NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS v BRAVES

October 3, 2002

Reggie Sanders

REGGIE SANDERS: Basically, what I tell some of the guys that ask on the team, as a question, because I've been here before and I've seen how they pitch and seen how they have approached different hitters, we all know what they are going to do. It's fastball on the outside part of the plate, curveball on the outside part of the plate, so consistently going to stay on the outside part of the plate. One thing for us, I think it's to be patient, like we were yesterday with Glavine. You know, he was a guy that is definitely a stubborn-type pitcher. He's not going to give into you at all. Millwood is more of a power pitcher, and he's definitely going to give you some balls to hit. We've just got to capitalize on them when we get in that situation. But for the most part, the guys are very smart pitchers and we know what we are going to get.

REGGIE SANDERS: Glavine is a jokester -- no, Maddux is a jokester, sorry. Glavine is a quiet, subdued guy. Smoltz is a Christian. Who else do we have? Millwood loves to drink beer --- (Laughter.) No. (Laughing) Did I leave anybody else -- yeah. Oh, you're talking about from a baseball standpoint? (Laughter.) Man, let's see. I didn't realize what students of the game the pitchers were. I think for them they prepared themselves like a Curt Schilling, like a Randy Johnson. They have already played the game before they have even played it, you know, per se. I think that they have a game plan; they stick with it. I think that that's what I didn't realize with those pitchers, and that's why they have been so successful is because of that.

REGGIE SANDERS: There are pitchers that do tip pitches and there are players that are very good at seeing that. From my experience, there's some hitters that love to know when a guy is tipping pitches, and there's some players that don't care at all. As for the majority, I think of Major League players, I don't think they really care one way or the other. As far as with Curt tipping pitches, I've never known him to tip pitches. Matter of fact, I've never heard of that, other than the couple of days Sutcliffe was talking about it. You know when people think of tipping pitches, because they are getting hit consistently and just basically, as a hitter, look as if they know what's coming; so therefore, people think they are tipping pitches. They never give the hitters credit.

REGGIE SANDERS: We as hitters know that for a pitcher, getting that first strike over is very important, and then it sets up everything else. So I think with the first -- swinging at the first pitch, and then after that, not swinging at it, what he was trying to offer, just for ourselves made it very good hitting situation for us yesterday. For the most part, we know that first-pitch strike is what the pitcher is trying to do.

REGGIE SANDERS: No, I haven't brought it -- I haven't brought it out again. I know with our team, we're very hungry. We have a lot of desire. We have a lot of heart and a lot of dedication, and that's why we are where we are, because of that. This team is very strong mentally. If I felt the need to do that, then I would have, but this is a veteran clubhouse that's trying to get to the ultimate goal, and that's trying to get to the World Series. They know what happened last year and what we were all about, and we talked about it during the course of the year. So as far as with myself, I don't really feel the need to say, this is what we need to do or how we need to do it. These guys, they are working hard and they are trying to get to that one goal.

REGGIE SANDERS: I mean, it's basically the same, pretty much. Last year there was a lot of heart, there was a lot of desire, urgency. This year, there's a lot of heart, lot of desire and there's a lot of urgency. So, you know, from that standpoint, that's what it's all about. It's coming together as a team and playing together. I really don't see a big difference as far as with the Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants.

REGGIE SANDERS: Oh, every day. We went to Sylvia's Soul Food Restaurant and we were talking about that. We all know he's definitely one of the best in the game and whenever you can get some knowledge from him, it makes things better, as far as with yourself. Basically for me, what I try to pick his brain about is his approach at the plate and what does he thinks about and how does he go about it. So that's basically what we talk about. He's definitely a great guy. Yeah, do I go to him a lot, yes. at

REGGIE SANDERS: That was at dinner, the night before.

REGGIE SANDERS: We both did. (Laughter.)