NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 21, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: I'm just watching those games like a fan. We're not worried about that series. Obviously, two tremendous ballclubs, one with a very rich post-season history. The other one that had maybe the single best season in the history of the game. Just watching those games like a fan.

BOB BRENLY: Well, to answer your second question first, I have a feeling we will see lots of youngsters in the sand lot or in playing whiffle ball in the backyard imitating that stance. But I wouldn't recommend it. As far as what in his make-up allows him to do that, I think it's just the coaching he's had, the experiences that he's had, the players that he's played with, the coaches and players he's learned from. It all goes into part of what makes him who he is. He's one of those guys that has had to work extremely hard for everything that's come his way. He doesn't take anything for granted and puts the team first in every possible situation. I think that unselfish attitude, the team-first attitude, is what allows him to do the right thing in the right situation.

BOB BRENLY: I don't know that there is a secret. I guess we have to ask him that question. But for people who weren't familiar with Craig Counsell before this year's post-season or haven't seen him play before, they may be surprised. But those of us that have been around him all season, this is what he's done for us all year, just make the big play, come up with the big hit, tremendous base runner. He's done it all for us all season long, no matter where we've put him on the field, no matter where we've hit him in the line-up. We sit him on the bench for three or four days, put him right back in there and he doesn't miss a beat. This guy's been one of our most consistent performers all year, and we wouldn't be here without him.

BOB BRENLY: Veterans have been through just about every situation that is going to come up during the course of a regular season. All of our guys have played on teams that have lost significant members of their ballclub at some point or another. They were able to deal with it and overcome it, or they succumbed to the injuries. I think because of the experiences our players have had, they understood how important it was to take some time off, whether they wanted to or not, to allow the bench players to get some at-bats, whether they agreed with it or not. The veteran leadership, I think, for me, it has allowed them to see the big picture. Don't get caught up in, "Why am I not playing today? Why am I not hitting fourth?" I think because of the experiences that they've had leading up to this season, they've been able to look at the big picture and understand that it was going to take contributions from everybody, and they all bought into it.

BOB BRENLY: We joked about it all year. I never sensed any pressure or that they were responding to any pressure at all, not once all year. There were sometimes this year where we played some pretty ugly baseball. There were times we didn't pitch particularly well. There were a lot of times that we didn't hit particularly well, but I never sensed that we were losing our focus or that we were taking our eye off the prize at any time. Once again, because they're veterans. They all understand the ebb and flow of a Major League season. Unless you're the Seattle Mariners, nobody goes out there and wins every day. You're going to have good streaks and you're going to have bad streaks, because they've been through them all before. They didn't get too giddy when we were playing well or too down when we were playing poorly. They knew ultimately if we kept grinding away every day, good things were going to happen.

BOB BRENLY: Well, once again, because of the lack of post-season success of our veterans, I think that they were willing to try whatever, and we had so many good players available off of our bench that we could give guys some time off. When we put those guys in there, they came through. It may have been a different story if we would have sat one of our veteran guys down for a couple days and the guy who took his place didn't get the job done. But it seemed like every time we'd take Steve Finley out of the line-up for a couple days, Danny Bautista would get red hot. Sit Reggie down for a couple days, David Dellucci would get red hot. Just right on down the line. Every time we sat somebody for a good reason, the guy that took his place really stepped it up. I think it made it easier for the guys who knew their turn was coming soon to see the results that we had doing it with some of the other veterans. I think probably the first guy was Grace. I think he was the first one that I pinch-hit for in a tough situation with Greg Colbrunn. I actually apologized to him. I said, "I hate to do this to you, but Colbrunn's the guy we need up there right now." Grace said, "Don't ever apologize to me. If you're sending somebody else up there, that means you think we have a better chance at winning this ball game." That's what I want up there. Because Grace took that attitude, it made it easier to do the next time and the next time with the next guy. So it could have very easily blown up, but because of the attitude these guys took, it made it very easy.

BOB BRENLY: We've got, just going down the line-up, Womack at short, Counsell at second, Gonzalez in left. Reggie Sanders is hitting fourth tonight, Mark Grace hitting fifth, Matt Williams in the six hole. Danny Bautista playing center, Damian Miller catching Randy Johnson. I just think that against Tom Glavine that -- I'm talking about Danny Bautista for Steve Finley, which is really the only change. Danny likes that ball out over the plate where he can extend his arms. Tom Glavine lives on that outside corner. The career numbers don't bear it out, but from what I've seen of Danny in this post-season, the way he's swinging the bat right now, I think this is our best chance to generate some numbers against Tom Glavine. So Danny Bautista gets the nod in center.