NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 20, 2001

Bobby Cox

BOBBY COX: When he threw home?

BOBBY COX: I think he saw Counsell breaking off. He made a good play by breaking back, but it was too late to get Reggie. The play is to look back, his momentum carried him that way. I don't know really what happened. I can only tell you that he's the best fielding pitcher in all of baseball. The other ones definitely slipped out of his hands when he went home. The grass, ever since the Philadelphia series here, has been wet at night. It's real wet. The grass is soaking wet. If they get a scooter along the grass, it's going to be hard to throw. But we haven't had any problem with it and neither has the opposition all this time that we've played here, until tonight. Last night a little bit. Even Chipper's throw to Javy last night, the ball was wet.

BOBBY COX: You just don't expect the guys that are making errors to make errors - at all. Sanchez is a noted glove guy. He's a professional shortstop defensively. Both balls were wet as heck, yeah, when he threw them. Again, though, it's the same for both sides. Last night and tonight's the first time it showed up of all the games we played here since the dew started falling in the evening that it had an effect on the game either way.

BOBBY COX: Yeah, I think Tommy will still pitch tomorrow.

BOBBY COX: The blow was he was going to throw six or seven shutout innings with the stuff he went out there with. He generally starts out at 84 miles an hour. He was 87 to 89. He pitched great tonight. He jammed a lot of guys. First inning he had to throw 13 extra pitches because of the drop third strike. He's not going to pitch any better. The jam shots fell in tonight. The serves to the opposite field fell in. We fell apart behind him. But I thought he threw better tonight than he did his last time out, velocity-wise. Everything-wise. I thought he was excellent.

BOBBY COX: I don't think they have to be told.