NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARLINS v CUBS

October 14, 2003

Mike Mordecai

Carl Pavano

CARL PAVANO: My first thought is that the foul ball, I pray to God that guy is not a Cubs fan. We got a lot of good breaks. And the season has kind of unfolded like that for us. We battled to the end. I realize the games are not over until the last out. We won a lot of games in this fashion. This is definitely the most important one of the season, and we came through again. The heart and character of this team is amazing. We battled to the end, and you can't say enough about the guys behind me.

CARL PAVANO: We're definitely very upbeat. We came into Wrigley, and this is a tough stadium when it's packed and the crowd is into it. They definitely had the crowd in their favor. But I think we changed momentum. We came out and we played good ball to the end. And the outcome was we won the game. So we're going to enjoy tonight, but we know we've got tomorrow with Game 7, another do-or-die game. And we're looking forward to the challenge.

CARL PAVANO: Like I said earlier, I pray to God that guy is not a Cubs fan. That's a tough thing to swallow, but that's the breaks of baseball, and that's the way baseball carries out. So I'm glad that went in our favor. I don't know what the outcome would have gone if he didn't touch that ball. So you can't really speculate on it, I don't think.

CARL PAVANO: I think we had a little momentum before that play. We had guys on, and some plays went in our favor. So we had plenty of momentum going, and I think we just carried off that.

CARL PAVANO: I wasn't pitching against Mark Prior. My focus was I'm pitching against the Cubs. I'm well aware of what he brings to the table, but I have confidence and faith in our lineup. We can take on the best pitchers and we showed that tonight. Like I said, I wasn't pitching against Mark Prior. The first inning my main focus is to get us started on the right note. I was disappointed in myself that I let up a run. You start in a deficit with a guy that's going to come out and bring his best game, and everyone's aware of that. But the outcome was definitely in our favor. So to ponder on that right now really doesn't do any justice.

CARL PAVANO: I think when you get to this stage in your career, and you're in the playoffs, I don't think that makes a huge factor on your focus. That's just one of those things where you've got to blow it off and put it behind you and you've got to focus on the hitter. And I think as a pitcher we all focus on that, the hitter, making quality pitches. I don't think that's a huge thing to happen.

MIKE MORDECAI: Well, we always feel like we're in the game, and we have speed to steal some bases. And we have some guys in the middle of the lineup that can pop the ball. So we don't feel like we're out of the game. We've had two or three games right off the top of my head, non-playoff games, where teams brought their closers in to finish us off, and we just wouldn't quit. We took advantage of every opportunity. And in that inning there tonight, we got two extra outs. The fan probably cost them one out. And then the funny hop at short to Gonzalez gave us two extra outs. And when you give our club those extra outs, we usually take advantage of them.

MIKE MORDECAI: Well, man, you keep battling. And we don't give up. I think really when the fan reached over there and took that out away, it was like we took a sigh, like we've got an extra out to play with, they just gave us one. We came up with a few more base hits, and a couple extra base hits, and next thing you know it's 4-3. And then I happened to hit a ball in the gap and extend the lead. So I would say at the start of that inning, it was looking kind of bleak for us, but we get a guy on, get another guy on, you hit a ball down the line, and things start happening, and that's the way our club rolls.

MIKE MORDECAI: I don't think choke is the right word. You're basically giving a Major League team five outs in an inning, that's almost two innings worth of outs. And you just can't do that at this stage of the game. We take advantage of everything. And we did. And had we not gotten to that point, I mean all those extra hitters wouldn't have gone to the plate, we wouldn't have had the chance to swing the bats. Same for us, if we give them extra outs they'll take advantage of it. That's the way it works.

MIKE MORDECAI: Well, like as we said earlier, the way the season has unfolded, I don't think we ever think we're ever out of it. We come to play 9 innings, whether we win or lose the day before. Mentally our focus is the same every day. We're here to battle for 27 outs. And the best team is going to win. So as far as I'm concerned, I think that both teams have a great chance tomorrow, but definitely the best team is going to win. Adding to what Carl said, we've already played two Game 7's. Our back has already been to the wall, and we've answered the call. And tomorrow will be the third time, and I think that will be the charm. We can answer it tomorrow. We go into the big one.

MIKE MORDECAI: My old high school coach told me to be the best, you've got to beat the best. And a lot of people are saying those two pitchers there are 1, 2, two of the best pitchers in baseball. And I like that thought, if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best. So we'll be back out here tomorrow with our spikes tightened up, ready to play 9 innings of baseball, and we're not going to give up.

CARL PAVANO: I think we're all very aware Kerry Wood is going tomorrow. But I have all the faith in the world with Mark Redman, he's pitched great for us all season. He brings something to the table other pitchers don't. He doesn't pitch 100 miles an hour, but he's smart, he knows how to pitch. He's going to make it very tough on those hitters.

CARL PAVANO: To tell you the truth, I don't think much changed. Like I said earlier, win or lose, we're the same guys, we've got the same character, we want to play baseball, we want to have fun and we take our jobs seriously. So I don't think we come to the field thinking, oh, we lost yesterday or this momentum is not for us. We play 27 outs, and we do the little things right, and we know if those things go in our favor we're going to win ballgames.

MIKE MORDECAI: Tony Tarasco comes to mind, a former teammate of mine. He was playing right field in Baltimore (1996 ALCS). It was quite obvious if you've seen highlights of that, he had a chance to catch that ball. And this is no different. I don't know if that's Jeffrey Maier out there, but it's the same situation. I mean I think Alou had a chance to catch that ball. And the fans are overzealous and want a souvenir, he got one, and they're thankful of that.

MIKE MORDECAI: We beat the Giants in four games, we didn't have to go to the 5th game. But in the fourth game, if we don't win that game, we're going to have to go back to San Francisco and play. So basically we were really pushing hard to end that thing there and not have to go back to San Francisco and face Jason Schmidt, who would have been pitching, who pitched a really good game against us the first time out. I have the same thoughts as Carl, we're going to be facing a good pitcher tomorrow, we're going to have a guy that pitches for us going out there. Like he said, Redman doesn't throw a hundred miles an hour, but he pitches. He goes out there and pitches. He's fun to watch and has been all year. Not a lot said about our pitching staff, and these guys have done a great job. Carl hasn't gotten very many innings in the postseason. But I played with Carl in Montreal, and this guy can pitch. Just give him the opportunity, he can pitch. Pitchers go through rough stretches, and you can't expect guys to be lights out all the time. But we're in the playoffs now, and everybody tightens down the screws. And tomorrow night is going to be no exception. We're going to have a guy out there pitching his heart out. Both guys will be out pitching their hearts out and these teams will be playing hard.