NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS v BRAVES

October 6, 2002

Rich Aurilia

Dusty Baker

Livan Hernandez

DUSTY BAKER: Well, Livan was very focused today. He felt before the game he was ready. He knows we needed it and he enhanced his reputation as a big-game pitcher and he's throwing the ball hard, 90 miles an hour using his fastball. He was sharp, really sharp and it really helped, the fact that we got some runs early, too. Glavine, and then Livan, he was just on his game and you could tell he wanted it.

DUSTY BAKER: I don't know. I just saw what I saw. (Laughter.) I don't know how to explain it. You can just tell in his eyes, you know, that he was ready from the opening pitch, you could just tell that he's ready. He's ready all the time, but sometimes, you could tell he got that really -- that focused look.

LIVAN HERNANDEZ: No. I tried to not put pressure in my mind. I know it's a big game and on the workout in the morning, I do everything perfect, I feel good, and I'm watching TV. I told my friends in Miami, I do the same things I do every day, and when I'm coming to the park, I'm coming to the park to practice, relax, and my mind is relaxed, nothing in my mind. I don't want to make a lot of mistakes in the game and I tried to throw the ball down.

LIVAN HERNANDEZ: No, I don't think about a no-hitter. The thing is they scored runs early. I tried to throw the ball down because I wanted a lot of ground balls and fly balls. I tried to stay in the game longer, and this happened today.

LIVAN HERNANDEZ: Yeah, somebody said before the game, I don't know who -- 5-1, or he's 5-l, 6-0 right now -- I'm sorry. (Laughter.) I know that we're going to the next level and the team is playing tonight to go to Atlanta to try to win, and the next level -- just try to win the game and go to the World Series.

LIVAN HERNANDEZ: I don't know. You're asking me one question. I think when I go out there, I try 100%, to relax, focus on the game. Because the mistakes in the game are more important. The pitches you throw, you know, every time you make a mistake today, it's one double for Andruw Jones and you don't want to make a mistake. This is a more important one, the playoff or something, you make a mistake and the other guy is swinging the bat.

RICH AURILIA: Not really. I felt like I've swung the bat well all series. I've hit the ball hard, and just coming into today, I think with Glavine, there's a sense where you have to be patient, but at the same time, if he tries to get ahead of you early in the count, you've got to try to take advantage of it. I think we as a club had a good approach against him the past two starts that he's had against us. You know, the key for us is getting on top early. We've done that the two games we've won this series and we'll try and do that again tomorrow.

RICH AURILIA: Yeah. I was just trying to get to third base with less than two outs. I knew it was deep enough -- I'm not the fastest guy in the world but I knew it was deep enough for me to get to first base. So I really didn't have anything go through my mind, that he was going to throw the ball to third or home. I was just concentrating on third base. We were fortunate that Benito didn't hit that ball hard enough to turn a double play and we scored a run.

LIVAN HERNANDEZ: You know, I called my brother, you know, I don't want to bother him in the playoff time. It's a time that you want to concentrate on the game and stay focused. I know he's in the bullpen with the Yankees. Now, I can call him tonight or tomorrow, and say, "Are you getting ready for next year," because you know....

DUSTY BAKER: It was very important because you didn't want them to get on top and figure they are going to race to the finish line and beat us and clinch here at our home. We didn't want them to beat us here at our house. It's very important. That's been our game plan for years here, jump them early, get on top, and a lot of times, the team that scores first is the team that wins. So it was very important for us to get on top, especially the way we did it. Kenny Lofton started off and then here comes Richie and all the other guys after him and we end up scoring two runs, and two runs the next inning. It was very important so we also got his pitch count up rather quickly, which is also very important; that we get into their bullpen, because we didn't want them to have a fresh bullpen if there was a game tomorrow. The thing Livan did as much as anything today, not only won the game, but we have a very strong and rested bullpen going into tomorrow's game.

DUSTY BAKER: Yes, I made the decision, and I'm sure Livan was not happy about it, but at that point, he was still strong and throwing the ball good. He had 114 pitches. He had not pitched in about ten days or two weeks, which he reminded me of the inning before. They had some very tough left-handed hitters out there. And Franco is an excellent pinch hitter and then Furcal. At that point in time we wanted to turn Furcal around, turn -- we didn't really want to face Franco at that point in time.

DUSTY BAKER: Livan will tell that you in different ways sometimes. Hey, that's Livan. He's a competitor. He's one of the best competitors I've been around. But at that point in time, we figured, hey, he had done his job, and it was time for the bullpen to do the rest. Sure, if Lockhart had not gotten on, then I would have left Livan in there for Franco. But at that point, I just felt that was enough. Gave the ball to Eyre and Nen closed it out.

RICH AURILIA: Well, he got ahead of me with two strikes. I was two in the hole and I was just trying to put the ball in play the rest of that at-bat. He threw me a 1-2 curveball and then I tell you, I don't even know what the pitch was I hit. I don't know if it was a fastball or a changeup, but it was something probably about maybe knee-high and just reached down there and got it. Here, you hit a ball good sometimes, you're not quite sure if it's going to be out of the park but I was lucky enough today, it was a warm day and the ball carries well here when it's warm, and I got it up there a few rows. I think the key for today's game, like we did in Game 1, we had a lot of key two-out RBIs. Guys driving in two-out RBIs. I know Benito had one and I had some. That was the key for us.

DUSTY BAKER: If you notice in these other games, the Yankees, the Angels, everybody, you're not confident until the final out because no team is going to concede a game. They are going to fight the entire game, and these guys have been here a whole bunch of times. You like the fact that you have the lead, but you are never really comfortable and confident until the game is over.

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, everybody is available to play. We have full confidence in a rested Russ. Hopefully they will sleep tonight on the plane, since we get in rather late. But, yeah, we have full confidence in Russ tomorrow. Hopefully Russ will come out of the series 2-0.

LIVAN HERNANDEZ: Two was great. I wanted to complete my game. I'm like that. I came off the mound laughing, because I get off the mound, I get off the game -- I'm like that. It's a game face, it's my game face. A lot of people think I'm mad, but I'm like that. I wanted to complete my game, but the bullpen is there, so I said, okay. I'm very positive when I'm pitching like that all through my career. It's good like that, I think for me.

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, I hope so and I hope they root for us, because we are rooting for the As, too. We're rooting for Art Howe and all the players we know over there because we have been in the same situation that they have been in. Yeah, I mean, we were sort of hoping for a Bay Area World Series, really. You know, we've got our work to do, and hopefully they can root for us the way we were rooting for them.