NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 9, 2003

Mark Redman

MARK REDMAN: I don't know. You have to make the pitches and hope the runs are minimal that you give up and plentiful from your hitters.

MARK REDMAN: We split the series up in Chicago. I think that's exactly what we wanted to do, like we did in San Francisco. I don't think it's a personal thing anymore in the playoffs, okay, this one pitcher, Brad Penny, got to win this or Josh Beckett got to win. It's not about getting the individual win, it's about winning the ballgame, and we did what we wanted to do as a team.

MARK REDMAN: Leadership. He's brought that strong influence, leadership and his influence of how to play the game. He calls a great game. He takes pride in calling a good game. And when he's up at the plate he takes the ball the other way. He has pride of going the other way, taking that base hit and moving runners over.

MARK REDMAN: He doesn't just call the pitch, he looks at what the hitter might be doing or the hitter's weakness. You can see that as the pitcher, standing on the mound. He'll sit there for a while and think about what he wants to do, what pitch he'll want to do and he'll quickly give you the sign, and that shows you that he's really working behind that plate and thinking and trying to make it easier for you.

MARK REDMAN: They're outstanding pitchers, they've accomplished a lot at such a young age, and there's only a bright future ahead of them.

MARK REDMAN: That was a blessing in disguise. When AJ, myself and Josh Beckett went down, the emergence of Dontrelle came. Would he ever had had that chance? Who knows. God willing he got the chance. And that's what we needed as a team. And the city of Miami. The same with Miguel Cabrera. He had the opportunity to come up here and excel to the highest. Those two guys put us where we're at.

MARK REDMAN: I just think it's the fact that any home team plays in their home park they're just going to do well. I still agree that we need a new ballpark. I think if we get fans able to have directed seats toward the plate, that would be more comfortable for the fans. But we're playing in a football stadium. And it's not baseball. But it's nice, in these circumstances, to have the 70,000 seats available for our fans to be able to sell it out in these three games, because it's really going to boost our team up this weekend.

MARK REDMAN: I'm pitching at home, you know, that's the thing. Fans are on my side tomorrow. It's tough for Josh and Penny to go out there and settle down right away and get that comfortable feel out there. They've given up some first inning runs. But as a pitcher it's nothing to worry about. Our team all year long has been battling, they never give up. This team will not give up, until that very last out is given, and we'll come back the next day and play hard again. So if I could go out there as a pitcher, and I'm speaking for all the starting pitchers, if you can set the tone early it makes it a lot easier for your team, not to fight back. And just like getting four runs on the board for yourself, it makes it easier to pitch with.

MARK REDMAN: Yeah, I think myself and the other starting pitchers on this team pitched accordingly to this field. You make them hit to the bigger part of the park, and that's out there in centerfield. And we've got one of the fastest guys in baseball out there running them down. You have to play accordingly and also you have to see what the wind is doing out here, because any given day the wind can be blowing out or blowing in or swirling. And same with Chicago, from what I understand. I haven't gotten to play there much. But down the line it's 355 (feet), it could play like 255 one day, or 455 if the wind is blowing in. We didn't have the wind blowing in, but it works both ways.

MARK REDMAN: No comments at all. There's absolutely no comments. He made a mistake at that time, and it's not even coming across our mind now. He's a professional athlete and he won't ever do it again.

MARK REDMAN: Yeah. Yeah, he did come in and challenge us. The thing that I remember, he came in and said a little dedication, a little hard work you can be right there. But the way he took that approach to say that was like, look, I don't have to be here. He wanted to come down here and work hard. He watched a couple of our games there in April and saw that there was something there and when he had the opportunity to come here and felt truly strong about this situation that we could come from it, as long as we put a little dedication and not give up. He wanted to make sure this team wouldn't give up, especially early on with all the breakdowns we had with injuries.

MARK REDMAN: They're great hitters. Minimize mistakes, I guess, unless you've got an idea you can tell me.

MARK REDMAN: Yeah, at least that pitch slipped. I normally trip on the mound. My mistake is I'll trip and roll around on the mound for a while. Those things, you know, it's good that something like that happened, it shakes the team up a little bit and gives us a little laughter. Because no one was really upset. We were happy that we came out split. And that sort of like broke the ice a little bit before we jumped on the plane last night, that was good.