NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v BRAVES

October 19, 1999

Bobby Cox

Gerald Williams

GERALD WILLIAMS: Well, it feels good to be in the World Series. It's good to play against old friends.

GERALD WILLIAMS: Well, it was a situation where we knew we lost the lead, but we didn't lose the game. We had to make sure we got guys in scoring position and drive the guys in whenever they did get in scoring position. But as far as us ever giving up or losing spirit or anything like that, no, that's not what this game is about. It's about making the adjustments.

GERALD WILLIAMS: Well, it's just a situation where a lot of times people put labels on you. But I think labels are just what they are. You have to have opportunities to play, and I've been granted that and I've made good on those opportunities. I'm just thankful for the fact that they saw fit to put me in the line-up.

GERALD WILLIAMS: Well, I was trying to make sure I didn't take wings.

GERALD WILLIAMS: To whom? It's just a situation where you are totally happy and you feel like you can almost fly. And I wanted to make sure I stayed on the ground, because sometimes I have to talk to my nieces and nephews, and I tell them -- it wouldn't look too smart of me to take wings; pound if you are on the ground.

GERALD WILLIAMS: Well, that's what baseball is all about. You just never know when you're going to be down, and you don't know when you're going to be up, but you have to make sure that you do the things that are necessary to continue to compete every inning.

BOBBY COX: I thought we had a pretty good crack at it in the first inning, but it got a little hairy later on. It was an amazing game, because we had held their hitters so well the entire playoff, and almost the entire season. And they held our hitters in check, too. And all of a sudden, they had nothing but line drives. I thought Millwood was throwing good. He wasn't tired, but he was really getting hit. And Smoltzy was throwing harder than he's ever thrown in his life. And he had two innings in his life. I was only going to use him one and Remlinger in the 8th. I guess we didn't have a chance actually to set the hitters up much. They had a lot of fastballs.

BOBBY COX: Well, I think National League baseball is just terrific for the fans, and really, the writers and everybody connected to the media. It was as tough a ballgame as you ever want to be involved in. Sunday's game was low-scoring, two runs, and that was it, and for 15 innings. And today, we jumped out of the chute with five right away. With Kevin Millwood, you might think they would get one or two. But the Mets can hit. They're one of the best-hitting teams in all of baseball, and they finally caught up with us. They made it really tough.

BOBBY COX: I haven't even thought about the pitching yet. And I know we have a good ballclub, pitching-wise, hitting-wise. We hit the ball -- we scored a lot of runs this year, and we can score runs, and we're a good base-running team. We've got a good ballclub. Hopefully, we're going to play well against them.

BOBBY COX: Well, you certainly didn't want to lose one like we did on Sunday. You play 15 innings, finally get the lead. But that's the nature of the game. That can happen anytime. No, once this game starts or you start having batting practice, everything is forgotten. But games stay with you for a while, there's no doubt about that.

BOBBY COX: Well, both Bobby Valentine and I, we used everybody in both games. I don't know if that's fun or not, but you just make your moves and you hope they work out. I think Bobby did a great job with their club, and our club responded well for our hometown fans. Eddie was MVP of the series, and he certainly is well-deserving of that award. It's guys like Eddie that made our team go this year; guys that weren't full-timers got a chance to get in there and do it. I told myself to be ready and look for a good pitch to hit. That's what I tried to do, tried to hit the ball hard somewhere. But I don't change anything.

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