NL DIVISION SERIES: METS v GIANTS

October 6, 2000

Bobby Valentine

BOBBY VALENTINE: Yeah. Impressed, proud, but I've seen them do it, so there's no reason for me to be surprised. I'm not surprised at all.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Yes, he's fine. He's a tough guy and as resilient as anybody on our team. We've depended on him all year, and we'll continue to depend on him and he knows that, and I like that he knows that. The high fly ball that stays two feet fair, and if it had four feet more it would have come down in the outfielder's glove. Nothing to be ashamed of. The guy placed it perfectly and we came back and won the game.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Bobby Jones is the leading candidate right now.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I think fearless, meaning not intimidated by a situation. I think he's very talented, and that definitely helps his confidence level.

BOBBY VALENTINE: The only way it would matter is if the other team got a heads-up that we didn't get. We're both playing that same waiting game. And by the way, Derek Bell's update, he had an MRI today. It was diagnosed as an upper ankle sprain, which is the ligament that -- not the ligaments that are usually sprained in the ankle. It's the ligament that connects the fibia to the tibia in the ankle. That is the reason it was hard to diagnose initially and why it felt good for a minute and then didn't feel good after a couple minutes. It's a rather major severity in that he's not allowed to bear weight for quite a while. There will be no chance of him playing the rest of the post-season. It's at least a three- to six-week rehabilitation.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Only for the next round. Can't do anything for this round. We'll be playing one short.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, Derek had a lot of experience that will be missed when we play Timo or Bubba. Darryl Hamilton has similar, or actually more experience. It will be a new-look lineup, which makes things a little different. That's what the major difference will be; that it's something that we're not really comfortable with, and we're going with it in the playoffs. But I'm comfortable with it.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Darryl is one of the consummate professionals that we have on this team. He understands the arena that he works in and understands his responsibilities and job within the arena. I remember in the end of May, I believe it was, my time line isn't really good, but a lot of people thought he wouldn't play this year at all, and after another third, fourth or fifth consultation with some doctors that he came into the office and said, "I will be back. I will help this team win this year." And kind of went against a lot of odds to do that. It's because of his determination and hard work, and even more, his will. It still hurts me to watch him run; so I'm sure it hurts him. But he is a major contributer. I'm glad we have him.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'd rather not do anything than I've done all year. So tomorrow, you'll see what the lineup is. I have an expectation that Timo and Alfonzo will both be in that lineup.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, we fly well. So I'm not worried about that right now. I'm thinking about tomorrow's game and our fans coming out to root us on to victory. I don't know about the old 2-3. How did that work?

BOBBY VALENTINE: No, I'm glad we're playing this format.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Very confident. Rick Reed is one of our best pitchers. He's been there. He'll be there again. And I'm very confident in his abilities.

BOBBY VALENTINE: You saw a situation yesterday that occurred in the Giant game where the starting pitcher, it was necessitated for him to pitch. We have plenty of options, but right now, if everything stays on course, Bobby Jones will be the pitcher.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I just think John Franco being on our team gives us a distinct advantage, and his abilities to pitch in the seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th or beyond gives the manager and the team a great deal of confidence. I was elated to see his elation, and, you know, there's no one that I trust any more than John or as much as I trust John, but he's a real pleasure to have on this team.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Yeah. They will have other guys in that lineup other than Bonds or not? Just wondering.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Absolutely.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Why not? That's the way we've been in line. Jones has been ready to pitch. I like the fact that Rusch pitched well out of the bullpen the other day. He's a very good pitcher.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, I think about volume. Intimidation, I'm not sure. I've read some things out of their papers about a couple of their players, their pitchers, who might get rattled or something like that. But I don't know their pitchers that well so I can't tell you that that's going to happen, and I don't know their hitters that well. I'm just talking about volume. I think that there's a lot of volume in San Francisco, according to our guys. Heck, if we can outdo anyone in any category, we can outdo them in volume. I've been in New York a long time.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I think there are a lot of Giants fans here. I didn't see the quote. But I doubt they will get the tickets.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I don't know if "surprise" is the word. We expected him to. Kind of glad he didn't.