NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v BRAVES

October 12, 1999

Bobby Valentine

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'm surprised to hear they're not selling out the game.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Right now?

BOBBY VALENTINE: There's no chance of me scalping my tickets, then?

BOBBY VALENTINE: Seems like it's a pretty big series. Pretty big series to me.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Our fans were great the last two weeks of the season. They were there in force. They were very supportive. But then again, they haven't had an opportunity in ten years. Just about everybody in this community probably has seen a playoff game in the last ten years. A little different.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Speaking from experience (laughter), I haven't had any; so I'm not sure about best four-out-of-seven series as compared to three-out-of-five. But it seems that -- that would be a dumb statement, too. Seems like the team that gets out of the chute in the three-out-of-five series, and Boston is playing the Yankees; so that doesn't make any sense. So I don't know.

BOBBY VALENTINE: It seems that there's more urgency in I-take-three-out-of-five. So the decisions become more magnified than during the regular season. Again, I'd have to wait -- I hope it's nine days, to give you a true comparison.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, I certainly hope not, nor their success since this building has been built, nor their success over the last two years. Obviously, I hope none of that comes into play. But it's probably some factor there that you have to factor in. I heard Joe Torre say, "You're supposed to rip up what happened in the past once you get to these playoffs." I like that statement a lot.

BOBBY VALENTINE: If he's as good as Maddux and Glavine and Smoltz, yes.

BOBBY VALENTINE: He throws it where he wants to. He throws it with very well outside; he throws breaking balls when behind in the count; throws both sides of the plate. A lot of times you look up "good pitcher," and that's part or all of the definition.

BOBBY VALENTINE: This morning before noon, I got a call from our trainers who had gotten a call from Mike -- actually, I think they even saw Mike, who said that he was fine. He had no -- it was even a little better than it was yesterday, and yesterday was good enough to play. So at that time we set our roster for this series, and being that he was healthy and on the roster, I decided to play him.

BOBBY VALENTINE: A lot of people would question whether or not we played them tight. They beat us five out of six. So I believe it's going to be a very competitive series, with two very talented teams, leaving it out on the field, just the way the fans in baseball would like to see it done.

BOBBY VALENTINE: If he makes his pitches, it will be a definite advantage. Their hitters are all professional hitters. They don't have young guys who are baffled by a left- and a right-hander. There might be an at-bat or two that he gets away because they don't know how sharp his breaking ball is, or they don't realize he pitches inside or what kind of sink he has on his fastball or change-up. I think that a lot of hitters calculate and see pitches in their mind and visualize them, and that make it easier to hit. Then sometimes, when it's a bad pitch, you can see it for the first time and hitter, he can out of it.

BOBBY VALENTINE: His makeup is fine. What he needs is pitches. I think he'll have his pitches. In that game, whatever, after Game 2, that wasn't a poorly-pitched game; it was more like the gentleman said earlier, the urgency of things to take him out. Remember, there was a high hopper down on third -- whatever, it's history. He pitched well, and he competed, and that's all we need him to do tomorrow.

BOBBY VALENTINE: It's hard to say, but if, in fact, they are pressure-free, meaning they are playing more carefree, relaxed baseball, that's the good news. I'm proud of the way they've played since the first day I saw them together, and I think they've come together as a team quite nicely. And maybe they just feel more comfortable that they can all rise above the situation and get through a one-game playoff, and now a five-game playoff. It's nice to have that under your belt.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'm not sure. I'm not sure how to answer that. I'm really not sure what I would do if I was looking closer at them or neglecting them. The guys will have their at-bats. They'll go about their business. And as long as they're giving their best, the players that have worn this uniform, their best has been good enough for me, whether we've won or lost.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I think I addressed this a little yesterday, and it becomes the old Catch 22 with the Atlanta Braves staff. Everyone knows that the longer the count goes, the tougher pitch they make in that early in the count, they give you a pitch to hit. And when they give you a pitch to hit and you don't get a hit on it, it seems like you're impatient, rather than just following a plan. So I watch the intensity of it. I don't like giveaway at-bats, and I haven't seen many giveaway at-bats from our team. I've seen guys have a plan, work their plan, at times not execute it properly because of the physical competition that's at hand.

BOBBY VALENTINE: We played a series here and he had a lot of success. Then we went to New York, and we played a series there. So we've been through that pitching differently thing already. And we have to make our pitches to this team. The reason this team has won over 100 games, the reason they're here again, the reason they have the titles they have is because they're a good team. Chipper is a good player. But you have to pitch to all the players, you have to make your pitches. It's a simple situation that you make them, you do okay; and you don't make them, you get them next time.