NL DIVISION SERIES: MARLINS v GIANTS

October 2, 2003

Felipe Alou

FELIPE ALOU: Good morning. I just got up two hours ago (laughter).

FELIPE ALOU: 5:30.

FELIPE ALOU: Well, I know Mark's a pretty good pitcher because he and I were on the same team last year in Detroit. Pretty good pitcher. Yeah, I'm glad to hear that (laughter). You can get Barry Bonds out sometimes. But I say, when I see a lefty pitcher on the mound, I believe a lefty pitcher is going to pitch to him. You know, he's been able to handle lefty pitchers very well. I know Mark gets lefties out. So hopefully Barry gets four or five at-bats tomorrow. I'm not talking walks, but at-bats.

FELIPE ALOU: No, Mark, you know, he's a tough guy. I'm not surprised. He believes he can get anybody out. He was the No. 1 guy after Jeff Weaver was traded to New York. No question about it, Mark was our No. 1 guy, our real No. 1 guy there. He didn't win many games, because that team doesn't win many games. He's going to throw his strikes, he's going to throw his change-up to lefties. I believe that's one pitch maybe he's thinking about. Lefties don't throw too many change-ups to lefty hitters. Mark does very well. I'm looking forward to see how it works.

FELIPE ALOU: I don't think it's going to help me. I wish my hitters know him well. But they don't, because he's new to this league. 'm anticipating a tough game with the heat and everything. Yesterday we didn't anticipate a tough game, and it was. They made some runs. When I say a tough game, I mean a close call, like the first night. We know the ball is going to be in play. It's probably going to be in play, but I think pitching tomorrow is going to have a little more say in how the ball is going to be in play. Yesterday's game, except for a few of their relievers, the ball was being put in play at-will by the hitters. Tomorrow could be a little different because of Redman and Rueter.

FELIPE ALOU: Well, we swept them. I know the difference in scoring was very, very low. I just don't have the right stats with me. But I imagine was like 3-1, 3-2, 4-2. I mean, we could have lost three, I know that. I believe the difference might be more experience now. With the young pitchers, remember Beckett at that time was -- he hurt his elbow pitching against us one of those games. Very soon after that the manager was let go, then Jack took over. So at that time the Marlins were going through tough time. We heard the name "Willis" at that time, who was going to substitute for Beckett. And look what they had in the minor league at that time. So really they're better now they have Willis, and Beckett is back healthy, and they have Redman pitching well. And Cabrera's with the club. So they're much better team. Conine is there. Even though Lowell has been kind of out. But they're much better team than they were then.

FELIPE ALOU: Well, I see somebody who can play left field well with a good arm, also play third base. Very aggressive hitter. He's a legitimate Latin young guy who goes out and just swings the bat. He's going to be a great player, I believe, if he stays healthy, young. He's a Marlin type of guy. He looks pretty good there with all these young guys they have. I fear him, I know that. He always gives us a tough at-bat.

FELIPE ALOU: Well, they had a boost yesterday scored nine runs, got 14 hits (laughter). We don't know really. We don't know how Lowell is because he has not been playing. We have no scouting report, how his (inaudible) is going through. Obviously, defensive-wise he's doing good because he came into the game. I mean, this is a ballpark where anything -- there were several balls hit yesterday that were caught that obviously here, they were problem, they were going to be off the fence or over. You have a Mike Lowell, you know, he's the kind of guy in this ballpark, he's even tougher hitter than what he would be in San Francisco because he knows the park, he has the ability to pull the ball pitches away from him. What needs to be seen is he capable to do that with the wrist, arm, whatever that might be still a little tender. We're planning on changing our lineup a little bit to at least one guy, maybe two. But I fear Cabrera also because of his aggressiveness. We got him out yesterday. He swung at some bad pitches. But anytime there's a mistake there, he won't forgive you.

FELIPE ALOU: No, I'm only thinking about Galarraga possibly playing first base. In this ballpark, Galarraga hit a few bombs. I give him a shot at hitting another one, if possible. See, the struggle is a one-day thing. We lost one game. The day before was a pitcher's duel. I just don't want to look at one guy or two guys, because we score five runs. Usually when the Giants score five runs, the Giants win the game. Usually when we have a lead like after in the sixth inning, usually we won that game, and we lost the lead in the sixth inning with our great bullpen that we have. There was some bullpen guys yesterday that were very rusty or nervous or whatever. But I'm not going to bench Cruz, no way, because I know Cruz is a better righty hitter than he is a lefty hitter. Grissom is a much better hitter against lefty pitchers than he is against righty pitchers. So I got to give those guys who helped this team win 100 games and run away with a pennant the benefit of the doubt. I'm just not going to go ahead and do wholesale changes, forget the last three guys in my lineup because we got beat once scoring five runs anyway.

FELIPE ALOU: They got the right guy to improve their team. They had a pretty good team, but it was mostly young guys. Didn't look like really they were playing for playoff, but there was a time when I imagine the front office, you know, and with the new manager, they found out good enough to do what they did.

FELIPE ALOU: Well, guys feel more comfortable. The adjustment to the wind and the sun, especially day games. You got to know you feel better than the other club, obviously. When you're asking the question, I'm thinking like Oakland, for example, they have a tremendous won-loss record over there in Oakland. This club here, I think, you know, they young and they more durable. Because it's going to be hot. Compared to where we play, it's going to be close to 20 degree difference, with humidity, God only know how high it going to be compared to where we play. And this club, they look fresh here. The third game of a series, they're still running hard, playing hard. The always more or less the same guys playing, which is really amazing for this part of the world where it's so hot, you know. That is an advantage that they have. They have the speed and everything. But I notice, too, including Montreal, won tons of game at home. This has been a year where most clubs were really, really good at home and not so good away, for whatever reason.

FELIPE ALOU: No, that is a possibility I have been thinking. That was touched briefly before the playoffs started. Under normal circumstances, I know in a known playoff type of situation, today Schmidty would throw on the side, third day. I don't know. I don't think he's going to throw. I haven't talked to Righetti about it. But, yeah, the possibility exists. Though we also have to find out how Schmidty feels because today is the big day for a guy that got all of those innings, all of those strike-outs, threw a complete game the last time, also had some elbow problems about a month ago. So we got to consider all of those factors before we do it, even though it could happen on Saturday, we got to make sure he's healthy. We have a young guy who hasn't pitched in the playoffs, Williams, pretty good hot weather guy, pretty good daytime pitcher, who always gets off to a good start in the game. It's not like the young guy's going to give it up in the first inning or second. He's always given us at least five great innings, a shot to winning the ballgame. When I say this, we're not going to jeopardize or hurt Schmidty's career if he's not 100% ready to pitch Saturday, which case like we lost the game tomorrow.

FELIPE ALOU: Well, number one reason I don't manage by the book is because I never seen it. I never found that book. I was an aggressive player. When I got to the big leagues, I was really disappointed that the Giants didn't use my speed to steal bases. I stole 48 bases my first year in the Florida State League. I was leading my league in stolen bases my second year. Then I had a knee problem. I stole 28, I believe. Then I went up to the big leagues to find out that the Giants then was not a team that was engaged in running the bases. We had big hitters, Willie Mays, McCovey, Cepeda. I wound up being one of the guys who hit a few home runs and everything. I kind of lost the aggressiveness that I came up with from the minor league. ut winter ball, I was aggressive. I stole home plate a lot. I was used to squeeze, things like that. But I think that you have to put pressure on the other club if you have opportunity to put pressure. We had a situation like the bases loaded yesterday. We had a couple guys pop the ball up and everything. When the bags are full, manager can't do nothing. You cross your arms to see what your guy's going to do. But when you have a first and third, first and second, runner on third base, then you able to put pressure. I mean, we scored a run yesterday that many people probably didn't notice. We're running a contact. Just because Cabrera went a little bit to his left, we got that run in. That's talking about pressure. Because I know what pressure is. We all know. When the other guy has the bat in his hands, and there's a possibility of a play happening. I like to change guys. I brought Nathan in the game in the sixth inning. We were really bringing him in the game. There are a couple, two or three weeks in the season, in the seventh, eighth, sometimes the ninth inning, because we believe he's a guy, at least I believe he's going to be a guy who's going to wind up being a stopper someday. He's been so good. But I thought in playoff situation. And given the fact we took a one-run lead after the Marlins tied, I thought he was the ideal guy to come in. You know, didn't work, but I went away from my own book of pitching him in the seventh or eighth. I brought him in the sixth, didn't work, see. But I take chances. You got to take chances. I bunted in Alfonzo the other day, and it worked for us. And then I didn't bunt him yesterday, and it also worked, he drove in two runs under the same circumstance. Also when you don't manage by the book, you become unpredictable. I don't want to be predictable as a manager. I want to be unpredictable, if at all possible. But I got to say with the Giants, the way this club play the game of baseball, they are so professional, they have so much experience, really I didn't manage a lot. Let's put it that way. I manage maybe more how people played, manage the bullpen, manage the games played by a veteran ballclub that needed a lot of handling because of the schedule. San Francisco calls for a lot of day games, night game, back-to-back day games. In a long season, I managed that. But not much hit and running, no much base stealing, we try the squeeze play three times, went 0-for-3. So it really was not a whole lot of managing. If anything, I was away from the book this year with the lineup. Guys know that I batted people all over the place, from first to eighth, or ninth when we played the other league, except for one guy batted all the way from the right spot.