NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 15, 2001

Matt Williams

MATT WILLIAMS: Well, their starting pitching is the main reason there's no secret why they're here for the tenth straight time. That's been the strength of their team for years and years and years. They have a world of playoff experience. Like I said, they've been here a lot. The difference in the pitching - pitching's pitching. They throw strikes. But the first couple guys we'll see don't throw in the mid-90s, but they throw the ball in the corners. That's often times even tougher than somebody that throws hard and can leave balls over the plate for you. So it will be certainly a challenge for us, and we'll have to be patient and take advantage of any opportunity we get.

MATT WILLIAMS: It shouldn't change. The idea is to hit strikes and take balls. That's the idea. But they make it difficult to do that. So you want to be aggressive, but you want to be aggressive within the strike zone and try to work yourself into a good hitter's count and get a good pitch to hit, take advantage of that. Now that's certainly easier said than done, but that's going to be our approach and plan, make sure we get a good one to hit and score it up.

MATT WILLIAMS: Counsell's a ball player. That's the way I -- that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of that, he's a ball player. He does everything well. He doesn't go out and hit 50 home runs, but he's got confidence in him to hit and run, lay bunts down, plays all the infield positions. Those guys are probably the most valuable guys you can have on a team because if you do have an injury or if somebody needs a day off or whatever, he can step right in and you don't miss a beat. So he's got an opportunity to play a lot this year and stepped in and done a fantastic job for us. So he's one of the most valuable guys on our team.

MATT WILLIAMS: Well, it hasn't been easy; that's for sure. But that's good. I think that will lend some experience to us if we get in a similar situation down the road. In these -- this seven-game series, we don't know what's going to happen so if we get in that situation again, we can rely on that experience. It's been fun. It can get hectic and it can work on your brain a little bit. We'd certainly like to go out there and score ten runs a game and make it easy. That would be great. But hasn't happened that way. We feel fortunate to be here. We've worked hard to be here. I think we've earned it. That's how we feel about it. We're looking forward to the next challenge.

MATT WILLIAMS: When you're a rookie, you really don't know. We have some guys in there where it's their first time. You see them walking around, they really don't know what to think about this. They enjoy it and they like it. As you play a lot of years like a lot of us have, you realize it's very difficult to get here. Once you're here, it's very difficult to get back. Yeah, we're enjoying it. We will enjoy it. We will be ready and we will be business-like out there and do what we need to do to win. It certainly won't be easy, but we'll give it our best effort. Yeah, we're enjoying it. We're savoring it. We know how difficult it is to get where we're at and we know it's even more difficult to get where we want to go.

MATT WILLIAMS: Well, that's a difficult question. I think that a lot of base hits takes care of all of that. That's the plan. So hopefully in this series I can help us and get some hits for us and help us win. That will be -- like I said, that will take care of all of it. It's part of the game and it comes with the territory. The only thing that bothers me about the whole thing is that I don't want my teammates to be affected by it. We want a positive atmosphere around here, and we want everybody to go out with -- and play the game the way we know how to play the game. I just don't want them to be affected by it. It doesn't bother me, but I don't want any of my teammates to be affected.

MATT WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know. I don't know. All I know is I have a batting average (laughter). So that's a good thing. Yeah, I don't know, man. I think that in the last series, I was a little overaggressive and swung at some pitches I shouldn't have swung out and got myself out more than they got me out. There's a fine line you have to walk there. You want to be aggressive but you don't want to be overly aggressive. I think I was on the wrong end during that series. So I'll work hard today on it and tomorrow in batting practice, and hopefully be ready for Greg tomorrow night -- tomorrow afternoon, actually.

MATT WILLIAMS: Well, I think that we have a lot of guys in the clubhouse that have been around the block a few times. Not only once, but a few times. I've played against a lot of them in my whole career. I appreciate their support, because they're always there for you. Everybody in the clubhouse knows what everybody else is feeling. Whether they're doing well or doing poorly, you have that support, in our clubhouse anyway, from your teammates. Yeah, I'm as guilty as you could be. But that's one of the reasons I've been able to play, and that's one of the reasons I've had a little bit of success because I do want to help, and I do work hard to help our team and I'll continue to do that so... Yeah, I'm guilty of that. But I don't know if that's a bad thing. It can be a double-edged sword at times. But I think that's why I'm here. I'll continue to do what I can do in the way I know how to do it, and there's only one way I know.