NL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS v BRAVES

October 8, 1999

Bobby Cox

Brian Jordan

BRIAN JORDAN: This is what I play for and this is what I strive on. I thrive on the pressure. They just added to the challenge, you know, last night when they were getting interviewed in ESPN and not going to let Chipper beat them. I mean, I looked at it as a challenge, and I have a lot of success in those situations.

BRIAN JORDAN: I did. When he threw the strike, he made the count one to one. I said let's change the approach and I was fortunate enough to hit the ball down right field line.

BRIAN JORDAN: I think any player would get some type of, you know, offense by comments that they make, and, you know, like I said, I thrive under pressure. I love it. I kind of like when they do say they are going to pitch around Chipper to me. I'm just happy Bobby put me back in the fourth position.

BRIAN JORDAN: It was a slider. He's probably trying to get it down low at my feet and get me to catch a bad pitch, but he left it up and I was looking to be aggressive in that situation and I was fortunate enough to hit it out.

BOBBY COX: It was incredible, as the entire ballgame was to me. It was a great play and I think I patted him on the back about eight times already after the game. Just a tremendous play be able to get up and force the guy. It was a game ending. Even if he doesn't make the play, game is over.

BOBBY COX: I told Brian on the way in, if we don't play the rest of our lives, we would never play a better game like this. We came from behind, got it tied up. They had a bases loaded, no outs. We had the bases loaded here and there and nobody could score and there was good plays in there and, you know, between our pitching staff and Brian and Walt's play, that was, you know, an unbelievable ballgame. I don't think we will ever be in another one like that.

BRIAN JORDAN: No, and I hope no time soon. This is a great game. I mean, both teams. I give a lot of credit to those guys. I mean it was just a battle. We were fortunate enough to come away with the victory.

BOBBY COX: They were all in relief today, even John Smoltz; but since we used Maddux for one hitter, couldn't use John because we had to have somebody starting tomorrow. If I had used Smoltz first, Maddux would have started tomorrow and we wouldn't have been able to use Kevin today either. Now we have a real rested pitcher and Smoltz. It was just a few pitches for Maddux and he was very capable of that and I told him to be on standby today for a hitter or two and Millwood on standby for a hitter or two an inning and Smoltz also was available so. We were throwing out the entire package and, you know, it went our way.

BOBBY COX: From the bench it looked like the pitch was halfway decent. From the bench it looked like he went halfway around. I haven't had the luxury of looking at a replay. Maddux was great. I thought he did a great job but we got in trouble when Biggio got on. He's a base stealer and that's the only reason really when they pitch hit I would have let Maddux in, if Biggio wasn't on base. We tried to stop the guy with (inaudible) -- he shuts it down. That's why he pitched the (inaudible).

BOBBY COX: The success that Jeff had, I can't really tell you. We make good pitches and we tried not to give him very much to hit at, but that holds true all year long. If you look at those little books they give us as managers, you will see a has a lot of bench hits. We are trying to be careful, but he's such a good hitter. He can hit sometimes your pitch and go ahead and hit it out of the ballpark. He had some hacks today. You could feel the wind over there and they went straight back. He just missed them. We respect he and Biggio an awful lot; in fact, that entire team can hit the ball. They are all tough.

BOBBY COX: There's always reasons for things so... Trying to make him chase something bad, I would imagine.

BOBBY COX: I did think of that, absolutely. Eusebio, he can run down the line decently. I know he has a bad knee but the thing was, the outfield and the infield back -- I've done that before. I just didn't feel like it today. I just didn't feel comfortable doing it. I've done it lots of times in the past, in the Minor leagues especially. With real slow runners at the plate, we could always turn to that. If the balance is not in, (inaudible) -- I was just telling our coach we caught a break. I said I almost played him back for that very reason. If they weren't in, the ball would have shot by me. He had no chance to catch it.

BOBBY COX: Smoltz is really throwing the ball well, extremely well. Those 95 and 96 this Millwood threw up was the hardest he's ever thrown, and Smoltz has been throwing that hard for over a month. He rides a real hard cutter in lefties now. He has a great change-up. He's really throwing good and I expect him to throw as well tomorrow.

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