NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v CARDINALS

October 15, 2000

Tony La Russa

TONY LARUSSA: Well, I think his stuff was good. His location was off. I thought his location was off more than his fastball. He couldn't get a called strike on a curveball. There was some dispute about whether his curveballs were strikes or not, but it changed some counts around. They don't usually say that, but I believe it. But it made some important count change. I mean he had good life on his fastball but he really didn't locate his fastball very good.

TONY LARUSSA: I mean, did you watch us mount a come back? We got it to two runs. So no, it was exciting out there. The crowd was into it, but so was our ballclub. Very good starting pitcher, couldn't get to the fifth inning. I had no faults with our club.

TONY LARUSSA: Well, I think first thing's first; we got to find a way to win the game tomorrow, get to St. Louis. So we'll take care of that bit of business in plenty of time for the rest of it.

TONY LARUSSA: Duncan asked a question, and Steve thought he was yelling at him. It was as simple as that. He said, "You don't usually yell at me." He was asked a question out there, his loud voice. That's really what happened. But Steve thought he was yelling and he banged him for it.

TONY LARUSSA: I think that's the question he wanted to ask. I think that's probably the question he asked Darryl when he went out there. I mean, we don't have as good a view as the home plate umpire, more of the side. There were some curveballs we thought were strikes, and it's tough to pitch without him. But, and I'll say it real clearly, that was a couple hitters where the count changed. They unloaded on a bunch of fastballs. That isn't why Darryl gave up as many runs as he did. That wasn't the umpire that caused Darryl to give up those runs. There's a couple counts that changed. His location was off. It's been so great, that it was unusual.

TONY LARUSSA: I mean he looks to me like a complete player. He's very exciting in the top of the line-up. I usually don't enjoy talking about the other side when the other guys beat you like that, I'm sure the Mets will be out talking about him. I'll just give credit where credit is due. He's a complete player, defensively, offensively, running bases. Very impressive.

TONY LARUSSA: Oh, yeah. I mean, we knew our ballclub. We were alive and playing. When you got that many outs left, we could put a crooked number up there as well as anybody in baseball. The one inning, James had one inning. The pitcher was going to hit. So we didn't want to double switch while we had to the second game. And then after that, Timlin was fresh and ready to go. Probably I mean the way the game was played, the two spot that they put up in the sixth, leadoff walk, slipped on the bunt, that was right back to him. Third base missed plays. That's a tough two to give up. We couldn't overcome it.

TONY LARUSSA: In the eighth? When we were down by four? I was going to wait to until tying run came to bat. If the tying run came to bat, he was in there. If the tying run didn't come up, so...

TONY LARUSSA: No. He was on deck. I mean, (Fernando) Tatis after (Ray) Lankford, going out for Tatis the tying run, I didn't think that was a good spot. (J.D.) Drew, he's the tying run. You want to do it there. Yeah, I felt like we'd get one more guy on base, there wasn't going to be a way to avoid him. Probably the only time I thought in the game realistically, that was the place to take the shot. He was on deck.

TONY LARUSSA: Well, what did they get, four, three? How many did they get? Four?

TONY LARUSSA: They got five doubles. I look at his stuff, his stuff is good. Every one of the fastballs was over and out over the plate. That's not where he was trying to throw it. I had that philosophy, but I don't know that we got nine innings of bullpen today. Reames was not available, not going to pitch him, not going to hurt him. So Matt(Morris), for one, you start counting innings, starting pitchers gives up four, the three the next inning was tougher to take. Then you give up -- there were two outs when all that crap happened in the second inning, so you send him out for the third, trying to get a few outs. No, I mean the attitude was there, and he should not have been taken out after a few of the doubles. We were not that deep with anybody in the bullpen.

TONY LARUSSA: It's interesting. It's probably the opposite of what you expect. Normally, you pitch every fourth day, you get a better feel for the baseball, you got better command, he may not have as much stuff. I mean he was firing, but they were elevated and they didn't miss him. Usually that's the kind of stuff you get when you got a couple extra days' rest, you're real strong, then you can't zero.

TONY LARUSSA: It's an interesting question, probably going to be an individual thing. You'd have to ask Darryl. He's going to stand up here and tell you no. But can you read his mind? I don't know. I don't know. I think he's probably aware -- I know he's aware he hasn't had a great history with three days. But he's a different pitcher in the year 2000 than he's been for some of those other efforts. It's a good question. You'd have to ask each guy.