NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v BRAVES

October 11, 1999

Bobby Valentine

BOBBY VALENTINE: At the risk of not sounding like a wise guy, we played a three-game series here, and he hit four home runs. We weren't pitching around him. You have to make good pitches to this entire team. The Atlanta Braves scored just a few fewer runs than we scored; that's a lot of runs during the Major League regular season. They didn't do it with one man providing the offense. You have to make good pitches. I always feel when you have a super talent, and Chipper is a super talent, that one of the great things you want to do is get the guys out in front of him and behind him because it's almost impossible to shut down guys who have excellent talent. I don't think that answered your question, but it's the best that I could do.

BOBBY VALENTINE: We have to watch him work out, and we might even be prudent enough to wait until tomorrow morning. Obviously, if he can't play, we'll have to adjust our 25-man roster. It seems as though he can. He said he felt good. He had full mobility in it. He'll take some batting practice and catch, and then we'll make sure it's all right tomorrow morning. But it looks better.

BOBBY VALENTINE: If it's bothering him, if it's hurting, then it will affect his hitting. If it's weak, then catching will affect it. I think if we put that thumb stiffener in there, the thumb guard that they use, I think that he'll probably be able to catch fine. But if it's hurting, it's tough to hit.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Geez, that's a pretty good talent evaluator. I have -- I don't know how to comment on that. I guess he feels we underachieved, is that what the comment was?

BOBBY VALENTINE: Yeah.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I don't think I'll avoid it. I don't think I'll address it, though, either. I think it's part of where we've been, and hopefully, we learn from it so that we can get to where we want to go.

BOBBY VALENTINE: If I really knew that, then I could say we have the definite plan and we're just going to put the plan into attack. But I think what we're going to do is go out and play the game, and when the games are all over, we'll be able to look back and say we either did enough or we didn't do enough.

BOBBY VALENTINE: The rotation is Yoshii, Kenny Rogers, off day, Al Leiter, Rick Reed, and then we will announce after. But those are the first four games.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, I'm more of a general guy than a specific guy. And if you gave me that specific game, I'd talk about it. But he's just an outstanding player that needs to be reckoned with. He gives you a great at-bat and has a plan when he goes up there. And a lot of times, if there's a mistake made to him, he could do as much damage as anybody in the line-up.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I never heard them say anything other than we underachieved. That's one of the only comments I ever heard them say about us.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Animosity? Our guys are loving, caring, good fellows, who just go about their business and just love to play the game. I don't think that there's any animosity on our side.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I guess. Maybe I'm not defining in my mind "animosity" properly. I think in our clubhouse, I think there's a great deal of respect for the Braves. I've never seen anything come out of our clubhouse other than respect for them. We like to compete against them, and we probably took exception to some of the little things that might have been done or said, but that all happens in the game of baseball. I don't think that any of those little things have taken the forefront, really, in the minds of the guys. The competition is what's at hand and they've been the champs and they are the champs, and we're trying to take it away.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Again, I don't think there's a real secret there. If there was, the number in that win column would be a lot less every year. It's not a secret -- no secret what he throws, and it's hardly a secret when he throws it. It's just that he makes very good pitches that our guys have got to be prepared to hit the good pitch or jump all over the seldom bad one.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, it really seemed to be the consensus of everyone when talking with Dave and Al and Steve. My thought is it was more on-line; that's the way we started the last series, Yoshii and Kenny Rogers. And we did all right, that's been our rotation for the better part of the second half. There really wasn't any major determining factor. We felt we had a good pitcher either way we went. It would mean a really long rest and wait for Kenny, and would mean a little extended rest for Rick.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I was smiling there. I thought you would say: "Is he going to start if he's okay." I think the time off is absolutely what the doctor ordered for Mike. Catchers are -- it's a tough chore. There's no doubt about that. Everything that's been said about late-season fatigue; that is a natural situation with a catcher who catches over 140 games is accurate when it's reported and talked about. Mike had no break at the end, and that was my -- that was kind of my mistake. As it turned out, it got rectified. I think right now if we went five games with Arizona, and Mike hadn't gotten hurt, I think he would have had to have an off day, regardless; so he got two of them. And I think he's going to respond quite favorable. And probably with the schedule, being it's two off, three off, two, the rest of the way, he should be fresh the entire time.