NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS v CARDINALS

October 16, 2005

Tony La Russa

TONY LaRUSSA: David and Jim in center, Albert, Larry, Reggie in left, Mabry at third, Molina catching and Grudzielanek is hitting eighth.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, it's just a good situation where we have Mabry who can play third, ready to go. As the day has gone on, Abe has felt better. You know he's having trouble walking, when he stood up this morning, and now he's been exercising and we're going to go out on the field and see how much he moves and see whether he's available later or not.

TONY LaRUSSA: He is in the lineup hitting sixth.

TONY LaRUSSA: So he's going to work out to see if he can play later if we need him.

TONY LaRUSSA: He's hitting fifth and playing left field. He gave me a thumbs up. I said, how we doing, boys, and he went thumbs up. I didn't want to ask anymore. So he's in there.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, he's been getting his treatment and it's another day, 24 hours later. Like I say, when I walked in, he had been getting treatment and he gave me a thumbs up, so I didn't push it.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, I think that's just the game. I mean, you can't play away from injuries. If you do, you won't have a chance to win. Just some things are freak plays and you don't hurt your legs unless you're on base, so different things happen. But we're deep enough to cover.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, I was encouraged yesterday with Larry. I thought he had some good patience, he laid off some pitches and the ball was in the strike zone, he put good swings on it. He bit that bullet up the middle, so, yeah, that's a good sign. Hopefully do more of the same today. Mark, he's just in one of those classic funks. He's trying to be aggressive and the ball is out of the zone and then he tries to be patient and he can throw the ball down the middle. So you move him to eighth, and I think he's going to create some problems for them there because he's had hits off of Backe and he sits in front of the pitcher, you know, deepens our lineup. So it's a little change of scenery for him.

TONY LaRUSSA: I think it's been true for 100 years, good pitching stops good hitting. If you don't have anything to hit at, you're not going to make consistent, hard contact. Once in awhile, we could have done a little more, like taken pitches to hit or chased the ones we shouldn't, but overall it's been good pitching. I mean, that's just the story of post-season. I'm watching whether it was Atlanta against this club or us against San Diego, whichever one you take, or you take what the White Sox have gone to Guerrero and Garret Anderson, if you pitch really well, it's tough, but it can change in one game. Today our offense could get cranking and that's the beauty of the game. Yesterday Lane was hitless. But that's just the name of the game and you keep playing.

TONY LaRUSSA: Like I said, I didn't ask. When I got the thumbs up, I said, okay, and I walked out so, I don't know.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, when you're outstanding, terrible just means you're really good, you know what I mean. I did not know when the game was on that he had got hit in the knee. I think there's a real good chance that that had some effect on how he was able to deliver and I understand location was a problem. And he's feeling better now. This guy is high quality. He'll be tough to deal with tomorrow. And we have Chris going. We can go out and win today and get even, it will be an interesting series again. So let's take care of today first. But we know Andy Pettitte is either really, really good or just real good.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, what we can't do is look to tomorrow. So we're not -- I mean, I mentioned it and I'm sure our guys know he's pitching tomorrow but this is all about today. We win today, this series is even, and we're good enough to win a game, and today is the day, the game that we have to win.

TONY LaRUSSA: Yeah, I think physically he feels good and I think the pressure of the post-season has got his concentration back to where it was a great, great majority of the season. One thing, it will be interesting to see if it's reported that I complimented Wally Bell on an outstanding game, because all I said yesterday was, if he gives him the inches we're in trouble, and he didn't. He had a consistent strike zone for both pitchers the whole game, and I hope that gets reported that he was outstanding.