NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS v BRAVES

October 3, 2003

Alex Gonzalez

Mark Grudzielanek

MARK GRUDZIELANEK: You can only teach so much until you experience it, but it's definitely beneficial when you have players that have been there, won the World Series, been to the postseason numerous times. To have that in your corner is going to be beneficial to us players who are first timers. Again, it's just going out there and performing like we have been. I think the last three or four weeks of the season for us was playoff experience. If we can get back to the way we were playing like that and keep playing like that, it's a great feeling, because every game last year was down to the wire. If that's not pressure, nothing is. It's a little different being here playing the same team in a short series like this. This is one of those times you're going to have to lean on the guys you need to lean on and go from there.

MARK GRUDZIELANEK: I hope so. I agree, these guys, the front office made so many changes. This is something that's going to happen in the next year or two. With Dusty coming over and some of the personnel they went out and recruited in the off-season, this is a different team. It's a lot of different players, and it's definitely a team to be reckoned with and I think the league knows that.

ALEX GONZALEZ: We'll do the best we can. We'll keep our hands warm, but it's a good thing we have had experience all year, especially early on in the year with the cold weather, I think it goes to our advantage to know how to deal with some of the different climates we have had in Chicago, it's been up and done all year round. We have had to adjust through it all year. We kind of know how to keep ourselves warm out on the field and in between innings.

MARK GRUDZIELANEK: Everybody does things differently, from knee pads to the dugout blowing that hot air on you. You've got to keep yourself warm and loose. Once you get out there running around, this is not going to be a bad night at all.

ALEX GONZALEZ: It's a good thing that we had some players that have been through the postseason and even won the World Series that we have been able to talk to, and you kind of just watch how they react on certain things and how to prepare for games and prepare for a lot of the questions you get from the media. So I think it's just kind of observing what everybody else does that has been in this situation.

ALEX GONZALEZ: It's an unavailable thing being in the same sentence as Ernie Banks. He's a hero of the city and he's a hero of mine. To know that he's been -- is one of the best shortstops to ever play the game, to be able to talk to him nowadays and be a part of the same family has been an unbelievable experience for me.

MARK GRUDZIELANEK: I think the atmosphere around the city is definitely encouraging for us as players. The support they had over in Atlanta, that was awesome to hear our fans. We had 50 percent of the fans were rooting for the Cubs. The support we have had all year though, it's been very special. The city is warming up to this ball club and vice versa, and it's a special thing going on in here right now. It's a great city, and we're going to take this as far as we can.

ALEX GONZALEZ: It was unbelievable in Atlanta to see everybody embracing us, to see how many people traveled that far. You can tell the reaction we had when we won the Central Title, and now I think a lot of people have really caught on to this team and become a lot closer just to see -- to give a lot of the fans hope, and for them to know that we have a pretty good team here and it's fun to watch.