NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS v CARDINALS

October 18, 2005

Mark Mulder

MARK MULDER: Well, it was late. A lot more guys were sleeping than I think we were -- I mean nobody was jumping up and down or anything like that. But it was a good win and we were obviously pumped and excited to be coming home.

MARK MULDER: He's obviously the best I've ever played with. I mean, I was with (Jason) Giambi the year he won the MVP and stuff, but what Albert does day-in and day-out is just so impressive, pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, it's a lot of fun to be a part of and fun to watch.

MARK MULDER: I'm not saying any more, it's maybe a little bit more impressive, yeah. But he's unlike anybody else, though. He's a special player.

MARK MULDER: Well, it's going to be fun. It's a challenge. I think everybody on this staff, including myself, you want to be out there in an important game and be that guy who has got to make the pitches and get the job done. That's obviously where I'm going to be tomorrow night and I'm looking forward to it.

MARK MULDER: I wouldn't say it's any easier. Obviously for our offense and the crowd and the support of the fans, especially the fans that we have here -- I'm not saying it's an advantage, but it's definitely nice to have, I guess is a better way to put it.

MARK MULDER: It's very nice to have. But you've still -- the crowd isn't going to determine whether I throw the ball. You've still got to make pitches whether you're at home or away. It's just having the crowd with you is obviously nice.

MARK MULDER: No, because it's the same as in the regular season if you face them two starts in a row. Obviously there's more on the line but you still go out there to make pitches. There's no advantage, disadvantage. It's just lots of times you face teams in back-to-back starts, one on the road and one on the road. Mine both happen to be at home so it happens all the time.

MARK MULDER: No, because that was amazing, you go from one moment, trying to prepare myself to pitch in two days to going, "all right, well, I guess I'm going home," to, "are you kidding me?" And then all of the sudden getting yourself ready to pitch again. Everybody would be lying if for one minute, one second you didn't think, "all right, it looks like we're going home." But all of a sudden, Eckstein gets a knock and Jimmy walks and Albert swings at a pitch in the dirt and the next ball he hits and it's like you see it going and you almost don't believe it because it was just such a shock. But that's the guy -- I said to Matt Morris the inning before, I said we need to get two guys on in these last two innings so Albert can get a shot. And he did.

MARK MULDER: It's the same as when we lost Games 2, 3 and 4. It's another game, go on to the next day. You can't let wins or losses affect you. Obviously it was a great win, so we're all feeling pretty excited coming home, but everything changes when you get on the field.

MARK MULDER: I don't think any of us are really thinking about that. We know it happened and stuff, but you haven't heard one person -- there's not one person who has said, oh, well the guys last year did it or the guys the year before that came back. There's none of that. It's just we know what we have to do, is we have to win. We have to win ballgames. If we lose, we go home. Everybody is well aware of that.

MARK MULDER: No. I mean, I'm always -- I'm always the same, you know, but obviously a game like this, you know what's at stake and you get excited for it. I know when I pitched Game 5 in Yankee Stadium, it's like I felt like I was sitting if the clubhouse for ten hours, the game just never seemed to start. You just get anxious, you want to get out there and you want to get the game going, and I'm sure I'll be that way tomorrow.