NL DIVISION SERIES: METS v GIANTS

October 8, 2000

Bobby Valentine

BOBBY VALENTINE: If he needed vindication, I'm glad he got it. But Bobby has earned everything he has done. He's a pro. Look it up in the dictionary, and you'll see his picture besides the word "pro." He knows what he has to do. As I said a couple times in there, when I saw his wife last, Kristie, last night, going out for the game, she says "Hi, is Bobby pitching tomorrow?" And I said, "Yes he is," and she said, "You won't be sorry that's that he is. He'll be pitching for the game of his life." I guess that was planned from the time they had breakfast a couple days ago, and indeed he did.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I don't know if it is just enjoying the moment or that they appreciate where they are. They appreciate the moment. They appreciate each other. I think that every guy in there has total respect for the game of baseball, and what it takes to get where we are right now, and they are a determined, talented group of guys.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, first, there is inner confidence of knowing what he can do. You know, people like Bobby Jones like to look at that speed gun and say, gee, he's throwing 84 miles an hour and therefore is not an echelon type of pitcher but what he does with that, how he compliments it with a changeup, curveball, cut fastball and a slider, can be a torment to hitters. Coming down the stretch he was something like 10-3 for us. I don't think he had a bad game in the group. And what he did to come back when he knew that he needed to pitch in the early season there, he was struggling because of his health and he wasn't comfortable with his windup. We had two weeks where we were not going to use five starters. I told him he could stay here and not pitch, and the way you're going to get better is to pitch. You have to pitch more to get better and if you get better, then you will pitch more for the team. You can either stay here or be in the bullpen, because he had the right to refuse the assignment to the Minor Leagues, or you can go to the Minor League leagues and pitch because you need to pitch more to get better and if you pitch better you'll pitch more. He said this is a simple thing, I'll go pitch. So he went down and pitched and he did better and we're here because of him.

BOBBY VALENTINE: You know how big it was for the team. It was a 2-0 lead when we had a 2-1 lead in the series. Robin is another pro. He is a confident guy. Everyone is looking at the stats and saying, oh, poor Robin, and Robin knows that he goes out there every day and contributes to our team's effort, and this is 97 wins so far and he's been a part of every one of them. He understands.

BOBBY VALENTINE: We're playing the Giants, so I don't know what --

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, the Yankees are playing right now and I'm sure every Yankee fan around has turned off our celebration and is watching the Yankee game. What we want to do is take care of our own business. If, in fact, it is a head-to-head with the Yankees a couple of weeks from now we'd love to steal their thunder.

BOBBY VALENTINE: In my mind, he was pitching today. Someone would have had to come in and give some convincing arguments to say that there was someone other than Bobby Jones who should pitch this game. I looked at it coming in. I moved Glendon to the bullpen because I thought two left-handers would suffice, but I also thought Bobby was the guy to go in this game since the beginning of the series.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I never thought about taking him out at all during the game, other than the fact that he ran the bases after the missed strike bases. He ran the bases and he came in and he was a little winded, and a little cotton-mouthed. I was going to see how he responded to that. He got one out in the first pitch and cruised from there.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I don't know if there was one. We were down 0-1 and we felt that we needed to split. Al came out and pitched well. The guys scored enough runs. I don't know if there was one turning point.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Again, I don't like to deal with hypotheticals, and I wasn't pitching. But Mike looked over, you know, and saw him on deck, and there was a little eye contact about -- that there wasn't anybody warming up. I thought Bobby was going after everyone most of the game.

BOBBY VALENTINE: We pre were prepared if he pinched-hit, but Dusty knows his team a lot better than I do. I have to react more than I have to act. I'm not trying to manage two teams at one time.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, Timo is a good player and the guys respect that. He does add a little dimension to our offense. I thought that hit was big. But then like Robin always says, that second base man we have, he is a good player, and his hit was also very key. Again.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'm sorry, I have to go through it -- no. This was a wonderful thing that Bobby did today. He just came out big. Lord knows we needed it, and he delivered.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, maybe I didn't quote Robin properly. He's a really good player. That's what Robin usually says. He's a really good player. We have a lot of them. But Robin is sitting right here, and a major contributor to a winning effort.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I don't know, to get Bobby excited is one of those real tough things to do, I think. He knows what he has to do. And as I told you, he came in with a plan. It was discussed not only in the clubhouse, it was discussed at the breakfast table, at the dinner table, wherever it is his wife and he spend that time, and they knew. They felt it and they did it.