NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 19, 2001

Craig Counsell

Steve Finley

STEVE FINLEY: Those are things you really have to do in the post-season, the little things right, moving guys up and getting them in, and we did a good job of that tonight. We took advantage of a couple of their mistakes. Those are the things you have to do to win in the post-season.

STEVE FINLEY: I've said it all year, he's the most prepared pitcher I've ever played behind. From centerfield I have a very good vantage point. He has a plan, the way he wants to attack each hitter. It's one thing to have a plan. It's another thing to execute it. It's all year long he's been perfect, almost perfect at executing his plan. If he gets beat with that, he tips his hat and he'll make an adjustment next time. It's been amazing to watch him all year.

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, like Steve said, I mean, he knows what he wants to do. And after playing behind him all year, we know what he's trying to do. He plays as defensively, very similar to the way the Braves position their defensive players. I mean, it's a blast playing defense behind him, because he's going to hit his locations. And when they do put the ball in play, it's going to be where he's got you playing against those guys. So it does make your job a lot easier.

STEVE FINLEY: Well, after a 1-1 split with the first two games, it comes down to a five-game series. Any time you can take that first game in a five-game series, it's important. They've got three great pitchers over there that are throwing at us. We just have to take it one game at a time, but today was a big game for us to win.

STEVE FINLEY: Well, I mean, I was right there running up to help the next guy coming in, and it was a great play. Actually, if he would have slid, he would have cleared himself out of the way and Javy probably wouldn't have been able to see the ball. He said he saw Javy kind of reaching out that way so he stood up a little longer. Before he knew it, he couldn't slide. He had to go in standing up. I don't think he was purposely running into him. I don't think he would have wanted to do that and maybe injure himself. But he said he caught himself where he couldn't slide. It actually turned out to be a good play for us because it shielded Javy.

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, we've all faced Maddux enough. I mean, he's not going to change his plan. We know what he's trying to do. Usually he can just do what he wants to do and that's good enough. It's just a matter of, like I said before, taking what he gives us and getting a good pitch to hit. He rarely makes mistakes over the middle of the plate, but you still got to get yourself a strike to hit and put a good swing on it. But I don't -- I mean, we've all faced each other enough to -- that I don't think there's any surprises. He's not going to change his approach to pitching tomorrow by any means.