NL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS v BRAVES

October 5, 1999

Shane Reynolds

SHANE REYNOLDS: I don't know. The short rest, myself and Vernon, the pitching coach, took the last three days throwing off the mound trying to find out if it was a mechanical problem; if it was arm angle. What seemed to have -- second half of the season, the last 4, 5 starts, I lost the sink on the ball, sharpness of the split finger, a little bit of the control. I am a control-type pitcher that is not overpowering. I think hopefully, knock on wood, that may have been something that we may have found. I think the arm angle was a little more than three-quarters -- I thought I had pretty good movement, sink on the ball; got some ground balls when I needed to. Was able to spot some pitches early in the count and get ahead. I think hopefully that was what was the problem.

SHANE REYNOLDS: Yeah, I don't consider myself a power-pitcher. I consider myself a sinker-control-type guy, try to get ahead and stay ahead. In that situation, yeah, I mean, he swung the bat very well. He has got a lot of power. Key part of the game, I think. Could have been a situation there where the game could have been blown up. I thought I made some real good pitches. We pitched away most of the game. We came in and tried to get the speed off his bat. It was just a situation where I was just able to get a pitch behind, nothing special or nothing he did wrong or I did right, just trying to make a quality pitch in a crucial situation of the game; just happened to work out.

SHANE REYNOLDS: Oh, there is no doubt. Playoffs, postseason are unbelievable. It is easy to get up for these games, very exciting, enthusiasm is there. You know it is going to be tough and battle the whole way through, especially with these guys. Anybody that can be put out there on the mound to face you has a lot of experience and has great stuff. They have got a good defense, team speed, power also. Coming in here we knew that essentially to get off on a good foot; have a good game, play an exciting game and a tough game and try to win. That is no doubt. But it worked out. The ball bounced our way. We played good, good defense; made our plays; scored some runs in key situations when we needed to, and you can't say enough about the bullpen. Trever got the out when he needed to get the out. Doug Henry was unbelievable an inning and two-thirds; Wagner has done his job all year and came in to get the last three outs. Coming in here and winning the first game against Greg Maddux, yeah, very big, but it is only one game.

SHANE REYNOLDS: Situation like that, I am a guy that I think handles the bat pretty well. As far as bunting, I was okay with the situation, however they wanted to do it. I just didn't want to hit into a double play. It was a situation where first pitch was a strike, 1 and 0 count, they could have done that two or three times in a row and still been okay. So it was a chance they took; just happened to work out for them. Yes, I am glad you said that I should have had that ball up the middle. Kind of jammed him, first reaction was maybe a little flinch, but, yeah, I was pretty much upset at myself and I should have made that play. I think I will make that play if it happened again; maybe not, but crucial situation of the game, yeah, I felt like I should have made that play.

SHANE REYNOLDS: That was pretty much the plan we got to stick with. Had a pitchers meeting today and we went over their hitters and what we wanted to do and that was something that we had talked about and stressed thoroughly. If there was a situation whatsoever, a guy in scoring position or time of the game was crucial, you know, don't give in, don't give him anything to hit or anything to beat you. He has been the guy for them all year that is swinging a hot bat, clutch hitter, so, yeah, I mean, even when he steps up with a one-run lead, he's got a chance to tie the ballgame even nobody on base, so, yeah, we didn't -- we were like, okay, don't throw anything over the plate; don't give anything too bad; take a chance on walking him. So that was a situation that we had talked about and we tried to stay with the whole game.

SHANE REYNOLDS: It is tough. I am a guy that doesn't like to walk guys very much. But on the other hand, I am a guy that gives up a lot of hits sometimes. I would rather not, but in a situation like this, in a crucial game which we knew it would be tight, you know, not many runs scored, you got to take that chance. You got to take the chance put him on base and hopefully make your pitches to the next guy.

SHANE REYNOLDS: Pretty close, I think. I had pitched 6 or 7 innings and I think I had given up two runs in that situation. The other pitcher great, a shutout or I think one run or something like. No better feeling than to come in and get a win, no doubt. Tremendous excitement. Guys were upbeat and we feel really good coming in here and establishing what we did and winning this first game. But it is a five-game series; you got to win two more, so we got to do our job the next few days.

SHANE REYNOLDS: Rather not have the bases loaded in a situation like that, but that is tough. I think sometimes I pitch a little better against lefties sometimes. Ryan hit the ball pretty good today. He had two or three hits, so it just -- just worked out. For us today, the ball kind of bounced our way. When Bobby made out the lineup he didn't know in the fifth inning it was going to be bases loaded and who in that spot. Just a situation to where I was able to make a couple of good pitches and throw that ball in a good spot a little up and away, and it worked out for us. I mean, it was a key situation, I think because the bases were loaded, but we had a one-run lead or a tie ballgame in that situation; it could have been blown open for them. So it was a key situation for us; just happened to work out.

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