NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DIAMONDBACKS

October 10, 2001

Mark Grace

MARK GRACE: Kind of yes or no. At the beginning of the season, or in spring training, I don't think really anybody expected Miguel to even be on the team, let alone become the number three starter in the playoffs for us. So in that respect, yes, it is surprising, but if you've watched him pitch all year, whether it's in the bullpen or as a starter, he's been terrific for us, he's won a lot of big games for us. He's pitched well. I mean, Brenly has asked him to pitch long relief, he's had him close games, he has had him start, and he's excelled at all three. So in that respect we're very confident in Miguel at Game 3.

MARK GRACE: Recollections of '89. Well, losing the series, obviously was something disappointing. But boy, I was good (laughing). The '89 series is kind of where my name got put on the map, so to speak. That was only my 2nd year and I had a big series. Will (Clark) had a big series in that Giants/Cubs series. It almost became a Will Clark versus Mark Grace and Will got me again, but it was fun because nobody had really heard of me and all of a sudden, now, shoot, the next year I actually got some all-star votes and everything. So it was fun for me as far as my career is concerned, but the disappointment in leading both games out in San Francisco going into the 8th inning and not winning was certainly disappointing and something that -- it's been 12 years since I've won a division. So I think back a lot about 1989.

MARK GRACE: Well, it's a combination of both. At the age of 37, you're hoping to sometime soon do something in the post-season. I've been to the post-season twice with the Cubs in '89 and '98. The difference now is in '89, we were picked to maybe finish .500, and we overcame a lot of odds and won that division. In '98 we were the Wild Card and we spent every ounce of our energy trying to get to the playoffs. Rod Beck, he was done. Terry Mullholland was done, we had to open that series against the Braves with Mark Clark. He was our Game 1 starter. And this team, we've got our pitching lined up. We've got our guys healthy and ready, and expectations are much higher with this club than with the other two clubs I was on.

MARK GRACE: From Randy on the left side it's no fun. He's right on top of you. He's throwing quality pitches, 98 mile an hour fastball, and 91 mile an hour slider and it's pretty well documented how he planted that thing in my kidneys last year. That's another thing you've got to think about when you're up there, being able to either duck or get out of the way. But that's part of his success, is the fact that he keeps you on eggshells up there. But in the playoffs, you've got to go up there and battle him, and it's a battle as a hitter. I think I won one at-bat. I'm 1-13 or something like that against Randy, with probably five strikeouts or something like that. I own him. (Laughing.)

MARK GRACE: I don't know, because I can't hit it. I don't see it very well. It looks like a fastball, it really does. It looks like a fastball until it gets to the dirt area, and you've already committed and it's gone. And Randy has the ability -- there's only a handful of pitchers in the game that can make quality hitters look bad, and he can do that. He can make guys like Mike Piazza or Jeff Bagwell or Barry Bonds or some of the superstars of the game, he can make them look bad. And I'm not putting myself in those guys' category, but he's made me look bad plenty of times too. I don't strikeout much, but don't tell him that; he's gotten me plenty of times.