NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 10, 2003

Dusty Baker

DUSTY BAKER: There's a lot of emotions in that game, period. When that whole sequence of the at-bats in that inning, because I thought that might have been a game-ending double play. And it was real wise of Remlinger not to -- they were hoping -- I knew it was going to be tricky. It could have been a close play at first base, the way Lee runs. Actually that helped us in that situation, because Lee can run, and on that play he was a little off balance. And we started thinking, please don't throw it wide, because Castillo is going to keep running. I'm glad it happened the way it did and the way it ended.

DUSTY BAKER: Well, I was hoping that wouldn't come back to haunt us, those runners left on base. We left quite a few runners on base early. You've got to give Redman the credit for throwing quality pitches, and not giving into hitters, he pitched masterfully. He's a crafty left-hander. Those guys can get out of that situation better than anybody. The game boiled down to pinch hitters. Goodwin had a triple and Randall hit a home run and then we had the big double or triple by Glanville, but they got some clutch hits from their bench. Hollandsworth tied up the game, and Rodriguez is something else, you hate to have him come up there. So to answer your question, it's the value of having a good bench.

DUSTY BAKER: I figured they'd bring in Looper in that situation. That's the thing you're supposed to do. And I didn't consider him for Glanville, because he can hit that fastball, even though he's 1 for 9, it seems like this whole series it seems like -- I couldn't afford to run out of a man. But I'm glad it worked out.

DUSTY BAKER: I don't know. I really don't know. That was a line drive, I don't know if Mordecai would have gotten it or not. But we took a chance, and Doug, he did some great hitting. I don't like to think about what would have happened afterwards. I only think about what happened during.

DUSTY BAKER: I can't tell you that.

DUSTY BAKER: Part of my thinking was that I know Doug can hit that fastball. I don't care if it's shot out of a bazooka, he can hit the fastball. And it worked for us.

DUSTY BAKER: No, not really. I mean it goes back to I thought Doug had a good chance to get a hit. We had a fast runner on first base, and Doug hit one double play all year long, and we couldn't afford to erase that inning with a double play.

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, they're real big. Farnsworth came in and got some big outs. Joe had a 3-2 count on Hollandsworth and he got a hit and Joe went deep into the ballgame. He pitched longer than he's pitched the regular season. And then Mike Remlinger came in and did the job. It was an outstanding job by everybody on the team.