NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS v BRAVES

October 3, 2002

Kevin Millwood

KEVIN MILLWOOD: I just felt like I got my mechanics right, getting them back to where they were in '98 and '99. I think being hurt I changed my mechanics to try to find a way to throw where it didn't hurt, and I'm getting them back to where they needed to be. It was probably one of the biggest things I did all year.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: You can't tell I'm fired up? (Laughter.) I don't know, I think Leo could tell a little bit in the bullpen before the game. Yeah, I was real fired up. I knew it was a big game for us. Definitely, we didn't want to go back to San Francisco down two games and it was -- I knew it was a big game. I was probably as excited or as pumped as I've ever been.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: Yeah, I felt like I had a little more zip on my fastball. My slider was just a little bit harder, and I thought I threw a couple of curveballs harder than I have all year. It's probably got a lot to do with adrenaline and things like that. So hopefully I can keep it up.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: At the time I don't think I was affected. Maybe a little bit tired. Your going to run into plays like that throughout games. I didn't really get sore from it until after I had come out of the game; I started feeling a little bit sore, but nothing to -- nothing that's really going to affect anything.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: Groin. Something around there. I don't know. Maybe a doctor could tell you better.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: I like being behind those two guys. Those two guys are going to get all the publicity. It keeps it away from me. I don't have people breaking down every little thing that I do, which is kind of nice. I don't have a hundred people wanting to talk to me every day, which is kind of nice. I just go about my business. I don't have to worry about being the No. 1 guy here.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: Well, you know, I watched Glavine and Maddux and Smoltz pitch for five years now, and those guys are the same way. They don't give anything away with their facial expressions or body expressions. They just go about their job and I figured the less I let the other team know about what's going on in my mind, the better off I am.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: Yeah, I thought about it. I think in any situation, you try to go back to a similar situation that you were successful in. I was successful then, so I wanted to go back and pull something up, and that's what I did. So I thought about it. I knew in my mind that I had been in that same situation and I did well. Really, nothing better for me to think about than that.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: Yeah, I was pretty tired. I felt like I may have been able to go one more, but why chance it with our bullpen. Those guys have been so good all year long, it's hard not to go to them.

KEVIN MILLWOOD: I don't know if I would call it an injury. My groin is a little sore. I don't think it will -- I don't think it will take away from anything that I do in between starts. I don't think for a Game 5, I don't think it would bother me for that. It's just something that we just make sure we'll take care of over the next couple of days, and just get ready for Monday, if need be.