NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS v BRAVES

October 1, 2003

John Smoltz

JOHN SMOLTZ: Yep.

JOHN SMOLTZ: The score has more to getting me revved up than anything else. If the score is favorable, often it works to my advantage. Otherwise there is not much I can do.

JOHN SMOLTZ: I can't comment at all about the crowd.

JOHN SMOLTZ: Unfortunately, yeah. That was one statement I was hoping to be wrong on. That happens when you've got a best of five series and you face teams that seems like the last couple years you like to think every team in the playoffs is hot. The Cubs certainly had to be hot to get here. Their pitching staff is duly noted for when they can do in a short series. It's kind of confusing the record that Kerry has, because of how good of stuff he has. We all know that didn't guarantee any victories. In a short series, stuff really does help. It -- I've always said the less a team can put a ball in play, the better your chances are. I think he had 11 strike-outs last night. This staff they talk about the Cubs with their bullpen, only becomes a factor if their starting staff doesn't pitch very well. Down the stretch, I don't think there was a pitching staff that pitched better than them with the exception of the Dodgers and they didn't make the playoffs.

JOHN SMOLTZ: Well, I hope I get a chance to at least experience that. That means we've at least had the lead or a tie game. Having said that the Wrigley confines are not going to be too friendly and neither is the weather. This is the part of the year where you relish the opportunities and you really don't know the answers to it especially in my case with the last month of the season. I'm fully confident in a back-to-back situation, you know, I say I shouldn't pitch three games in a row. If I have to pitch three games in a row, I did something wrong. The way the series are set up, we have three in a row, but if we lose today that will be the only scenario that will have me pitch three in a row. When the playoffs come, I obviously want to pitch in the right situation.

JOHN SMOLTZ: Yeah, it's been unfortunate in my short two years of doing this, but we've still got a long ways to go. That question can really only be answered after the year. From the onset when you come into a series like this and you have great expectation of every day being a vital role but whether or not that plays out is determined kind of like last night and the way this series can go.

JOHN SMOLTZ: No, I was frustrated. I could have easily just rested. At that point what I was going through wasn't what it was all about. I was grinding not to give up a run. I needed to get in there. The best was I learn 30 pitches, 29 quality and one bad one. My whole last month was really feeling out to see where I could be at this point and compost season you lay it on the line. I was very frustrated. I had to do more to keep the game tied. That's the part of the role that I think back to the year I hadn't given up two runs all year. I made vast improvements from last year. I learned a lot of things and had a sleepness night that night because I wanted to attain something I thought I could. The good news is the playoffs came right away. I didn't have to worry about that.

JOHN SMOLTZ: I think about it a lot. That's just the honest answer. I felt like I probably sealed my fate last year, but you never know. I don't close any doors just like I never thought I would be in this role these last two years. You never know. The one thing that I know I can do now and I know that my elbow is structurally sound. Unfortunately, I got tendonitis sometime back. That was a concern three years ago. That's not a concern anymore. It's a matter of which direction the team needs the role being fit.

JOHN SMOLTZ: It won't matter what we do this year. The debate is going to continuously be thrown out there. We've only won two World Series. It's the war of words. As a player, you can't fight, you can't explain, you can't justify. Our team knows what's before us. Our team knows that the passion we have to play with and the desperation we have to play with to win a World Series. It used to be an underlying feeling that we would get it right the next year. There is absolutely 100 percent across the board understanding that this probably could be it. If we do not win it all that this team is going to change greater than it's ever changed. With that being said we can't consume ourselves with trying to figure out how we're going to erase everyone's feeling of whether or not we're justified. I don't think anyone holds up the divisional titles as the goal accomplished from spring training. It's still a step you have to achieve to get the to main goal, with the one exception being the wild card which we haven't had to use yet.

JOHN SMOLTZ: I was humiliated and had great success in the same year. It has its pros and cons obviously. In '91 I was able to ride an incredible wave during the last half of the season. That became a weapon I had that nobody could fight because of my emotional involvement in the game. On the flip side, if not toned down the emotion the other way can cause you to go too fast, make too many mistakes, all trying to atone for the mistakes, and I think what I learned over time was to slow down instead of speed up. Every young pitcher that I've ever come across that you see struggle their number one common flaw is they go faster and they want to atone for their mistakes in a quicker manner. It's only human. From a standpoint of a dangerous player to play against he would be one if he gets on a role. The key is creating the enough traffic, enough animosity in a person's mind. That's the only way we have an average, to create pressure that's outside of the pressure you put on yourself to play this game. It's okay to be uptight and a little bit nervous, but what creates it, whether it be the crowd or the players that you're pitching against or playing against, that's going to be the key to him. We saw Russ Ortiz do it almost incredible job and ran out. You can't keep running into that kind of trouble. The same will be said about Zambrano. Fortunately for me and several of the Braves, we have been through enough of that. The key is just to create it so it's our advantage, not theirs.