NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS v BRAVES

October 3, 2003

Kenny Lofton

KENNY LOFTON: It wasn't bad in the outfield more so than it was in the infield. The infield, the grass is not as thick as the outfield. It was pretty wet. Once you tried to stop, you start to slide.

KENNY LOFTON: I think the biggest thing with us is to keep the focus. You can let the excitement take over. I think you understand it's not over until it's over. You have to prepare yourself the same way and go out there and expect to win and not worry about going on afterwards. Tomorrow, we'll just get the work out of the way first.

KENNY LOFTON: I think the opportunity presented itself. We can thank him, but if we don't go out there and do our job, it's a Catch-22 on that situation. I think it's an opportunity where myself, Randall and Ramirez had to get the job done first of all.

KENNY LOFTON: I have been playing for 13 years and I've never seen that happen before. It was kind of interesting, because the ground crew told us the rain was gone, and it was kind of different, but the good thing about Mark Prior, he didn't start his warmup. He kind of did his little short routine, and it started raining. I'm glad he didn't prepare all the way and stop. It was good the rain held off and didn't come out five minutes sooner, or it would have been kind of tough.

KENNY LOFTON: Any time you've got two great pitchers on the mound, you've got to put the ball into play and see what happens. It was slippery out there and that's just the way the game goes. You've got to deal with the good and the bad. It just works out that way and I've always said that's baseball.

KENNY LOFTON: I think it helped out a lot. I let the guys know what he was doing. It kind of put the guys in a mind that was like all we got to do is stay focused and put the ball in play. If you try to swing for the pitches, it's not going to work. That's all I was trying to do.

KENNY LOFTON: I'm not going to put everything out there what I do. I tell them my experience and what I do to prepare. The biggest thing to let these guys know is it's another game. You can't go out there and worry about it's the postseason. I think the postseason itself is going to let you know how important it is. The game itself is just the same. I think the media is saying it's the postseason, you've got to do this. Everything is the same, and I think I let the guys know that's basically what it is.

KENNY LOFTON: It's special a meaning for me when I first came over here. That was the excitement. I'm over it now, and I feel like a Cub now. Once I got over that feeling, I have been more comfortable and I'm trying to help the Cubs get where we're trying to go and hopefully it will work out.

KENNY LOFTON: Dusty understands me and he understands how to get the job done. He's done it before. We all have confidence in Dusty in what he has to do and he has confidence in us. It's a two-way street. He understands us, and we understand him. He keeps it simple. The game is simple and you can't make it harder than what it already is.