NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v ASTROS

October 8, 2001

Wade Miller

WADE MILLER: Not right now. I went out and played catch today. I feel fine. I'm ready to go.

WADE MILLER: I think it helped pretty much. I think I knew going into that series that all -- those three games were pretty important. I knew that to win that first game was pretty important. I knew that we had to (inaudible), win the first game, come back and win another game to win the division. It was very important. It was a good experience to go through that.

WADE MILLER: No, I don't think so. I think tomorrow will be a little bit more pressure. But, you know, I got to take it one step at a time. I tried to stay focused out there on Friday night and get the job done. Tomorrow, it's going to be the same thing. I think it's pretty much -- tomorrow's going to be a little bit more. I think once I get out there, I think I'll be relaxed. I think I'll be all right.

WADE MILLER: No, I haven't. I haven't talked to anybody. I think they're basically leaving me alone. I think they realize that I'm going to be all right. I think I'm going to be fine. I think Shane sees that. I talk to Shane time and time again, but we never really talked about what's going to happen in the post-season. We go about it as another game that we have to win - like every game. No, I didn't talk to him about it.

WADE MILLER: Yeah, I'm excited starting the first game. I was very honored when I heard, when Burt and Larry said that I'd be starting the first game. They knew I was going to come back on a day's rest. Obviously, they think I'm the best way to go right now. I like that situation.

WADE MILLER: Not really. I don't think so (smiling). Not at all. I seem to go out there. I'm not sure what the situations are like or the, you know, the weather. I don't really know. It's one of those things this year, I don't know.

WADE MILLER: Yeah, I think I'll be fine. I'm going to go watch a football game tonight with three guys, then I think I'm going to go home, and I'll go to bed. I might lay there a little bit thinking about it. But I think when I get up tomorrow morning, I'm going to be ready to go.

WADE MILLER: I think in general, I think you got to look at the situation you're in when you're out there on the mound. You can't concentrate on just getting one guy out, not letting him hurt you. Obviously, if you have men in scoring position with anybody, you got to pitch them and you got to pitch them tough. If he comes in in a situation with men in scoring position, obviously I have to count on getting him out. But you also have to count on other people not getting on base. You can't take them lightly. You have to make every pitch as if that's the ball game. You can't make a lot of mistakes, especially with Maddux on the mound.

WADE MILLER: I know I'm not going to have to -- you know, you can't be perfect every time you go out there. I understand that. I'm going to try and go out there with the attitude if I can hold them down to one or two runs at the most, I think we have a good chance. I think right now with the way our offense is going, I think if we can get a few runs off them, it will get me in the position where I can go out there and put zeros up. Once we score one or two runs, get ahead by a run or two, I put pressure on myself to go out there and put zeros up. Hopefully, I can do that.

WADE MILLER: I'm not sure what we're doing at home right now. I think it's just one of those things where we go on the road, we play well. Then we have a few games at home where you're not doing so good and people think all of a sudden we can't play at home. We've had games where we beat people by 10, 12 runs here. I think it's a matter of time, the hitters getting into a groove, the pitchers have to get into a groove here. I never had a problem pitching here. It's a matter of how you feel when you go out there and how the hitters are hitting at the time.

WADE MILLER: No, I don't change my approach to hitters. I have to pitch inside to both lefties and righties. I have to go after them. I'm not going to pitch -- you know, with the Crawford boxes over in leftfield, it's going to go either way. I have to keep the ball down no matter what. I think it's obvious that a few of the fly balls I give up, the ball would be going out here. I can't look at it that way. I have to look at keeping the ball on the ground.

WADE MILLER: I never really thought about it that way. I know when I go on the mound after like maybe a loss or two or three, I know I'm going to go out there and I'm going to have to do something good for the team. I'm going to try to turn it around. But the thing I'm most proud of is probably the innings I put up this year. I think going out there every five days, proving that I can go out there for the full season, go out there, pile up a lot of innings, I think that helps. I try to help out my bullpen and try and keep them fresh. I don't want to run them out there in the fifth, sixth inning. I like to go deep in the innings and help them out.

WADE MILLER: No, it just happens to be the day before Tuesday (smiling). That's pretty much it. If it happened Thursday, I'd go home and watch TV on a Wednesday night. It's not a big deal.

WADE MILLER: You know, it's obvious we don't have as much experience - ten division titles in as many years. That's saying a lot about the pitching staff and what they've done for their team. I think me and Roy, we talk all the time and we just go out there, we just want to pitch. That's basically it. We go out there right now, our first season, all we want to do is win when we go out there. We don't think about anybody else, how Maddux or Glavine are doing, or any other combination on their team. We're going out there and we're trying to do our best.

WADE MILLER: Yeah, I'm not really nervous right now to be honest with you. Right now I'm thinking about pitching. I'm not thinking about who I'm facing tomorrow, what the outcome's going to be. I'm thinking about what I'm going to do once I get on the mound and once I start pitching. I'm going to think about, you know -- in my head all day, the past couple days, I've been thinking about what I'm going to do. That's about it. I'm not thinking about the situation.

WADE MILLER: I don't remember ever pitching on three days' rest. This is probably my first time professionally. I probably came back, you know, a few times earlier, before professional ball. But not since then.

WADE MILLER: No, not right now. I went out there today, I played catch. I feel fine. So I'm not really going to worry about it.