NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 11, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK McKEON: Lowell replaces Encarnacion. Same batting position. The outfielders will end up like they ended up last night. Cabrera in right and Conine in left.

JACK McKEON: I had a choice to put him in right or left. And Conine is more familiar in left. So we decided to go with him in right. I talked to Jeff, I read somewhere that it was a mistake putting him in left field because he played all these games in right field. But when I talked to him today he said he hadn't played right field for a while. But he's more familiar with left field.

JACK McKEON: He never played in left field before, either. So now he's got one game out there.

JACK McKEON: We did it before in left field. And he's an athlete. We've got good outfielders in right and left, and they've made some great plays, and never made some plays, so it's six of one, half dozen of another. I didn't know Conine was such a good outfielder until I saw him play out there. It's six of one, half dozen of the other. Put him in left, put Conine in right. He's more familiar and happy in left, so I put him there.

JACK McKEON: We're going to spend a little time with him out there. But I don't know if there's too much difference between right and left. It's a gamble every night.

JACK McKEON: Well, heck, they paid their way in here, they get the tickets, they're entitled to root for the team they want. Didn't really see it until that one inning, where it was noticeable. I don't think it had any effect on the players. It didn't have any effect on me.

JACK McKEON: Well, Encarnacion has been struggling a little bit, and I figured we'd get Mike in the batting lineup, and see if that helps us, give us a spark. You can't take the kid out of the lineup, he's been productive. Conine has been successful. The only one slipping a little bit was Encarnacion, and maybe a day or so will help him.

JACK McKEON: I'd like to stop their rabbits around the top of the order. No, we're not going to do anything different. We'd like to get our guys on a little bit more often. I don't know if that answered your question or not.

JACK McKEON: I think a lot of times you catch a guy and he goes two or three days, just not seeing the ball maybe well or chasing some bad pitches. But they bounce out of that. He'll be another offensive weapon off the bench, like Lowell was.

JACK McKEON: When he first went out there, I didn't know what happened. It looked like his leg and groin and shoulder. And finally I realized he got hit in the head with an elbow. But he was shaken up a little bit, but it took him five minutes to get his senses back. He was all right.

JACK McKEON: He's a tough kid. You rarely see guys come up from Double-A like Dontrelle and Cabrera that are mentally tough. These guys are tough. And they don't get intimidated by their surroundings and being in the Big Leagues. They felt like they belonged. And basically he's been pitching like he belonged since he got here. And one thing I said about him early was -- and he's probably been consistent most of the year, is when he gets in trouble he seems to be one of those guys that knows how to get out of it most of the time. I think that's a tribute to his mental toughness.

JACK McKEON: I think that's a combination of both. Last night was a freak accident, there was a bad hop, and that doesn't happen very often. But sometimes you get the breaks, and they got the first and the last break, and that was the ballgame. You'd like to stop their leadoff guy. But you've got to remember, this guy is 30-some-years old, has a world of experience in the postseason, he's a very intelligent player, and a very good player. I remember once in Cleveland, him and Alomar, you hated to see those two guys get on, just like the opposition doesn't like to see our two guys get on. If you keep them from getting on base, you have an excellent chance of stopping the run production in the first inning. Hopefully we can do it tonight. But we haven't been making very good pitches on them.