NL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS v BRAVES

October 9, 2005

Chris Burke

CHRIS BURKE: I'm sure there's maybe a couple, but for me, obviously not even starting the game in the lineup, this is about as good as it gets. You know, there are so many things that happened throughout the course of the day, guys made huge plays and luckily I was the guy that made the final one.

CHRIS BURKE: We had obviously not done anything for a few innings. I was actually going up there, thinking about laying down a bunt the first pitch. Once he threw ball one, I kind of changed my mind and decided to maybe try to hit an extra base hit, figured being ahead in the count, maybe I was going to get a fastball. Then ball two goes by. You know, to be honest with you, I thought of nothing different than I normally would in a 2-0 count, "Get a good pitch and take a good swing." That's the way it worked out.

CHRIS BURKE: Yeah, I mean, the game turned into a little bit of a three-ring circus. Things were going on, Rocket coming out of the bullpen, Chavez played first base, Bruntlett played like 12 different positions. It was just a crazy game. When they posted it was the longest game in postseason history, I didn't realize it, kind of lost perspective on the whole situation. So once you see that, you realize you're going to be part of history. Honestly, any time you play an 18-inning game, you want to win it. You've been battling for so hard and so long, it's nice to win it.

CHRIS BURKE: Those moments, not that I've ever experienced that specifically before, but big moments like that always go by too fast. But, I think I'll always remember smacking five with Chavez, and just the roar of the crowd. Those guys, I thought about it the inning before, they've been giving their hearts for six hours. You know, they're still coming on their feet, when Rocket got two strikes on guys there down the stretch. It was nice to give them what they came for, and to clinch a series at home and end it that way.

CHRIS BURKE: I've been fortunate to have some big hits, but obviously nothing even comes close to this. But, you know, I mean, today was such a kind of microcosm of our season, really. We started off really slow, made a wild flourish there at the end and came out on top. Hopefully, we can keep that script going and play the Cardinals tough.

CHRIS BURKE: Definitely. I can't speak for the rest of the guys, but for me, in those types of situations, especially -- unless you come up with a certain task at hand, whether it be getting the runner over, bunt situation, something like that, I know most guys in an extra-inning situation, especially the home team, are probably thinking about hopefully getting the pitch to drive and ending the game with a one-swing at-bat. It definitely ran through my mind a couple times. Fortunately, it worked out that way.

CHRIS BURKE: You know with Phil, he runs guys in there all the time. You always have to be ready. I think obviously he liked the spot with Morgan (Ensberg) and Baggy (Bagwell) coming up. He was figuring, I'm sure, that one of those two guys had a great chance to get a hit, and so he was trying to ensure us scoring a run. I'm just a soldier. I do what I am told. When he told me to go in the game, I didn't sit there and think, "Is this the right move or not?"