NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v CARDINALS

October 5, 2000

Darryl Kile

DARRYL KILE: Today, in the first, I was in a little bit of trouble. They scored a couple of runs, I got a break when Javy lined out. You give up a two-run lead to Glavine, it is tough to win, the guys came right back. With the hit by Will and Vina to get the inning started. We scored three to take the lead back. I remember thinking, you cannot give this guy the lead again. He is double tough if we happen to catch some runs, then you give him back the lead. I just tried to go, you know, tried to make quality pitches, hopefully catch a few breaks; which I did.

DARRYL KILE: Not really. I think the strike zone is something you have to earn throughout the course of a game, or reestablish yourself as a pitcher. As a pitcher, trying to get outs, you try to make pitches that you think you can get outs on, not so much as what the umpire will call. I was trying to make pitches to get outs. Fortunately, like I said, if I make a mistake, they hit it at somebody, if I made a decent pitch, got some outs early, early in the count, that was a big help for me, actually.

DARRYL KILE: Today I would have to say, yes. Different days, everybody's game is different, some games you come right out of the chute with command of all your pitches, some games you don't. You have to find ways to try to compete until you get a feel for everything. I gave up the lead early. Fortunately, we came back with big hits to take the lead. It bought me time until I could started, get a better feel for all my pitches.

DARRYL KILE: I guess, yes. I think every time you start a ball game, you want to finish it. Today I was a little cooked. It was time for me to go and hand it over to the bullpen. They did a great job all year. I hope -- I am pretty sure they will continue to do that throughout the rest of the postseason for us.

DARRYL KILE: Well, the thing that stands out the most to me is coming in as a visiting player. I know I said this before, it was always one of my favorite places, the enthusiasm the fans have for their ball club here, the overall excitement the City has for the Cardinals, I always admired that as a visiting player. I never realized to the extent, how much it is, until I played as a home player here. The biggest difference for me is the excitement the City has for this team, as a player, that is everything that you could want.

DARRYL KILE: I think as a starting pitcher your job at hand kind of outweighs any personal stuff like that. The guy is a great pitcher, tremendous season, my job is to go out and give the Cardinals a chance to win. Anything other than that is not important; I tried to focus on doing my job, tried to make pitches, get outs and get off the field and let our offense take their swings as soon as possible. That is really pretty much all I can think about.