NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 7, 2003

Mark Prior

MARK PRIOR: Unfortunately, I didn't get to face them, because it's right when I went on the DL. I'll go back and watch Woody's game tapes, I'll watch tonight. I think we have the tape of Jason Schmidt's game last week and what he did against them. And so I'll just watch and observe similar pitchers to myself, and see how they approach their hitters. And obviously I'll watch tonight and see how they're reacting to certain things. But that's really the only way for me to kind of gauge anything is how they might react to what I throw out there.

MARK PRIOR: Yeah, they do run a lot. They're a different ballclub than Atlanta and in some respects I think they're more dangerous, because of those top two guys, and they kind of set the table a lot of times for what they're going to do. And basically usually how I approach everybody else that runs, just try to keep close and throw over, step off. But I've got to stay focused on getting the guy -- my times at the plate are relatively quick, obviously with Damian and Paul, they have good arms, and they throw out their fair share of runners. I'm not going to do anything special, I'm not going to do anything different. Hopefully we just catch them off guard. And I'm sure there might be some pitch outs called from the bench, stuff like that, maybe make them a little hesitant.

MARK PRIOR: Obviously they're a little different, just from more of the peripheral stuff, news conferences, and cameras, all the pictures and videotapes and all that stuff they're doing on the field. Those things are obviously a different atmosphere around the ball field. But once the game starts and you get ready to go out and do your warm ups and do all the things I normally do in my routine, it pretty much stays the same, it's a normal game. Obviously the game is big, they're important. But once you get out and start throwing those first couple of pitches, you start getting a little more relaxed and pretty much just focused on what you've got to do.

MARK PRIOR: Obviously Dave and Sandy and obviously the team docs, I think they're important as anybody on every ballclub. And a lot of times -- we haven't had any injuries based on wear and tear. Corey's was kind of a freak accident, mine was kind of a freak accident, everything -- any major injury we've had has been kind of freakish issue. So a lot of credit to what they do in the preparation, and in getting ready. That's a big part of what Spring Training is about, and what the course of the season is about maintaining it, when to push yourself in the weight

room or running or conditioning, and I think they've done a great job, especially with the conditions we've had at Wrigley all year, a lot of rain and wet ground. There's been a lot of heat. So I think they've done a great job for us.

MARK PRIOR: Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know if anybody is a real favorite in this series, that's not taking any confidence away from the way I feel about our teammates. I think Florida has a great team, and I felt that way since we played them back in July. They have a great team. They have a lot of different weapons. But the main thing that they do, they just play unbelievable defense. And I don't think it's a secret that the extra outs helped in the series, and we're not asking to get those opportunities on this team. They have a great outfield and great infield. So we're going to have to be on top of our game, and not give them extra outs, and execute offensively, do the things we have to do to be successful. So they're a great ballclub. I'm not saying anything that I don't think is already known. They're a great ballclub, they've been playing extremely well. I think it's going to be another really close series.

MARK PRIOR: Obviously Damian was there in 2001, and he's been part of the postseason, and played against New York, he's been in those pressure situations. And Paul, when he was in Atlanta, obviously with those gays, they've been huge. And they've been able to keep us calm and keep us in check when things are getting pretty crazy around us. And I think that's what makes them so good. It's not so much how great defensively they play, because they do an awesome job blocking balls, saving a lot of runs, and I think those are those things that go unnoticed from a lot of people, how good they are and how many runs they save us. When things are getting crazy, walk a guy here and there, when things start to unravel, they do a great job of coming out, settling you down, making you understand what you're good at and what your strengths are, and then tap into those things. And I think for me personally that's the reason why we love them so much, and why they're such a big asset to the team.

MARK PRIOR: I've thrown a lot of pitches lately, and thrown a lot of pitches down the stretch. But I feel fine. I feel as good as I did early on in the season. And I don't feel any -- I don't feel tired. Like I said, here, if I was tired, I wouldn't know right now, there's no time to be tired. There's no time to be sore. There's no time to be anything right now. This is what you dream about, and this is what you play for day-in and day-out through the course of the year, to be in the situation that we're in right now. We've got a long way to go if we want to get to that next step. But everybody is going to have to step up and play hard and fight through any nagging things they might have, mental or physical fatigue, you have to fight through it right now.

MARK PRIOR: I don't pay attention too much to advance scouting reports for the simple pitch to pitch. I think advance scouts help out the hitters and help out where to play defensive guys, and help out having a general game plan, you know, going into a game. But the honest truth is I don't think every day you show up things are different, so I think -- it might work the first time through the line-up, but that's what I said, I watched a lot of Kerry Wood's tapes, and Jason Schmidt's tapes, just to see how they reacted to certain things. You have to make adjustments accordingly. Through the course of the game you might change your plan or approach to a certain hitter two or three times, based on the adjustments they make. Obviously everybody is different and every game is different. I think the advance scouts, the advance reports just give you a general idea of what might happen, but it doesn't always hold true.

MARK PRIOR: You know, I don't really know, to be honest. I think a lot of it does come from Dusty, a lot of the mentality that he set forth in Spring Training, we're not going to give up, we're not going to back down, and we're going to fight to the end. It's simple and almost cliche as those comments are, they've carried a lot of weight with this ball team. People have pointed the finger at us as pitchers as saying we're instigators. I don't think we have been, honestly. There's been a couple of instances and I think they might have got blown out of proportion, but we're an aggressive team. We played aggressive all year, we pitched aggressive all year, and it's not because we're trying to be bad guys or try to have this bad boy image or anything like that, it's just what we've got to do to be successful. And we know what can come from it. We know that we might upset some people, and we know we might get thrown out ourselves. It's part of playing baseball. I don't mean to say -- the other day I know it was an unfortunate incident down the first baseline. We're not trying to put guys in those type of situations. I mean that's not part of the game. But playing hard, taking guys out hard at second base, those are all clean, and part of the game that I think both sides of the field, or both sides of the line people respect that.

MARK PRIOR: Well, like I said, we're aggressive. We play baseball hard. Dusty wants us to play hard. We'll go into second base hard. We'll throw up and in to get guys off the plate, whether we want to be considered tough guys or not, that's not for us to decide. That's whatever you guys want to write. And obviously you guys have written that. That's just the truth. We don't go out, hey, we want to be characterized as some tough guy. I mean I think you all know that we're all pretty nice guys, I think, away from the field. That's just part of the game. It's tough, it's a war. It's a battle going on between the lines. So between the line you are who you are, like I say, to be successful. And you've got to report to 25 guys in that locker room. And you want to carry your weight. And like I said, you have to do what makes you successful and make your team successful and give them a chance to win ballgames.

MARK PRIOR: You know, it's just his tenacity. He's had a long season. I think almost a tough season at times. In August when he had some back problems, people started to write him off. I think we all knew in the clubhouse and the guys close to him that he would come out and be strong, and be tough and be the guy that I think everybody knows him to be[]. He's the leader of the staff, so to speak, the captain, if we had one, I guess. When he goes, and he's pitching well, I think we all go. And we all fall in line with what he does. Game 1 and Game 5, those were two huge games in the course of a series, and he was as dominant as anybody has been in recent Division Series. That's just the way he is. He has the ability to be dominant, and when he needed to be this year, he was dominant, and that's the reason we're here today.

MARK PRIOR: We're going to dwell on this, aren't we? Larry has been great. I think a lot of my success through the course of this year is because of him and what he did with me last year, and helped me prepare and understand and kind of bridged that gap of experience that I don't have, where he has just an abundance of, because he's been around numerous years. So a lot of this game, there's a lot of physical talent, especially at this level, that people are on the same level as far as talent, but I think sometimes what separates people is obviously the mental side of it, but just the experiences, being part of the game when it's in the 8th inning, what do you do, what do you not do, necessarily. He's helped me bridge that gap and helped me make the transition when I needed some assistance. And as far as throwing inside, like I said, it's part of the game. Obviously everything now, a lot of it is offensive oriented. Ball parks are getting built smaller. Obviously guys are getting a lot stronger. That's it in any sport. With the advancements of weight rooms and nutritional stuff, that's just technology enhancing the game. And that's fine. But there's also some simple things that have been constant in baseball, and one of them is throwing inside. And obviously I think he comes from the old school where you've got to throw inside, you've got to knock guys down. And it's not to be a tough guy or anything, but it's to get the outside of the plate opened up. It's to get the inside of the plate where a guy can't sit on one pitch. Because I think almost 1 through 9, except for the pitcher, everybody can take a knee-high fastball in that corner and hit it out to right. So you've got to have guys think about different quadrants, other than the quadrant on the outside of the plate.

MARK PRIOR: I think a lot of it is upbringing, and being the youngest of three kids, there's no room for me to step out of line. My brother puts me in my place, my sister would put me in my place. And, like I said I think the other day, it's a humbling game. It's a game that really if you start thinking that you've figured things out or you start thinking you're on top of something, you're not. And it always comes back to bite you in the butt. It's a game where a lot of things are negative and you've got to do a lot of things to stay on top of your game and stay focused. And when you come to the ballpark, anything can happen. It's a game of streaks, and fortunately right now we're riding a good streak. And we also know that there's down cycles to everything, and there's downturns, but I think just carrying on and we all know that we've benefitted from each other, benefitted from being around each other, and hopefully we can be around each other for a few more years. A lot of it's out of our hands. But I think we know that we help each other out and a lot of our success is built on what we can do for each other.