NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v BRAVES

October 16, 1999

Bobby Valentine

BOBBY VALENTINE: You know, we have that thing, and you've seen it here. It's either a hold or if you get a jump. And after Ozzie went behind him, before play started, he wasn't anywhere near him. So he did okay. It wouldn't have looked too good if he got thrown out at third, I know that.

BOBBY VALENTINE: It's not me playing the game; it's the guys playing the game. I try to put them in the way so they can succeed. I wasn't going to put up somebody who could fail; put them at someone that's not good at. With Moore and Rogers on the bases, I think they can succeed if they get a chance; so I'm going to let them do that.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, that's after Rey unsuccessfully bunted. Rem's quick to the plate, but again, I just felt that this is something he can do. If he gets a jump, I'm behind him all the way. It wasn't a bunting situation all the way, but it was for the first pitch. And on the first pitch, it didn't succeed.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, for whatever it's worth, I'm glad he was hitting second and had the opportunity to get them. The hits have been far and few between. And they are pitching us great. The home run against Smoltzy might have been his only mistake of the night, if that was down the middle like it looked. Then I think when the guys got to third base, Rocker had to come in with a fastball instead of a breaking one, and worried about bouncing a breaking one. John's been a big hitter all his career. He's a talented guy and goes unnoticed. I know he hit a grand slam to get us a win here in the last series. We played the Braves and got two big hits today.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I didn't have definite plans, obviously. There was a thought on whether or not he stayed with the one-hitter and such a low pitch count; whether or not I was going to send him out for the 9th, considering Armando threw 24 pitches last night. So I think that -- I think that thought went through my mind whether or not -- if he got through the 8th. But I knew that was the teeth of the order. If there was trouble I had Turk and Dennis Cook up at the time. If there's trouble, men are on base, Turk was going to face Andruw Jones.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I don't know what they realize, but he obviously is very tough. This is a guy who had a brain aneurysm. People said, "Well, who knows what you're going to do." And he became one of the great hitters at the Major League level without ever playing a day in the Minor Leagues; who takes the subway every day and lives in New York City and goes out and plays every day that we have a baseball game. It's pretty tough.

BOBBY VALENTINE: You know what was really gratifying is to see Guillen's ball miss the foul pole. Because those things haven't been going our way. I didn't get up to look, and I just said, "It's foul." And then I looked, watched the look on Bruce Benedict's face when he said, "By an inch."

BOBBY VALENTINE: Rocker is as good as there is. And luckily, Armando is pretty good, too, to close the door there and not have Chipper Jones come to the plate.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, maybe not everything. But I think I let a little out of the bag. What do you say? That everybody was talking about how tough it is to win four games, and I didn't think we had to win four games today. I thought we had to do the same thing we've done a hundred times previous to tonight, and that's win one game. We wanted to win two out of three at least here at home, and no one said which two we had to win.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I don't really remember. It wasn't real down. There was some guys a little angry. There were a couple of things being kicked. But Turk came in and did a great job there. That's two runs with a runaway train kind of going downhill, and he put the brakes on.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I totally appreciate the fan support. I said that the last week of the season, which was a real tough week for us. And there was no anti-Met attitude; there was all support. And all the fan mail I've gotten, other than one letter who said that I was an idiot, said they were behind us and they appreciated it, and: "Let's go Mets."

BOBBY VALENTINE: It allows us to win and play tomorrow. So that makes it a breakthrough. If we didn't win today obviously it doesn't allow us to play tomorrow. That makes it a great breakthrough.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, I think it's just been a special season for the team and the fans, and most people who have watched all year have had a great ride and they want to hold on. And so does the team. It's a great group of guys.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, both of them are really important. You know, the little things are the that things that slip through the cracks. The big things the stolen bases, and the big thing is the bat by Melvin Mora. The stolen bases set everything up.