NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS v CARDINALS

October 17, 2004

Tony La Russa

TONY LaRUSSA: First of all, catching, we put so much on our catchers, I think it's something we've done quite a bit during the year just to keep Mike (Matheny) fresh. He'll be back out there tomorrow. We really like getting Molina involved in the series. He and Jason (Marquis) have had some good games together. Same thing, just get an extra left-hand bat in leftfield.

TONY LaRUSSA: If you get the ball down, they look at them all. Clemens got the ball down; he got a lot of strike calls in the bottom of the zone. One thing that Dave (Duncan) focused on in spring training is we were way too much up in the zone the year before. We got penalized. Even though we gave up some home runs, I think we were right near the league leaders for groundball outs. Just inconsistent a little bit. I say, "little bit," we've given up a bunch of home runs so it's more. But it isn't the strike zone, it's just doing a better job of getting the ball down there.

TONY LaRUSSA: You'd have to ask Phil (Garner) about his changes. But our side, we just try to play the game on whatever's there. We've run a couple times, started to run a couple of times. Fact is that a lot of runs are scored on extra base hits, especially home runs. But to just speak for ourselves, we're not going to sit around and wait for somebody to hit the ball out of the park, especially against good pitching. That's tough to do.

TONY LaRUSSA: Oh, boy, I got a whole bunch of them. The whole day thinking about being two up, two wins from a World Championship. I remember Roger Craig had promised after the two losses in Oakland that the fans would cook up something special for us when we got to Candlestick. That's what I thought when I heard all that booming, I thought it was just fans pounding their feet. Then I saw the light stand was waving. I said, "They're enthusiastic, they're not that enthusiastic." But mostly it got to -- a lot of things happen where you realize you're playing a game for your living; it's your work. But still it's not real life, and the tragedy that was involved; it was just really distracting from the series. We were away 11 days. By the time we got back, it wasn't the same. You realize how serious the issues were - people losing a life, losing property. It's bad stuff.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, whether it's postseason or whatever, it's always appropriate. It's about the game. This is our game, the fans' game. I mean, there have been players to step forward and say they've used them. It's a fact that has to be addressed between MLB and the union. They've taken some steps whether people think they're adequate or not. All I know is that I'm a fan of the game more than anything else, and I want the same certainty they do, that you're seeing players out there like the old days, without any enhancement. So I just think generally we got to clear that up. And there isn't any stance too tough to make sure we've got everybody's confidence that we're doing it right. On an individual basis, though, I mean, I shy away from saying anything because I think some of the spectacular names get included and that's really unfair. Nobody should be prejudged. Everybody's due their chance to set the record straight themselves.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, I'll tell you what one of his strengths are, that fastball when he's looking for it, it's up there, says, "Hit me." He hasn't been missing it. He's a real good hitter. There are other real good hitters with the Astros, others in baseball. What you have to do is you got to mix what you do and you have to make location pitches. Even if you make a location pitch, if you repeat a pattern, he's smart enough to look for it. He does what good hitters do, and the only thing you can do is mix up what you do and make sure what you mix is executed.

TONY LaRUSSA: Well, I think we treat Beltran as a very dangerous hitter. But one of the things that works in the lineup, like today, if you look at what Bagwell, Berkman and Kent are hitting against Marquis, it's pretty tough to say, "Hey, you're on base." I think we treat him like a dangerous hitter. We're going to go after him, but we're going to try to make quality pitches. And he's not the only dangerous hitter they have. I think that's one of the standout things of the series. We have dangerous hitters that both pitching staffs have to face. You're seeing the damage that happens when anybody misses.