NL DIVISION SERIES: MARLINS v GIANTS

October 3, 2003

Jack McKeon

JACK McKEON: We gave them an opening, and they scored. They gave us an opening, and we came back and did them one better. It was a good game.

JACK McKEON: Shortstop gets a double play ball on Bonds. Same situation. These guys are all human. You know, they're going out there and they're trying to drop fly balls. Those things happen. I know you guys, you probably never made a mistake in your spelling or anything like that. But, you know, these guys do make one once in a while. But, you know, it's a game, breaks here or there. They got them early; we got them late. You know, it was a good game, exciting game. And, you know, somebody had to come out on top. We were fortunate.

JACK McKEON: Well, Pudge, you know, we all know Pudge has done an outstanding job for us defensively. There's no question about that. He stops the running game. You saw what he did there in the early innings when he threw out the guy trying to steal third. He handles our pitching staff well. He's been, up until probably three-fourths of the season, leading the league in knocking in key runs such as he did tonight. But what was I thinking about when he came up to the plate when he got two strikes? I was just thinking he was going to hit a line drive up the middle, but he hit it to right field again.

JACK McKEON: Yes, we were confident. I know you probably don't want to believe it. But when we got that drop fly ball, we had a feeling we were going to win.

JACK McKEON: That was a no-brainer. That's like using Urbina in the ninth inning. I can imagine a lot of people saying, "Why is he bringing him in?" Hell, he's not a save situation, there's no way he can come up with a save when you're in a tie game. What we were hoping is, hold him for one more inning, then in the bottom of the ninth, we have an opportunity to win it.

JACK McKEON: I tell you something about Pudge. He came in here trying to prove something, that he was still the All-Star that he is. I'll tell you, he plays with as much aggressiveness the last 10 days when we were in a very, very pressurized situation. He leads the way doing all the little things, the unselfish things. He's up there with runners on first and second. I don't give him the bunt sign. He drops the bunt down, beats it off for a base hit one time, gets the sacrifice the next time, we score a couple runs. I give him a couple days' rest during the end of the year, he's hitting .299 or .298. "You want to play?" "No, I'm not interested in my batting average, I want to be ready for the playoffs." You see him break that double play up tonight, there's the guy that's one of the your leaders. He's shown that leadership to all these guys, and that's, you know, the way these guys are playing.

JACK McKEON: Money doesn't mean anything. These guys play for pride. They got a tremendous amount of pride out here. And all guys, when they put their uniform on, want to win. I don't think any kind of money enters it. That's off-season stuff whatever they get. That's pocket change, $10 million.

JACK McKEON: No. Knowing him, he wasn't coming out of the lineup. You'd have had to carry him off.

JACK McKEON: We don't care. Felipe's got to do what he's got to do. That's his club. I don't worry about the Giants. He does a good job with those guys. I have to worry about my guys. Who he pitches, we know he's a good pitcher, there's no question about that, but so is our guy that's going out there, he's a pretty good pitcher, too.

JACK McKEON: When you're in the post-season, I think this one's got to rank at the top of the list. There's no question this put us at a pretty good advantage. We know one thing, we're going to end it here tomorrow or go to San Francisco. We're going to have to have our bags packed one way or the other. But it puts us in a pretty good position. Coming off a win like this, it's got to give you a little boost of confidence.

JACK McKEON: I don't know whether they're looking to Pudge, but Pudge certainly is showing them the way. He's showing them how to get it done. Him and Conine, guys like that, they're showing these guys how to get it done. I'm quite sure by his doing the little things, the example he's showing, he's showing these guys this is what it takes to win in the post-season.

JACK McKEON: He did a good job. Mike, you know, is Mike. You know, he's going to go for 0-for-3, 0-for-4 sometimes. He plays solid defense. We know he hasn't had many opportunities the past month or so. But he's coming along.

JACK McKEON: Well, that's a difficult one to analyze. I was watching the fly ball. I don't know how hard he's running. I don't know. That's a situation where the player's got to make up his mind. Does he go to second base and get thrown out by Cruz or do you stay where you're at and play it safe? I wasn't watching him run, so I can't tell you that.

JACK McKEON: Well, I think you saw it in the last inning when we got two guys on, I think they just revved us up like they did all the time. This is about the third or fourth time we've come back with big crowds to win either in nine innings or extra innings.

JACK McKEON: I'll be honest with you, I was looking for an out any way. I didn't care how we got it. But I'll say one thing, I think that's the first groundball I've seen him hit in three or four years. Again, I was tickled to death see him hit the ball. In fact, he hit two groundballs. I'll have to find out how those pitchers are pitching to him to get those groundballs. But, you know, this guy, what can you say about the guy? I mean, he just turns the game around. You're managing against him, not against the other eight guys, trying to keep him off base. Really there's no way. You walk him, you see what happens. You walk him, the guy bloops it over the infield, the guy doubles off the wall. You'd rather see him walk than hit one out of the park, which he's the only man that I can know, at any particular time, can hit it out of the park.

JACK McKEON: Why not? He's got 28 saves. He's done it for us all year. Went through a period where he had a tough time. The bases on ball was the only thing that hurt him today. Outside that, he's got the double play ball, can't make it. All of a sudden, they score that run. When you look at first and third, nobody out, you kind of figure they're going to get one run. But he stopped them right there at one run.