NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v BRAVES

October 11, 1999

Bobby Cox

BOBBY COX: I think it's the same for both clubs. I don't think you have to go on your scouting reports as much as you normally would because you're fresh from playing them. It's not like we're playing somebody we've never seen out of the American League. So, yeah, both clubs know each other pretty good, I think.

BOBBY COX: I think we had Klesko hitting behind Chipper, and Klesko was swinging the bat real good. We're healthy right now. Our pitchers are healthy. Our hitters are healthy. Jordan feels fine, and Jordan's going to hit cleanup. And he's swinging good. I don't know how they're going to pitch to him. I don't know.

BOBBY COX: Yeah, it's going to be Maddux, Millwood, Glavine, Smoltzy the fourth.

BOBBY COX: Gerald Williams has been a spark for the ballclub, ever since he took over out in the outfield. And he had a lot of playing time, and he proved that he can play on an every-day basis. We never even consider pinch-hitting for Gerald anymore. Basically when we traded for him for Milwaukee, we traded him as a fourth outfielder, platoon guy, back-up type of player, but he's better than that. He's proven he's much better than that. He practices hard and he stays in great condition, and he can make things happen on the bases.

BOBBY COX: I don't know what you can learn from them. I don't know. We've won some and we've lost some. I don't know if you learn from winning or learn from losing. Hopefully, we'll have a little luck.

BOBBY COX: He's a good ballplayer, and he can do a lot of things. He can hit a ball a long ways. He's an RBI guy, hitting in the second slot.

BOBBY COX: I do. I don't post anything on our boards. I don't care what anybody says to me, to be honest with you. I think you either come to play baseball or come to talk; so you better come to play baseball.

BOBBY COX: No, they still had their head above water when we left there. The thing the Mets did, nobody talks about much, probably, talk about the other team going down, Cincinnati, but they beat Jason Schmidt, Cordova and Benson in the three-game series, and that's pretty good pitching that they beat. You have to give them some credit. They didn't really have control of their destiny; Cincinnati did. And they lost a tough game when they were leading 3-1 in the 8th, I think, with Milwaukee. But they certainly didn't back into this thing.

BOBBY COX: That's a joke, first of all, a lack of respect. I don't know where that came from, but that is a complete joke. Of course, they are a great team and they've got our respect. Anybody that's in the playoffs, you better respect them. They've got a lot of great players on that team, and they're good guys. I like them.

BOBBY COX: We really don't have a rivalry anymore, since we moved out of the West. The Dodgers, of all things, them being on the West Coast and us on the East Coast, were the biggest thing we had to a rivalry; and we were supposed to create one with Florida, and that hasn't materialized. I don't think we really have a rivalry. The rivalry is who is in first or who is in second, competing each year.

BOBBY COX: No, he's defense. It was because I wanted to, I guess. I wouldn't want to answer that right now.

BOBBY COX: I honestly think, we say it all the time, but nobody seems to believe it: It is a new season. And I don't think what you did in the past has a lot to do with what's going to happen in the future. They're all new ballgames. It's good that we beat them a few times, knowing that we can do it. And I'd rather have beaten them than not have beaten them, that's for sure, during the course of a season. But this whole thing starts fresh.

BOBBY COX: I really don't know Bobby Valentine that well. I never saw him in the American League, and I really don't know. And I don't think that playoffs, the World Series are about managers; it's about the game of baseball and players, really. I'll leave that to you people.

BOBBY COX: Well, we lost Game 1 against Houston and came back. Yeah, I don't think it's going to stop anything, to be honest with you, because everybody is competitive. And they're not going to let one game -- you're not going to lose your confidence after one game. But we're coming off a pretty good roll, ourselves.

BOBBY COX: It's the rules. I haven't thought about it in any other way. I think the wild card has been terrific for baseball, having as many teams we had trying to battle to get into the playoff situation. It's creating a lot of interest in a lot of cities, and it's been great for the races down the stretch. Believe me, those wild card teams are good, whoever makes -- Florida won a couple of years ago; they were a wild card. Boston, they could win tonight.

BOBBY COX: I'll post the line-up tomorrow.

End of FastScripts….