NL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS v BRAVES

October 9, 2004

Bobby Cox

BOBBY COX: Well, we knew that. I thought he changed speeds really well and located his fastball extremely well. I thought he had our hitters off balance, like a veteran would do out there. He pitched, for me, just like a veteran. I thought he was outstanding.

BOBBY COX: Same thing. He felt great. His side sessions, he felt great warming up in the pen. The one pitch that he came out on is the only time it bothered him. He pulled it. There's no way he could have thrown. We had Brydie (Paul Byrd) ready, but we thought we'd get six innings out of Thomson. We really felt that way.

BOBBY COX: Yeah, well, when you walk people, things like that, you're going to get some two-out hits. We walked way too many people today. We need to jump out in the lead ourself, get the big boys in the middle of the lineup to hit a little bit, and we'll be just fine. But two-out hits come and go. It's strange. They did a good job. We had Berkman two strikes and we hung him a breaking ball.

BOBBY COX: Just a general thing. We'd like to jump out in the lead and breathe a little bit one time. We just need some of our guys to find some holes and get a few base hits in there.