NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v ASTROS

October 10, 2001

Larry Dierker

LARRY DIERKER: Well, we've hit him before. You know, I think that we would generally expect to get a few runs, more than one. But he kept the ball out there where he always keeps it, and we weren't able to chip away and get much out of it. You know, he doesn't let you steal, and pretty good fielder. He's got the whole game, hitting. Still, I mean on most occasions we're gonna score more than no runs and probably more than one run.

LARRY DIERKER: Well, we didn't have really anybody on our bench that had much success against him. That was the first and third Truby inning. (Inaudible.) What everybody says, the 3-0 pitch was outside. That doesn't matter much. (Inaudible.) He threw two more pitches after that. Truby is kind of a free-swinging hitter. Doesn't get many walks. I was hoping he'd be able to do something. In this case Glavine beat him. I think it was probably more of a matter of experience versus inexperience more than anything else. Other than Vizcaino, I can't have anybody else on the bench to put up there, and usually with Vizcaino, they move the outfielders in. A lot of times he doesn't hit the ball far enough out there to get a sacrifice fly. So we went with Truby and it didn't work. And Biggio was not able to come through with two outs. The ball he hit actually would have been a double play if they walked Truby so it might not have made any difference.

LARRY DIERKER: It was our only real chance other than somebody hitting a home run.

LARRY DIERKER: Well, I feel like Glavine takes advantage of the strike zone no matter what it is. You know, we had some guys complaining, and then I talked to some other guys and they said, "Well, you know, wasn't that bad." So the only thing you can do in a circumstance where the umpire's got a wide strike zone is if it's consistently wide then your pitchers have to make the pitches, too. I can't really complain about the pitches we made. The only way that we could have stopped them from scoring a run is if Lugo hadn't thrown the ball away at first base. On that play he dove and caught a ball most shortstops wouldn't even get to. So if he would have gotten up, I think Surhoff was going back to second, he probably would have stayed at second with an accurate throw or no throw. And even saying that, it's a ball that Bagwell normally digs out and this time he didn't.

LARRY DIERKER: Well, I don't feel good about going on the road 0-2. I wouldn't feel good about staying here 0-2. I mean, it's very difficult to get down this far to a good team in a five-game playoff and still win. But we have been a better road team. If we are able to win two games there, then I feel like we're due to win one here.

LARRY DIERKER: I thought he pitched a great game. He had some luck. They lined out a couple times when they had the runners breaking. We got the plays that way. But he kept the power hitters from showing any power. He kept the ball on the ground or on the line most of the time. Hardly any balls got to the outfield. And this is pretty typical of what he's done for us. During the regular season and without a day off tomorrow, I probably would have gone with him a little bit longer. But, you know, you feel like you're running out of time in the middle of the game in post-season, because there's not very many games left. And so sometimes it calls for desperate measures, and I think that is one when you pinch hit for the pitcher after he's given up one run. But we needed a run there, and it wasn't promising to try to let the pitcher hit there, and then score later. So we hit and it didn't work.

LARRY DIERKER: Frustrating.

LARRY DIERKER: It's just a small sample. When you face the Braves, you face tough pitching but those guys are better hitters than that. Obviously, Berkman hit the ball sharply right at their first baseman in the first inning. Ball could have gotten through, gotten by. All you could try to do is hit the ball hard. I didn't think Lance got very good swings at Glavine but he had a pretty good at-bat against Smoltz. I don't know, I don't feel like Moises is swinging as well as he sometimes does, but I don't feel like he's really struggling either. He gets a couple pitches to hit, he'll hit them.

LARRY DIERKER: If I did, it would have been the first time he's bunted in perhaps four or five years. So the guys aren't generally very good at doing something they never do. I feel like it would have almost automatically put him down two strikes in the count if we had tried. If he's not a guy that's going to bunt with two strikes, he's probably not going to bunt at all if he's not a bunter. We have a few guys on the team that bunt enough to have a feel for it - Biggio and Lugo and Vizcaino and Ausmus. But Lance hasn't bunted since he's been here. I doubt if he bunted in the Minor League since he was always hitting third and fourth in the line-up. You can't pinch hit for him in order to bring somebody in to bunt. And he's got the hole up on the first-base side. But I thought the conditions were favorable for him to hit.

LARRY DIERKER: His shoulder was sore.

LARRY DIERKER: Not really, because, you know, the first throw, it was a little high. Bagwell could have caught that ball if he jumped. He was trying to stay on the bag. I think from my viewpoint watching the runner, I think he could have jumped, come down on the bag and still gotten him out. But he doesn't have the ability - nobody does - to be able to look at the runner and the throw coming all at the same time. I think he took a chance that he could get it up in the web and still stay on the base. But he wasn't able to. Then the second throw was, you know, one of those dive-get-up-and-throw-real-fast throws and I don't really think that was pressing. I think it was just trying to complete a great play. And just because he made those throws early, you know, you might say that he was pressing. But he might be for all I know. I don't know how he's feeling inside. But I don't, you know... Whatever he's done so far, it doesn't bother me that much. Obviously the double pllay ball hurt a lot yesterday. But over the course of the year, Julio's been able to get more chances per game than Vizcaino. His fielding percentage is higher than Vizcaino's, and so I feel like I'm going with my best shortstop. That said, you know, maybe there are other shortstops in the league who would be better, but I don't think there's anybody on our team who's better. I think sometimes Vizcaino's better from a hitting standpoint, but because of the range factor, I think Julio's better overall playing short.