NL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS v BRAVES

October 5, 1999

Larry Dierker

LARRY DIERKER: Actually, we scheduled a workout for 2 o'clock yesterday thinking that we could leave and play somewhere after that. We did that before we knew what the game time was going to be between the Reds and the Mets. If we had known it was going to be a night game, we probably would have worked out at 6:00, and that way everybody could have come there and stayed there. As it was, everybody came and worked out and pretty much disappeared and we came back to the Dome about 8 o'clock, figuring that the game would be over about 8:30 Central time. So at 8:30, we left to go to the airport, and by the time we got to the airport we knew where we were going.

LARRY DIERKER: Everything seems the same to me, and that's probably been the most-asked question since I had the seizure and came back from it. The seizure was like a blur in my life. I didn't know it was coming; came out of all of the sudden. I was unconscious during the frightening part of it; so, I don't have any memory of that. For the next three days, the day where we did the testing, and the next day the surgery and the next day the recovery, there was a period of about four days I was sort of in that state of either I was sleeping or I was semi-conscious. People came; Biggio and Bagwell came by and talked the day after; my wife, my daughters. It was just that I was unconscious whole time but it was like a blur. I had trouble remembering who came in before the operations and who came in after. And then when I finally came to on the fourth day, I woke up and I felt fine. I put my feet on the floor. That was fine. I got up and I could support my weight, started walking and I had no trouble. I went down to the nurse's station to get some coffee and they gave me a newspaper and I looked at and I realized: I could walk; I could talk; I could read; smell; taste; and everything was the same. So from that point forward, it was a matter of when we were going to let me come back and manage. Obviously, for a few days I didn't feel like I was exactly full of energy, but within a week I was playing golf, and within two weeks I was working out, and I didn't come back until about a month after the seizure, but I was ready to come back two weeks ahead of that. I would have been happy to do it and think I could have. But I think it was a situation where they wanted to be cautious and conservative. When I got back, everything felt the same. The only thing that -- there's two things where I felt some difference: And that was having seen the video and the pictures in the newspaper, I felt closer to the players because it was obvious that they had some feelings for me and that was expressed. Sometimes that goes unsaid on a team. Your relationships, nobody knows exactly how anyone feels about one another because you're playing the sport and not necessarily being companions. That was a little different and that was positive for me. The other thing that was a little different was my feeling for the fans. Sometimes the only fans we see are the lunatics that hang around the hotel and the bus and that are, you know, want to get more and more and more autographs, and that can sometimes leave you with a mistaken impression of what the universal fan is like. I got so many e-mails and so many cards from people that weren't asking for any autographs or weren't interested in, it seems, for anything except for my health. It was a humbling experience in that regard. Now I have a different feeling for the fans of the game and certainly a much better feeling about them and I feel more of a kinship with the fans than I did before, and I realize now more than ever before how important what we do is to how many people. And so I think from a matter of perspective, that -- the idea of being close to the team, close to the fans, in some ways this was a positive thing. It drew a lot of attention to our team. I think the way we played the last three years we deserve a lot of attention. But sometimes we don't get it being down in Houston. I wouldn't recommend it as something for somebody to do to try to have a positive experience in life. But now looking back at it, I really was not in any pain at any time, and it turned out to be positive for me and I think for the team in some ways.

LARRY DIERKER: I hope he's the same all year because he's been an outstanding pitcher all year. The problem he sometimes has because he's so emotional is he starts trying to overthrow, and he gets the ball up and out over the plate, which is one of the reasons he's usually one of the top pitchers in the league in giving up home runs. But he's usually one of the top pitchers in the league in not walking batters; so a lot of the shots are solo shots. And I hope he can just be the same, he can control his emotions to the extent that he doesn't overthrow and get his pitches up. In terms of his antics, I'm sure he's going to be the same. That's the way he is. You like it or you don't like it. Most of the other teams don't like. It if I were pitching, I wouldn't do it because I don't like to wake up the other team or make them angry or headache them try any harder than they are trying to begin with, and that would -- that was my nature. But I don't think whether you're a manager or player or broadcaster or anything else you can try to be like someone else or like someone's image of what a pitcher should be or manager or whatever. You have to be true to yourself. Everything he does is honest, and that's the way he is. I think over the course of time, the opponents, the people we play, will get used to that, and I think they already are getting used to it. It maybe is not quite as offensive as what it once was. I think throughout his career, he will get some people mad from time to time. I'm not going to tell him to stop doing it. He's doing pretty well just the way he is and we're going to leave it that way.

LARRY DIERKER: My experience with Kevin Millwood is limited. He hasn't pitched against us very much. And I've seen him in games against the Cubs or the Mets and other games that were televised. I'm pretty impressed with him. He doesn't do anything that looks awesome or -- it's not like a Randy Johnson or anything like that. But what it is good stuff on the corners and not very many pitches over the middle of the plate. I think his stuff is above average, and I think his control is above average. He's got a good team behind him and he pitches with confidence, a tough opponent.

LARRY DIERKER: I didn't find it very strange. I hope that the rest of the team is feeling like I am right now, which is not too agitated or nervous or not overly up for the game. Obviously, it's an important game, but I think having been three years in a row, and with a lot of our nucleus players having been in the situation three years in a row, we obviously have the desire to erase the stigma of not getting passed the first round. I don't sense any anxiety in the mood in the clubhouse right now. I think that most of the guys were like I was yesterday: Well, okay, whatever it is, that's what we'll do. As long as we can get eight hours sleep and get out here in time to do our preparations and take batting practice, then I was perfectly satisfied to go either direction. I think the other guys were, too.

LARRY DIERKER: The highlight of the history of the Astros in the Astrodome, I think, is almost clear beyond question and that is when Mike Scott pitched a no-hitter to clinch the Division Championship in 1986. That was the culmination of the three most incredible days of pitching I've ever seen. Started with Jim Deshaies striking out eight straight batters, pitching, I think, a two-hit shutout. What was it, two hits? The next day Nolan Ryan struck out like 15 guys and had a no-hitter in the 8th inning, but lost the no-hitter and won the game. And then Scotty came back the next to win it, throwing the no-hitter. Those three days with the big crowds and pushing hard towards the championship, and we had not won one in a few years. And having a guy pitching one to win it, it was almost a storybook ending to that season. For me, that's the Dome highlight.

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