NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS v BRAVES

October 3, 2003

Will Cunnane

Mark DeRosa

WILL CUNNANE: I really did expect to be back here. I didn't know I would be in another uniform and at this time of the year. It was unfortunate the way things happen. I broke my hand. It was my fault. I did something stupid. I understand that. It's business. I understand why they let me go. It worked out for the best I think. It was time off for me and it gave me time to recuperate and understand myself. I became a pitcher afterwards.

WILL CUNNANE: What happened was, I have a lot of pride in my ability to field, and I made an error on a bunt. I was pitching. I went into the bathroom, and I think the thing was made out of titanium, and I hit a paper towel dispenser. Usually they break in one blow, but it didn't budge. I had to pitch the next inning with it. Luckily I got out of there. I went to the training room, and this was after the game, about an hour. I went to the trainer. He didn't know, I guess. I went there. I said, what would you tell somebody that broke their hand if they wanted to heal better. He said go get an x-ray, see the doctor. I said, what would you tell somebody who didn't want to do that. He said, still go get that x-ray and see the doctor. I said, how did you know I broke my hand. He said, the noise that came out of that bathroom, without you having brought a bat in there, we knew something was wrong. They told me it would take three months total and such. So, a couple days went by after that and they came up to me and they said, you threw a wrench into our plans. They said I was supposed to be called up, and it came push to shove, and they had to do something. What I heard is there was another player in the minor league that did a similar thing, hurt their hand. I don't know who it was, but they said they had to kind of make a point of it, and I was an easy answer to that.

MARK DEROSA: I actually thought that Turner Field was probably the loudest -- I have been a part of about four postseasons with the Braves now, traveling with them, sometimes not on the roster, but I thought the atmosphere there was unbelievable, and I think a lot of it was due to the fact that there were so many Cubs fans there. They pushed the hand of the Braves fans to get a little more vocal and rowdier. I was talking to Karros on first base, in the first inning and said how unbelievable it was, I've never seen Turner Field this loud and I remember playing against the Giants, and even against the Diamondbacks, it never had been that loud. To be honest with you I think it fired us up a little more. It doesn't matter who's rooting for who. It's nice for 55,000 people to be on their feet from pitch one.

MARK DEROSA: I'm a person who likes to go out there for BP. I know some guys have a different way of getting warmed up for a game. I'm someone who likes to go out and run around. Regardless of how cold and rainy it is, I still like to go out and take batting practice. When you sit in the clubhouse, you get a little lazy and tired. There is no time for that. There is no time to worry about the weather and worry about anything except bearing down and winning the baseball game. If you have anything else on your mind, you're doing the wrong thing.

MARK DEROSA: Greg's been doing it for so long. You know, he's a different animal. He didn't get too fired up off the field. He's the guy who people I think sometimes misread. They think he's such a business man on the field and off the field. The guy has a burning desire to succeed. I think tonight it's a big game for him going against Mark Prior. All the buildup has been about this pitching matchup and Greg Maddux has done this for years. He's been in this situation for years, and I know he's got a burning desire to go out there tonight and pitch a gem for us.

MARK DEROSA: Probably not. Probably I get a little more fired up down in the clubhouse with my teammates, but it's definitely the biggest hit of my career just because of the magnitude of the situation, how important it was for us to get that. Wood threw such a great game, we kind of and -- although we gave ourselves one chance to win that game with the bases loaded, Wood pretty much shut us down. We didn't want to come into Wrigley Field with the weather and Mark Prior on the mound, and in this environment, it's going to be crazy. It's what you play for. It's -- I'm so excited for tonight to get started. I know this game is just going to be electric.