

Mattingly: Well, I look at like this season it's very focused on what's going on here, and playing it like that, yeah.

Trautwig: Wow, that's a fairly dramatic way of looking at it. It puts a little extra pressure on yourself, doesn't it?

Mattingly: Not really. I've always enjoyed playing and that's what I need to focus on - enjoying playing baseball down the stretch here. It's important for our club, to play it like that, to play it loose, to get after it this season and these games right now, and from there we move on. By David Lennon. STAFF CORRESPONDENT

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