NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GIANTS v CARDINALS

October 8, 2002

Jason Schmidt

JASON SCHMIDT: I think any time -- I was in my first playoff game -- but any game you look back on there's a lot of should-have/would-have and could-haves and I was thinking about that all the time. You have a quality game going into the sixth inning, and end up walking the bases loaded. Obviously, you don't want that to happen again. Just going out and maybe being a little more aggressive. Make more pitches than did I last time. Kind of simplify things a little bit.

JASON SCHMIDT: I think anybody in baseball will tell you, coming here is one of the best places to play in the big leagues. Now we've got a chance to do it in the playoffs, as well. This is a first-rate organization, and to get an opportunity to pitch here in a situation like this is an honor. The Cardinals, everything about them, goes without saying, it's an unbelievable place. It's going to be exciting. Some of the best fans in baseball.

JASON SCHMIDT: We didn't have any meetings or anything like that. This isn't really a team meeting team. We just go out and play. We have losing streaks. We don't call big meetings and panic and things like that, we just go out and play and come back the next day and take care of business. I think we fell behind and I don't think anybody was in a sense of panic or anything like that. We've been in a situation like that before, and it's a veteran team and we know what we have to do to win ballgames.

JASON SCHMIDT: I've faced them twice this year already. I think both times I walked away that it was probably the best lineup I faced all year. They have power through the order. They can all hit for average. They have got some speed. Defensively they are outstanding. They are a very well-balanced ballclub. Coming in here, you definitely have to make your pitches against these guys because they can beat you anywhere through the order. They are a lot like us. They have a lot of power. I think one bad pitch can break the game wide open, so you're going to have to be careful.

JASON SCHMIDT: You could say the same thing about them. You could say you don't want Jim Edmonds to beat us, like you said, they say they don't want Bonds to beat them but you have Benito, Jeff Kent and we have the same kind of power that they have going through their lineup, as well. You go around one guy and they have another guy to back him up. I think we are pretty well equaled up with them lineup-wise and it could be just like Atlanta. Hopefully it's not a slugfest and will be more of a pitcher's dual.