NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v CARDINALS

October 15, 2000

Mike Piazza

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, I think it's always been just from the position I play inevitably, when you get towards the end of the year, I mean, it's been a long year, I've taken a lot of lumps. It's just tough physically to stay at 100 percent. But I'm fortunate that towards the end I got some rest, was able to recuperate a little bit and I've been swinging the bat fairly well.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, I mean, we know he's down there. So we just don't want to give him a situation to either tie or win the game with one swing. But I think the key is not at least giving him that clear-cut opportunity. I mean, we just have been fortunately working out of some jams and not giving him that definitive situation to put him up there. Again, you know what, I don't empathize with him at all. I think that's a tough job for him. The guy's expected to come off the bench and hit a home run. That's not the easiest thing to do. We're just fortunate, again, that we've been able to just not give him that definitive situation.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, no particular philosophy really. Fortunately we had good at-bats against him and we were able to get some runners on, set the tone, Timo (Perez) and Fonzie (Edgardo Alfonzo). We've just given ourselves opportunity tonight to score runs. That's what we've done in the past when we've been successful, it's just good team offense. Again, it starts from the top but as far as any particular strategy, we don't look at him more than any other very good pitcher.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, his velocity, I mean, I can't really say for sure. I really didn't even face him that much this year. But I mean his primary pitch is a good curveball. When he doesn't really locate that well, I think I saw him throw a really good pitch to Todd(Zeile) when I was on second to get to two strikes. Obviously, he made not a great pitch with two strikes that he hit in the corner. So that pitch before it, though, looked like he threw pretty hard. So I don't know, whatever his -- you have to ask him.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, I think tonight we just came out more aggressive and we just did not let them sort of build an insurmountable lead. And as I said, it seemed like tonight we just came out a little bit more aggressive and we had better at-bats than yesterday. So, again, we've all played a lot of ball. Tonight we were determined to at least come back and get back in the ball game and we were able to go ahead and even though Bobby had a little bit of a tough time, we were able to continue to get insurance runs, as they did yesterday as well.

MIKE PIAZZA: The New York Police Department Bomb Squad was walking around the clubhouse with a couple of dogs, so they just gave me this cap so I figured I'd wear it for them. They're really nice guys. All the NYPD here, they've just been really -- we're happy they came out and they've done a great job keeping things in order. They gave it to me, told me to wear it, so I wore it. That was funny.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, obviously we want to end it right here. I mean that's our goal. We don't want to go back to St. Louis. We have our guy on the mound that is just -- has pitched great for us. That's our plan. We want to take care of it tomorrow and hopefully come out and score runs and win the game.

MIKE PIAZZA: To be honest with you, I haven't even really thought about it. I'm just so sort of numb and focused on just trying to get there and then worry about the next game. I don't know. I mean obviously we're in a good position. But this is the time where you can't really let up and start to philosophize? Is that right? Don't call me on that. You know what I mean? Now's not really the time to reflect or think about it really. You just want to go out and, like I said, take care of business tomorrow and then see how it feels after hopefully you win.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, I mean, honestly sometimes it -- I come out there almost too pumped and I kind of get out of my game. But tonight I think I was able to kind of settle down and just make good swings. It's tough, the same thing. I mean, obviously they expect a big hit every time you're up there, and you know what, I just do the best I can and try to stay within myself. Either on the bases loaded situation, that guy, (Mike) Timlin's got nasty stuff. I kind of knew that pitch was coming. I thought he might throw a little bit more in the strike zone. He kind of ran. Fortunately the ball kicked up on (Fernando) Tatis and wasn't able to turn it.

MIKE PIAZZA: Yeah, well, no question. You're right. That just, for me, when I take a big swing like that, it just kind of clicks in and I feel that I know I'm swinging the way I want to swing. Yesterday, the double play, it was just a bad swing. I can't explain it really. You just try and change approach or do whatever you can. But sometimes it's so tough. For me, I'm not the -- I can't really explain my hitting style. Sometimes you're up there, trying to guess at the pitch. Sometimes you're just trying to feel for a zone. I think that works against you sometimes when -- sometimes you even know what pitch is coming, but he throws it out of the strike zone and you swing at it anyway. Tonight I felt a little bit like, "Stay back." I knew he had a curveball. You just keep in your mind he's not going to throw that by you. Tonight I had that in my mind and had a good approach, and I felt good.

MIKE PIAZZA: He's the best thing to come out of Japan since the VCR. (Laughter.) He's doing a heck of a job for us. I mean, you know what, who is he? Where did he come from? To me, I'm just glad he's here. I mean, I think when he first came up and I asked Bobby about him, I was like, "Well, who's this guy?" He kind of told me the story, he was like, "He was in Japan." I'm like, what a story, what a job he's doing for us offensively and defensively. He's definitely -- Derek Bell did a great job for us in the outfield defensively, this guy just came in and man, turned into a great table setter, playing great defense. Just, man, like I said... I'm just glad he's here. Who is that guy? He's awesome, man. I'm having fun time watching him.

MIKE PIAZZA: Starting already. (Laughter.) To be honest with you, again, you know what, hopefully ask me that after we win tomorrow. I haven't really even thought about it. I mean, you know what? Again, I can't control what everybody's going to think or whatever, but I've always said before that's an incident that happened in the past. I put it behind me. Like I said, we got to win this series first. That's the bottom line. So who knows? I mean, it just hasn't even crossed my mind, to be honest with you. I'm just so focused on trying to win this series. I think you can really do yourself some harm if you start worrying about -- even the Yankees, obviously they haven't won their series as well. So it's kind of premature to think about it.

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, Glendon's just done an outstanding job for us. He came in and has just been a great addition to that bullpen. It's given our bullpen -- allowed them to utilize their setup rules. And tonight, just wow. I mean , I really felt when he struck out (Fernando) Vina that we were going to get out of that inning without those couple of runs scoring. But even so, he beared down. The next thing, he came out and got out. So he didn't let it affect him. He's got tremendous poise and he'll be the first to tell you he's not going to light up the gun. But he's a tremendous competitor, moves the ball around, threw a couple good changeups to (Fernando) Tatis, just kept them off balance. What can you say? He's done a great job for us.