NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v ASTROS

October 11, 2001

Shane Reynolds

SHANE REYNOLDS: Am I up for the challenge? (Laughing) Yeah, I mean physically I feel good. The guys in the clubhouse still have been great. We just got through the BP and the guys still got a good attitude. We've been like that all year. We've had our backs against the wall on more than one occasion. We've come through. We're just gonna go out and play as hard as we can. Yeah, it's a have-to-win game and we're just going to do the best we can. We know how the game of baseball is. It's a funny game. The ball can bounce your way one day and not the next so, hopefully we can get some lucky breaks and maybe take advantage of some situations if we get them and see what happens.

SHANE REYNOLDS: No, not really. I mean, it's a have-to. If we win, we still got a chance to win two more games. We don't win, then we go home. It's a tough game, we knew coming into this every game was going to be critical and crucial. You know, we have to go out and win tomorrow. The only thing I can say is we're going to go out and give it our best. We've done it all year. And give 100 percent.

SHANE REYNOLDS: I don't know about the biggest game of my career. It's a very big game for the Houston Astros this year, no doubt. We could prolong our series, or we could end it tomorrow. So, yeah, it's a big game. Although, I can only do as much as I'm capable of doing. If we put too much pressure on ourselves, then you wind up trying to do too much and you do a lot of overthrowing and then you wind up, you know, making bad pitches. So I'll try not to do that. Try to keep it as just another start as much as possible and just go out and try to make your pitches. I think Baggy said it great earlier in the year when he was struggling a little bit. He said he felt like he was just trying to do too much. When guys feel like they're trying to do too much, that's when you start struggling. It's a team game. It's definitely a team game when I pitch because the guys have got to be on their toes and be ready to make some plays. And they've done that for me this year. Hopefully we can continue tomorrow.

SHANE REYNOLDS: You know, it's always easy to do that after a game or second-guess someone. Being put in that situation during the time, you got to make those decisions. You're trying to win the game. Everybody realizes that. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't. They've been working out for us. We won the division for a reason. We're all, as a team, trying to do our dead best to win the game.