NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v CARDINALS

October 12, 2000

Edgardo Alfonzo

Jay Payton

EDGARDO ALFONZO: Tell you what, last couple postseasons, we were playing, it's been like that. We know what it takes to win when you're doing all the sacrifice early in the game and you go to the end of the game tied. And it's like back and forth, and we go ahead, they tied. The one thing we just set our mind to, to never give up, just keep fighting until the end. And tonight, one more time, we proved it. That was a great feeling after Jay got the big hit and we won.

JAY PAYTON: Yeah, I mean for me personally, when you're surrounded by great players like Fonzie and Piazza, Zeile and Perez, I have been able to learn a lot. They never give up. I watch Fonzie, to me he's my MVP. He comes up with big hits. I want to go out there and try to help the team do the same thing.

EDGARDO ALFONZO: When Timo -- that was when he got the base hit and worked the guy to a full count. He threw me a pretty nice pitch. He probably forgot, 90-something miles an hour. I just tried to see what I could do, and I get in the 3-2 count, I see Timo going, and the last pitch he's throwing me was kind of like a breaking pitch. I just started swinging. I just tried to put the ball in play, and that's a good thing when it went over the second baseman's head and Timo scored all the way from first base. That was a very great feeling.

EDGARDO ALFONZO: The first inning, well, the first inning was kind of a little scary, you know. But this guy just throw like -- he's a power guy, 90-something miles an hour. It was scary to see Timo get down quickly and fight, and when I come to my at-bat, I just tried to let him throw it and see what happened. Finally, I get a walk, and that was it. It just got a little scary.

JAY PAYTON: Not really. For me, I've been through a lot off the field with my surgeries to the point where I didn't think I would play again. Everybody asks me how I don't get down after -- I had a couple opportunities during the game to drive in runs and didn't get the job done. There's nothing I can go through on the field that can compare to what I go off the field. I go 0 for 20, I strike out the 20th time, I'm going to feel like I didn't get the job done. That's about it for me.