NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 20, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: Yeah, it would be nice to talk something positive about our bullpen. They had a little bit of a speed bump. Suddenly everybody was ready to throw them underneath the team bus. I was confident that they could come in and get the job done. And starting with Brian Anderson, everybody came in there and did what we expected them to do, even Miguel Batista who did not retire a batter, I thought made some tremendous pitches, ground ball up the middle he deflects, possibly a double play ball, the floater into shallow field. The only disappointing one was the base hit by Andruw Jones. Other than that, I thought our bullpen came in and pitched the way they have all season.

BOB BRENLY: Go figure. I don't know if I can explain that. I've marveled at Greg Maddux as a player, as a coach, as a broadcaster and now as a manager, his ability to help himself by fielding his position. It was just so out of character to see the plays that happened tonight that there's no way you could predict that. There's no way you could expect that. I think the way this post-season has gone, we can expect the unexpected.

BOB BRENLY: Well, extreme relief for one thing. That was a possibility for the Braves to climb right back in that ball game there. But BK came in and made a tremendous pitch on Javy Lopez, breaking his bat, getting the ground ball for the double play. The next ball was hit hard but right at somebody. Sometimes you get breaks. Sometimes the ball finds a hole. That's the great thing about this game. You can send the team up there and they can hit 27 line drives and make 27 outs. The other team break bats and bloop balls in, get all kinds of hits. BK has been insisting to me throughout this post-season he can go more than one inning, two or three if necessary. When we got jammed up there in the eighth inning, I didn't hesitate to go to him, and he came in and gave us exactly what we needed.

BOB BRENLY: Well, we don't look at it that way. Randy, I'm sure, is just going to go out there and do what he's done all season, give us his best effort, try to execute his pitches and give us a chance to win a ball game. I think if you start looking too far ahead, you can get yourself in trouble. We just want to go out and have Randy pitch the way he's pitched all season long, and hopefully score some runs for him early so he can relax and pitch the way he's capable of pitching.

BOB BRENLY: Well, I mean, Greg Maddux is Greg Maddux. Anytime you can get a pitcher of his caliber out of the ball game, not to take anything away from their bullpen, but he is Greg Maddux. You get him out of the ball game and your chances suddenly improve. Their relievers have pitched well in this post-season and throughout the regular season. They have a couple starters down there that have pitched well in the rotation. They have a lot of great arms down there. But any time you can chase a guy like Greg Maddux out of the ball game, you have to feel like your chances are improving.

BOB BRENLY: I don't even know if I could compare him to anybody else. I don't know if that would be fair to him or the people I compare him to. But I can talk about Craig Counsell. This guy, we've talked about him every post game, he has done something to help us win a ball game. I just mentioned the other day I feel he's one of the best two-strike hitters in the game of baseball. He does it again tonight, comes out with a big two-out knock to drive a run in at the end of the ball game. He's just one of those guys that's paid his dues in his career and he's played in the B games in spring training and ridden the bench waiting for his chance to get in there and do something. He's taken full advantage of the opportunity that was presented to him this year. He just made it impossible for me to get him out of the line-up.

BOB BRENLY: I really can't speak for his history, because I don't know the players he was jammed up behind in other organizations or what the circumstances were with the other teams that he played for. But all I know is he came over to the Diamondbacks and he does everything right. I don't really think there's an easy way to explain it. It's preparation meeting opportunity, and he's taking full advantage of it. Like I said, I just can't get him out of there right now. He's too valuable to this ballclub. I've said it many times this year. Randy and Curt get a lot of accolades, and rightfully so. Gonzo hit 57, 58 homer, whatever it was, and consideration for the MVP award, rightfully so. You ask the players, the coaching staff, who's the most valuable player on this team, Craig Counsell is going to get an awful lot of votes.