NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS v CARDINALS

October 20, 2004

Phil Garner

PHIL GARNER: Not necessarily. Ensberg hit a home run off of Morris the last time. Lamb has played a big role in what our club has done the last couple of months. There have been sometimes I have wanted to get him in there and play. Morgan was doing well, and Morgan will continue to do well. I just like to get Lamb in and get him some at-bats and get him into a ballgame and see what he can do.

PHIL GARNER: I didn't even really think about it, to tell you the truth. I don't want any distractions, I don't want my players to have any distractions. To me, those are things that take away from what's going on, really the game situation. I didn't think that much about it. Baggy took a little exception at first, and there was all of a sudden this little flair. I think we put it aside. I'm okay with whatever the league does. We'll let it go at that because I really didn't give it much thought.

PHIL GARNER: Well, what you're seeing now is stuff we've seen several different times over the course that he's been with the ballclub. We saw it when we started winning somewhere in the third week in August there. He played a couple of stretches just like this where he hits the ball so well, steals bases and plays so well defensively, I think it's exciting for a player like that to get on a stage like that and be able to strut his stuff. People can really see what kind of a player he is. I can't say enough good things about Carlos because we obviously don't get here unless he plays the way he's played. He's meant a lot to us just in the sense of just sheer confidence when you go on the field. You feel good that he's on our side. You feel good about what he's going to do for you. As much as you want to talk about how well he's doing, you feel like you're taking away from some of the things everybody else has done, too. Really everybody's had their days and have played absolutely brilliant ball. We don't win unless Berkman and Kent and Biggio and Bagwell and Ensberg and Lamb and all the rest of them pitch in and do something well, too. When I talk about Carlos, it's great to talk about everything he can do because he is a guy that can beat you with his bat, beat you with his power, do it from both sides of the plate, he can beat you with his legs and he can beat you with his arm. You haven't seen him throw anybody out, but going down the stretch he was throwing guys out from centerfield. You don't see that very often anymore today. In big ballgames he was making great throws and throwing people out in key ballgames that were keeping the other team from either tying the score or going ahead of us in late-inning situations. There's really nothing this guy can't do. I'm glad that the whole country has been able to see it now.

PHIL GARNER: Well, I would -- I lived in Houston, before I took the job. I'm a baseball fan for the Houston Astros anyway. I think it would be wonderful if the Astros could be able to keep Carlos, aside from that. I haven't looked at my situation, and I'm not looking at the team's situation beyond this year. But just as a thought, he's a tremendous talent, and it's a pleasure to watch a guy like this play. He's the kind of guy that you can come watch ten ballgames and you're going to see him do something exciting in probably eight out of the ten ballgames. So obviously he would be a treasure and an asset for the community and for the ballclub. So I would hope whatever works out, it's a wonderful situation that he's in, whatever works out I would hope that for the Astros and for the city, some way to work it out so he can be able to stay.

PHIL GARNER: I did do that with Pete down the stretch, and he did a good job under those somewhat difficult circumstances for a pitcher sometimes. I think we've got to see how the flow of the game goes. I'm not predetermined to do anything at this moment. We'll see how he's pitching, we'll see how our offense is working and we'll determine that. I do have the luxury of having a bullpen that's not overused so I don't have to stretch him. It's not imperative that we get six or seven innings out of him. So I have that luxury going into this ballgame. But we'll see how it goes; we'll see the flow of the game.