NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 8, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK McKEON: I don't know, this is the first time we'll face him. We read enough and heard enough about him and I've seen him on television, we know he's an outstanding pitcher. We'll just have to go up there and battle and battle.

JACK McKEON: Well, you know that was a situation last night where we had a guy out there, our top reliever out there, we thought he could handle the situation. And we also knew that Sosa couldn't beat us if he hit one out of the ballpark. Yeah, we had an option. The guy behind him is pretty tough, too. Now, if you walk him and he hits a home run, you get beat. So we took our chances there, the best Sammy could do was tie the game.

JACK McKEON: The odds of Alfonzo hitting a home run were not as good as Alou hitting a home run. Alou was hot and he's always given us problems. You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. This is something you've got to do. If the situation is up, you use your instincts. If it works, fine, it if it doesn't, so be it.

JACK McKEON: I don't know, I've got the highest respect for Dusty. I managed against him a number of years in Cincinnati, and he does a remarkable job with the talent he's given each year. I like the way the players play for him, the way he manages the game. When the voting comes out for Manager of the Year, I always seem to have my vote go to Dusty. I've just got a lot of respect for him. I don't know, that's about all I can add.

JACK McKEON: Not really. I would say that if -- I don't know whether you want to call this a surprise or not. But I think our young players have matured a great deal in the last three months of the season. And I think that -- maybe that surprises me as fast as some of these guys have come along.

JACK McKEON: When you look at the young guys that we've had, and basically they're young, maybe 23, 24, 25, but they're still young as far as experience goes. And I think a lot of times that they really didn't focus on what was at hand. I didn't think they focused on the fact that hard work would pay off tremendous dividends. And I can't blame the players, because I think sometimes you come into the Big Leagues and this is the way it is. And you see a situation and this is the way it is, and they just follow suit. All I try to do is change the thinking a little bit, try to encourage them to improve their work habits, try to get them to focus a little bit better on their job, especially watching the opposition, how some of those good pitchers pitch, the Madduxes and Glavines and those guys, and learn a little bit every day. My philosophy was to try to come out to the ballpark and learn something new every day. I wanted these guys to focus on the good ones and see if they couldn't pick something up. Watch how they to approach hitters, ask what pitch they use in certain counts, see if they're not trying to strike out every hitter. They're making hitters hit the ball. They're getting a hit on the first pitch. And I think that along with the great job our pitching coach, Rosenthal, has done with these guys, is the reason for their progress. And yet I don't think that they have reached where they're going to be. I don't think they've reached their heights yet. I think they've got a lot of room for improvement. And I think they're going to be darn good pitchers very near in the future. I've got two guys that I think are going to be in the same category as Prior and Wood in a year or so.

JACK McKEON: I really don't have anything. It's always been a pleasure to come in here. I don't know what year I first visited Wrigley Field. But I think the ivy out there on the walls and the tradition that goes along with Wrigley Field, the fans, the small ballpark, the wind blowing, Harry Caray singing up there. Those are the things I remember most about Wrigley Field, but I don't have any special situation to recall.

JACK McKEON: As far as I'm concerned it's the most satisfying year I've ever had in baseball. I thought in 1988 when I took over the Padres when Katy's father (Charles S. "Chub" Feeney) annointed me to be the manager, I thought that was the most exciting year I had. And we came from about 14 or 16 games under .500 to finish up about five or six over, I thought that was the most satisfying year until this year. And I really don't want to sit up here and take credit for what these guys have done. I've got a wonderful group of guys that are all dedicated. I never had a club in my year that had 25 guys that were unselfish and dedicated and family than these guys are. I've got guys sitting on the bench that have a very good legitimate gripe to complain because they're not playing. But every one of those guys are pulling for each other, encouraging the guys out in the field, and I did, I apologized to these guys at the All-Star break, the extra guys. And I apologized to them and thanked them for the tremendous attitude they had. And I think that the guys out there tonight who are out there playing every day ought to be thankful for the supporters they have on the bench. And there's some veteran players out there that have been tremendous in their attitude, determination and cohesiveness. I'm just proud of the guys. They did the job, I just write the line-up out and stay out of their way.

JACK McKEON: They haven't been used to having big crowds in Florida. And I think every time we had a big crowd, and we started getting big crowds when Willis pitched. And the people came out and saw the exciting ballclub that we did have. And I think it started to attract more and more fans. And I think the last two or three weeks of the season when the people in Florida knew that we were going to be in contention for a Wild Card, they started to come out and support us. And I think we energized the community, really, the last month of the season, and subsequently they started to come out and we had crowds of 38,000, 30,000, even on a Sunday afternoon when it's so hot down there, 20,000 people. And I think they really appreciated what management, ownership did in going out and acquiring a couple of players with the trade deadline in order to say to the fans and to the players of this team, that, hey, we think you've got a chance, and we're going to do everything we can to support you and make every effort to help you succeed. And because of that we've had good crowds. And another fact is that every time we've had a big crowd we've come from behind, sort of like we did last night. And the fans down there just energize our players. And we played extremely well with big crowds.