NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PADRES v BRAVES

October 12, 1998

Michael Tucker

MICHAEL TUCKER: Very timely hit. Going up to the plate you've got a man on first. And second, it's going late into the game, so you want to get a good pitch you can drive. With Kevin Brown out there, you know you have to make them get the ball up. You know you have a chance. I got a pitch I can drive, and I didn't miss it.

MICHAEL TUCKER: It was a -- I think it was a little sinker. He got it over the plate a little too much. Like I said, you want to make them give pitches up. And I think we did a great job tonight of allowing the game to come to us, and not really forcing the issue, allowing pitchers to make mistakes.

MICHAEL TUCKER: It's great. It was playoffs, and anytime the playoffs somebody can come up and do something really big, I guess tonight was my night. And hopefully we can get back to Atlanta and let somebody else pick it up. It was Galarraga last night. And we've been getting pretty much clutch hits at every opportunity. I think the guys are really stepping up a lot.

MICHAEL TUCKER: I think this is big for us. Coming in, our objective was to get two games, and hopefully three. We got two games, and we're taking it back to Atlanta. And everything pretty much is going our way. If we keep the pressure on, keep things going, we'll be pretty successful with it.

MICHAEL TUCKER: He was throwing pretty well, even though he's coming off of three days rest. Like I said earlier, after facing him two or three times this year and in Florida last year, you pretty much have a good idea of what he's going to do, what he's going to throw. And coming into the game, we knew that we had to make him give pitches up and throw strikes. And that's the main thing is that we got guys on base and forced him to get a lot -- give a lot of pitches up. And I think that was the main thing that helped us out tonight.

MICHAEL TUCKER: Kevin is a great pitcher. You can't take anything away from him. I think we've been fortunate enough to get some hits off of him. He's beaten us a couple of times, but in retrospect, we played pretty well against him. Game 2, he threw really well. And nobody really got a hit off him. He had great stuff that night. And tonight we had the upper hand. We were able to capitalize on mistakes he made, got guys on base, and got the home run off of him.

MICHAEL TUCKER: Well, Kevin is great from wherever he throws from. He still has the great movement. He still has a fastball. You can't take anything away from him, because I think from the stretch, he has a little bit more movement, because he's shorter and quicker than when he comes from the wind-up. You pretty much have to put him in a situation where he has to throw a strike and give pitches up. And I think we did that tonight.

MICHAEL TUCKER: Well, it's one of those things where I knew I hit it good. I didn't know if I hit it well enough to get it out, but once I saw Tony turnaround and give up after the ball, I knew that's what we needed to put us ahead. And it was a pretty good feeling.

MICHAEL TUCKER: Oh, it's great. There are moments in baseball that you compare it to, but when it gets to the playoffs and NLCS and your back is against the wall, you can't compare it to anything else, because this is really what you play the game for.

MICHAEL TUCKER: Well, I'm feeling pretty much as I did in the first half of the season. I'm seeing the ball really well, even though I'm swinging at some pitches that might be a little out of the zone. It's not like I'm really fooled on too many pitches. You go up there with the idea that you're going to get a hit regardless of what the pitcher is throwing. And it's a pretty confident feeling going up there.

MICHAEL TUCKER: No. I think I tried to do a little bit too much in the second half, tried to do better than I did the first half and forced the issue a little bit instead of allowing the games to come to me. I was really going out there and trying too hard to get hits, where now it's a situation where I'm going up there and just waiting for pitchers to make mistakes and allowing them to make mistakes.

MICHAEL TUCKER: Personally, it's great. You go out there and you accomplish -- you help your team accomplish what their main objective was coming in. I think from the team aspect of it, we're doing the things we need to do to win ballgames. Our objective, like I said earlier, was to come in and win two games, and probably three. We did that and we're taking it back to Atlanta. If we can keep things going the way they are, we're going to be pretty successful with that.

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