NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v CARDINALS

October 5, 2000

Bobby Cox

BOBBY COX: Well, we have been down before, with the same ball club, in 1996, I think, leading three straight. We have the pitching to win three straight. We had it then, still have it now, we are still -- we can play them out, we will have Tommy, Mad Dog and Millwood. Those are three outstanding pitchers, so we do have a crack at it.

BOBBY COX: The only thing that I can think of is that, he got a lot of balls in bad areas. The Cardinals are a good hitting club, I think we need to give them some credit, Tommy made some good pitches, got some in areas he should not have. They are good hitters, they take advantage of bad pitches, and they hit some good pitches today, too. They were swinging the good. I have seen Tommy give up runs in the first inning before, and put up goose eggs the rest of the way. We kept waiting for that to happen. It just wasn't there today.

BOBBY COX: Well, as I said, we have good pitching. We have thrown a lot of great games this year. We have to throw three in a row, we are capable of doing that, they are an outstanding team, they have a lot of power on that team.

BOBBY COX: We will hash that over tonight on the plane ride back and talk about it in the morning and announce that tomorrow after the workout.

BOBBY COX: Yeah. Everybody is available. Right now it would be Maddux or Millwood in Game 3.

BOBBY COX: I want to talk to Leo about it. Maddux did not throw a lot of pitches, Tommy did not actually throw a lot of pitches today, either. We will just decide that on the way home. There is a few situations there I want to get ironed out.

BOBBY COX: Exactly the same thing. We had to win three, we did it then. We have got good pitching again this year, we could very well pull that off. We won 15 in a row this year.

BOBBY COX: We answered that. We need to make better pitches. They have an outstanding hitting team. Not too many clubs cooled them off completely, you won't do that completely. We need to make better pitches, they are a very powerful ball club.

BOBBY COX: I thought it was really close from our vantage point in the dugout, you cannot really tell anything at all. I thought it was hit hard enough and that we would get one. That could have been a huge difference, nobody on, two outs, could have been different for Tommy. Was he safe? I don't know.

BOBBY COX: Yes, I think that could definitely help us. These fans here are just terrific for the Cardinals, it is a really great tradition here with the fans, we have the same thing in Atlanta. They will be out in force, cheering the Bravos.