NL DIVISION SERIES: METS v GIANTS

October 8, 2000

Robin Ventura

ROBIN VENTURA: It was just a first pitch, fastball.

ROBIN VENTURA: Not that I can remember. Having a 4:00 start is a little different, seeing the balls and things. He's an aggressive pitcher and tries to jump ahead. I was just lucky, really.

ROBIN VENTURA: It tipped right off the top of my glove. I got a little piece of it. Not enough to slow it down, though.

ROBIN VENTURA: I don't think it becomes obvious. I mean, at the end of the game in the ninth, it is obvious. I think they are a good team, and they have been a good team all year. I don't think you feel comfortable until the game is over, but, when Bobby got out of the inning with the bases loaded, that was a big point for us.

ROBIN VENTURA: I don't know if I'm known as one, but if I see a pitch that I think that I can hit, I will. But I don't know if I'm really known as one.

ROBIN VENTURA: I think the 4:00 start makes it a little different. You know it is not going to be a good time to be going to the plate until later in the game. I think you have to maybe be a little more aggressive.

ROBIN VENTURA: That wasn't going through my mind. It was more just seeing the pitch and trying to put a good swing on it. At this point, it doesn't matter what I did during the season or what I ate a week ago. It just matters what I do today and what we do tomorrow, and that's when every game is important, it only matters what we do in these games. None of that stuff matters.

ROBIN VENTURA: I think we're a good team. Nobody knows if you are meant to do anything until it is over. We're confident about the guys that we have playing for us, and we enjoy playing together. The rest of it is going to play out over the next month.

ROBIN VENTURA: I wish I had some leaping ability. That's about all I have, but it wasn't enough.

ROBIN VENTURA: He's had key hits in three straight games. He's our best player. That's just a fact. He's a great hitter and a great second baseman. Just a stand-up guy that is there every day and he has been doing that for the two years that I have been here. He's done it all the time. He's our best player.

ROBIN VENTURA: I think that the team appreciates the moment. We have players that have been around and some guys that have only been through this with the Mets and maybe one other time with another team. I think everybody appreciates where we are at, and we're going to enjoy it. Wherever it takes us, hopefully it is the World Series. But people are going to enjoy it, and there's no need for us to go about it quietly. We are just going to have fun, and hopefully it takes us to the World Series.

ROBIN VENTURA: Today it's the best. I think having been in the playoffs a couple of times, Al's was big the other day, but with Bobby coming in here in the circumstances, and I think with all of the questions that people had about him all year, you know, I think he silenced those today. He does an unbelievable job, and especially with the circumstances, we lose we're going back to San Francisco, against a great team. And to have him go out there and one-hit a great-hitting team is a testament to him. He did an unbelievable job today.