MLB WORLD SERIES: GIANTS v ANGELS

October 26, 2002

Shawon Dunston

SHAWON DUNSTON: By treating people like people. You know, players always want to be treated not too special, but they want to be treated like you want to be treated. Just treat you like a man. Just come forward and just be truthful with you.

SHAWON DUNSTON: No. I'm going to try to go up there hacking like I usually do (smiling). You want to see some pitchers to see how hard he throws. I'm not a walker, so I'm going to go up there hacking, like I always do.

SHAWON DUNSTON: I still want to play, but I'm just going to talk to my wife and kids and leave it up to them. I'm not sure if they really want me to be home yet (laughter). I'll see what happens.

SHAWON DUNSTON: No, I didn't see the play. I was probably running my mouth because we scored some runs and I was happy. I didn't see the play. Perfect guy caught him, JT Snow, he has the best hands on the team. God will take care of everything. It wasn't that close as it seems. Seems like it, but it really wasn't. JT took care of him. Everything will be all right. For my son, no, I don't worry about that stuff. If stuff like that happens, it happens. We all make mistakes. He's three years old, what do you expect? It's his first mistake. It's okay.

SHAWON DUNSTON: No, I don't want to get too hyped up on it. I know it's not another game, but that's the way you got to go in. Don't believe all the hype, just go in there and play and do the best you can. Think about the team first, yourself second. Always been like that. Maybe that's why I'm here now, because I'm always thinking about the team first.

SHAWON DUNSTON: Yeah, I do. I mean, I'm in there with my son. You make an out, you ground out, all you want to talk about is how good he did in his games. Instead of you thinking about yourself, "Why did I strike out, why did I ground out," it keeps you loose. He tells you, "Daddy, you need to swing at this, don't swing at that in the dirt." I'm like, "Son, it's not that easy." It keeps it in perspective. It's really fun. The game is fun, but it's serious, and I take the game serious. But it's nice to have your son in there. I'm not saying I don't belong in there. I follow the rules and I just go along with it.

SHAWON DUNSTON: No, it was frustrating in '98. I was a starter my whole career. I went to the Indians, tried to play second base, which I knew I couldn't do it. Then I went to the Giants, I thought they were going to play me a little bit more, they didn't. I had long talks with Dusty about why I'm not playing. He told me stories, "You're not Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Wille Stargell, Mickey Mantle," he went on and on, all these Hall of Famers. What are you getting at? You're nowhere near them. It really hit home. It took me a whole year to understand what he was saying, so I left. I went to St. Louis, where I was really happy. Tony gave me the chance to play every day as a backup. I started enjoying myself. The one thing that Dusty said was, "Until you accept your role, you'll never like it. When you accept it, then you'll be a good one." Right now, I'm really enjoying it.

SHAWON DUNSTON: No, he deserves it. He's arguably the best player to ever play the game. It's no big deal. We all wish we could play like him, but we can't. I mean, we're all different, we have different fingerprints. Barry is Barry, Jeff is Jeff, everybody else are theirselves. We're just a team that goes out there and plays and do the best we can. He's a superstar, he deserves it. He's the best in the game. No disrespect to anybody else. Now everybody is saying he's the best player. I thought he was the best player 10 years ago. He's Barry. We're the Giants. We have David Bell, JT Snow, Benito, Reggie, Ramon Martinez. We have everybody. We laugh, joke, have a good time. Let's just enjoy what Barry is doing.

SHAWON DUNSTON: It really makes us look bad. It's not that easy. It's really hard. He's making it look too easy. You know, we don't like to tell him that. We like to tell him, "You really ain't that good." He just looks at us like we're crazy, gives us a dumb look. He's really awesome, he deserves it. He's a superstar. All of us are just good players. He's a star, a Hall of Famer. We go out and play the game like it should be played, see what happens.

SHAWON DUNSTON: It was very nice. It's more enjoyable to have my son here with me. He just talks, "Daddy, this is really the World Series? Are you going to play?" Maybe, maybe not. It's not about daddy's playing, it's about us winning. I've been a starter for four years and never won nothing. So this is beautiful. This is what the World Series is all about. Hopefully, I can get a ring. We'll see what happens. Just got to go out there and play the game.

SHAWON DUNSTON: Well, I remember 10 years when you used to go to Atlanta, you could go 0-20 going into the series, you would come out 10-10. Now you can go to Atlanta, 20-20, will you come out in a slump. The pitchers are so good, when they hit their spots, they hit it. When you hit six or seven home runs against the Braves' pitchers, nobody do that. They have three Hall of Famers. When he did it, I said, "Wow, I'm going to make a bet with him that he's going to make a record." Choice words. "Stay focused. When you break it, you get me a new car." And he did (laughter).

SHAWON DUNSTON: Yeah. I mean, you know, good pitching stops good hitting. It's not that good hitting stops good pitching. Let's keep the runs keep scoring. Hopefully, it will be in our favor. As long as we can keep Rodriguez and Percival in the bullpen, I think we'll be all right. No disrespect to the other team. You don't want their stopper and setup men in the game. Hopefully our men can go long. Russ can pitch the game hopefully. Religious man, God will take care of him. When you score off a pitcher, next time you face him, you don't score that many. Hopefully, Russ will keep then down and we can win.