NL DIVISION SERIES: METS v GIANTS

October 8, 2000

Dusty Baker

DUSTY BAKER: I think it's better that it is 4:00 than 1:00. That would have been too quick, I think. You play when television tells you to play. So if you've got to play the game, you might as well get it played as soon as possible.

DUSTY BAKER: The last time I heard that question was when Tommy Lasorda was asked what he thought about Dave Kingman's performance and he hit three home runs off them. I really can't brag about the Mets bullpen because I've got to brag about my own guys. Both bullpens did a great job.

DUSTY BAKER: I haven't talked to him yet. I'll talk to him when I go back in the clubhouse. I would think not, and if he was, it would probably be very short or for an emergency situation. We'll know more once the game starts.

DUSTY BAKER: I don't think he wanted to go back early, really. He wanted to stay with the team. I think we sent him back early once and he didn't pitch very well when he went back once. So it was sort of a superstition, I guess, maybe, and the fact that we have a 5:00 game tomorrow and we get back in, we pick up three hours when we get home at a relatively decent hour to get some rest for tomorrow. Did their pitcher fly to San Francisco? I didn't think so.

DUSTY BAKER: There's a possibility that we probably could use him and go with Kirk Rueter tomorrow or somebody. But we'll probably try to stay away from that and go with the guys that we have and hopefully Livan will have a chance to pitch tomorrow.

DUSTY BAKER: I don't think so because now we're even. We had one more pitcher than they did anyway and they had one more position player than we did. So now we're both even on pitchers and position players now that Derek Bell is hurt and Shawn is hurt. What's important in today's game, I feel is whoever can get to whose bullpen first I think is going to take it's toll not only on this game, but on tomorrow's game, at the same time.

DUSTY BAKER: Well, it's a very good feeling. We'll be in our house. We'll have a guy who is 5-0 in the post-season, and then things will shift, I feel, in our favor. Right now, our whole key is to get back home. So, escape from New York with a victory. I was thinking about Snake Plisken in Escape From New York, with Adrienne Barbeaux, Ernest Borgnine -- who else is in it, The Brain, Lee Van Cleef, that's what I was thinking about. So we've just got to get across the midtown bridge and get out of town with a victory and ... Escape from New York.

DUSTY BAKER: I don't think the Mets want to fly back to the coast. If I was the Mets, I'd want to wrap it up today. But taking that last breath out of anything is one of the hardest things to do. Our plan is to win today and then have a Game 5 tomorrow in San Francisco. Do the same thing the A's did and have both New York teams on the left coast (west coast).