NL DIVISION SERIES: MARLINS v GIANTS

October 1, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK McKEON: First I apologize. It's no fault of Katy's. I didn't desert you guys. I just couldn't get here. Steve will verify that. We had two cops with us, we just got mobbed. We came through -- I don't know where we come. We were down the road here somewhere, couldn't find our way back. We had a deluge of fans there. It was an unusual situation, I guess. But I didn't want you guys to think I stood you up because we got beat, because I just love visiting with you (laughter).

JACK McKEON: I don't think it's anything to it myself really. You know, sometimes you want to decide, "Hey, do we win the first game and take our chances the second game, or do you want to go and shoot the works, go for two?" Who knows what Felipe is thinking. That's their prerogative. But I don't think it's anything but a case of them being undecided which way they want to go.

JACK McKEON: I don't know. I haven't had time to digest that. I'll think about that maybe in the wintertime (laughter).

JACK McKEON: Yeah, every at-bat you have to figure out what you're going to do. You know, like I said to most of you guys yesterday, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't really when it comes down to it. You walk him, he scores. He pitch to him, he hits it in the cove, I'm out there swimming for the ball (laughter). But, you know, he's a great player, and I think, you know, in all respect, he should take it as a compliment because of his tremendous talents. You know, we're in this business to try to win the game. Whatever you have to do, you have to do. And sometimes it works, sometimes you don't work. That gives you guys plenty of options to second guess.

JACK McKEON: It comes down to the situation. I can't tell you whether there's going to be two men on, one man on today, right now, or if he's going to come up. You know, I thought it was perfect timing the two outs, nobody on, I had supreme confidence in my pitcher to get the next hitter or two out without them scoring a run. Unfortunately, got picked off. The pitcher made a low throw to first base and he got to second base. Had he been on first base, maybe he wouldn't have scored. But, you know, the key was when he stole second base. If it had been a good throw, we possibly would have had him and we wouldn't even be talking about that second run.

JACK McKEON: Today he's not in the lineup, no. The next game is too far in advance to figure out.

JACK McKEON: If you go in our clubhouse right now, look at the guys, they're very relaxed. We've lost tough games, we lost to the Phillies tough games, had to come back. We could have been beaten again and out of it. We were fortunate in this area. Braves had us down. We came back and beat them. You know, a must-win. I think the experience these guys gained from being involved in those situations have made them stronger. They're not going out there with a must-win type thing, pressing, trying to do more than they're capable of doing. I think they're going out and playing relaxed baseball and I think they're confident. I think the ability to play in all those pressure games the last 15 days has helped them.

JACK McKEON: Well, I don't know yet. Like I says, it's going to come up to each individual situation. But after I had a night to digest it, just like you guys asking that question, yeah, if I could think about it after the game and say, "Well, maybe I would have taken my chances with him." But, you know, I'm making the decision. I got one second to make a decision. It can work or it can't work. I'm going to have to answer your question, you know, decide at that particular time which direction we're going to go and who's out there and who's pitching, how well, you know, he's got command.

JACK McKEON: Well, I think I probably would have done it the same way. We did pitch to him two out of four times. No, I'm not going to get into that.

JACK McKEON: There was a lot of talent on this ballclub. It was just a question of trying to get -- to put it in the right -- guide it in the right direction. You know, I just had a meeting with the guys when I took over the club and said, "Hey, there's enough talent in this room that we can win this thing and play in October if everybody wants to do the things I want them to do." That was to work a little harder, improve their work habits, play smarter, play unselfish, and just go out and have fun. The biggest thing I saw in the club, they didn't have fun. You can't have fun and win (sic). Winning is fun and fun is winning. You know, we've been having a lot of fun. Thank you. That was easy. God, I got ten more minutes (laughter).