NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 10, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK McKEON: He got an elbow in the head. We thought it was his leg. But he got out there and he got an elbow in the head. He was shook up for a bit, but he did all right.

JACK McKEON: That was a tough one. I mean he hit the ball pretty good. From our angle I don't know whether it was going to be over his head or not. But it was pretty well tagged. A possibility of a doubleplay. I couldn't really tell. It looked like he split the guys just right.

JACK McKEON: I don't think so. I don't think there was any discussion about that. I think it was one of those bang-bang plays and he couldn't get out of the way and he was trying to cover the base and the guy was running hard. There was no thoughts along those lines.

JACK McKEON: I thought this was a seven-game series. Really, reading all the articles you guys write, I didn't know whether we should show up tonight. So, we figured we're in a seven-game series, so we'll play it one at a time. I think we did a pretty good job tonight. We had lots of opportunities, didn't score, didn't get a few breaks, got a few breaks and couldn't cash in. But I didn't think we were intimidated by any means. And we were down 1-0 to the Giants and came back. It's possible to win three in a row. We've done it before.

JACK McKEON: Well, it's true. He was going for third, two outs and running on the ball. He probably didn't expect the ball to go through his legs, and all of a sudden -- if he had kept going, no problem. But you can't fault him because you're stuck out there and he probably didn't think the guy was going to pick it up as quick and figured he'd get back to second. And probably if he had second thoughts he'd kept right on going to third base and probably made it easy. He's a hustling little player, an aggressive guy. And I can't fault him. He's a gamer. It's one of those things.

JACK McKEON: Well, they're good pitchers, there's no question about it. But from what I read, it looked like we didn't have a chance. And this is a tough game. This is a tough ballclub. They've got a good ballclub and those guys are good pitchers. But this is the Major Leagues and some nights anybody could hit anybody, and some nights pitchers can get anybody out. I thought we handled ourselves well against both of those guys. From what we read, we didn't have a chance. But give them the credit, they're good pitchers, no question about it. But we're not intimidated by

anybody.

JACK McKEON: He does a good job, he's like our guy. Lofton is doing a much better job getting on base. And they're pitching our guy very tough, and to their credit. But Lofton seems to be one of those guys that hits the ball, he finds a way. Rarely do you ever see a first baseman, our guy, miss the ball. He didn't miss the ball, just jumped up on him, took a bad hop. That's the kind of breaks those guys that can run get. Just like you strike out Castillo, the ball gets away. You kind of wish you'd struck out somebody who couldn't run, you'd have a chance. But that seems to be the way it is all the time. That's like you tell your guys don't walk Lofton or don't walk Pierre, and invariably they walk them. You get to Sosa or Cabrera or Lee or somebody. It happens.