NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 16, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: I've thought about all the great managers that I either played for or worked with or studied as a spectator. But as far as me being here and them not, that really never entered my mind. I just consider myself to be very fortunate.

BOB BRENLY: I think it's a by-product of the people that I had been around in my playing career and my coaching career. Roger Craig was very much a hunch manager. Don Zimmer was his bench coach. I don't know if anybody plays it more by the seat of the pants than Don did. When I broadcast in Chicago, Don was the manager. Certainly from playing the game, from managers and coaches like that, I always felt it made it more fun if things weren't quite as predictable, you never knew what to expect from one day to the next, from one at-bat to the next. I think as players, especially during the regular season, the game can get to be almost monotonous day in, day out. One day seems to be just like the day before it. Anything that spices it up, makes it a little more interesting, keeps the players on their toes or on the edge of their seats more I think adds to the game and adds to the interest level of the players. I don't consider myself to be outlandish in some of the things I do, but certainly I'm finding out it's viewed that way by others.

BOB BRENLY: He's the equivalent of that position player on your bench who plays all nine positions and can hit from both sides of the plate and steal a base. He's done everything we've asked him to do this year, whether it be pitch as a regular member of the rotation, pitch as a spot starter. We've used him in long relief. We've used him as a setup guy. We've used him between starts when he was in the rotation as a regular guy. I think that's a luxury that very few managers have and a lot of managers would like to have a pitcher with that kind of versatility, that kind of resiliency, and the kind of stuff that he has. We have never taken him for granted for one second this year. He has been an integral part of this pitching staff and this team. I seriously doubt if we would be here had it not been for the contributions of Miguel Batista.

BOB BRENLY: I think for one thing he's pitching with a lot more confidence. He has worked a lot throughout the course of this season, going all the way back to spring training with Bob Welch on how to learn to use his stuff. He's always had a great arm. He's always had a tremendous fastball. But in the past, he's been very sporadic with the results of using that stuff. I think this year the light bulb finally went on. He realized what he needed to do to get hitters out, how to best use his talents, and that has spawned the confidence. Now he feels that he belongs here and I feel he belongs here, too.

BOB BRENLY: Well, I think it's a combination of the two things. If you look at the squeeze attempt in the game the other day, certainly I think we caught the Cardinals by surprise. Tony Womack is a hitter that doesn't ground into a lot of double plays. Steve Kline is a very tough left-hander on the mound. We had a good runner at third base with good speed. If I was sitting in the Cardinals' dugout, that probably would have been the last thing I expected in that count, which is why being in my dugout I thought it was the perfect time to do it. If it works, it looks great. If it doesn't work, it opens you up for a lot of second-guessing. But that's where the luck enters into it. Steve Kline throws a slider off the outside corner in the dirt, an unbuntable pitch. Had he thrown that ball over the plate, I have every confidence Tony Womack would have put the bunt down. You roll the dice, hope your chances work out well, but there's always an element of luck involved.