NL DIVISION SERIES: MARLINS v GIANTS

October 4, 2003

Felipe Alou

FELIPE ALOU: It was made last night, late. Schmidty didn't feel that he's ready. I mean, he needs another day. Tomorrow will be the day. We pitching Jerome Williams, who is ready to pitch today. Good and healthy and was rested and everything.

FELIPE ALOU: He'll be the Game 5 starter.

FELIPE ALOU: What is my lineup today? Durham second base, Hammonds right field; Aurilia shortstop; Bonds left field; Alfonzo third base; Grissom -- I believe they're pitching a lefty, right, today (laughter)?

FELIPE ALOU: Grissom center field; Snow first base; Torrealba catcher; Williams pitcher. It is out. It is written. We already wrote that lineup. My mind is not supposed to be good enough to remember those things, but that's the lineup (laughter).

FELIPE ALOU: A reason? There's a couple of reasons. There might be about five or six reason, but I going to go with a couple of reasons. You know, Benny caught, what, about eight innings between the afternoon and last night. And we took him out for a couple of reasons. First took him out because I needed a faster runner than Benny, obviously. And anticipation of maybe Schmidty pitching today. And there's no secret about Jason Schmidt likes to pitch to Benny. I mean, that's something that's been here before I got here. So I took him out in case we had to catch him back to back. It's really tough for a guy Benny's age to catch day game after night game. Yesterday's game became a night game because of extra inning and everything. I had a lineup with Benny in my mind catching. But when Jason is not pitching today, then I'm saving Benny because if there is a game tomorrow, with all the jet lag, coast-to-coast flight, Benny is going to catch that game, and it is a day game. So I know the level of experience is not the same, with a couple of young guys, one on the mound, one behind the plate. But then you got to play all of the elements that are out there. You got to play those things. You got to manage those things. I don't want to kill Benny the last two days of the season, and that's the way it is. We have a fresher guy behind the plate. And if we win today, then Benny's catching tomorrow.

FELIPE ALOU: Oh, there's no tomorrow. If we lose today, I cannot rest him tomorrow. He's not swinging the bat well. I mean, he's not swinging the bat well. I got to -- there are a lot of guys that really want to get in there and do something, contribute. I hate to lose or whatever, and don't have a guy like him start a game. Neifi Perez had to start a game, but he played a number of innings last night. He pinch-hitted a couple of times. You know, I just want to get a fresh guy there.

FELIPE ALOU: I didn't say anything because when I played this game, I drop fly balls. The last season I went, wasn't anybody come over here, come over to me and say anything bad or good about fly balls or bad play or anything. I talked to the team last night, two minutes type of talk, make sure that everybody knew where we were. I mean, I'm pretty sure everybody know where we are today - Cruz included, everybody, and what we have to do. We have to win today, otherwise this thing is over for us until hopefully next year. But not one guy, not single out Cruz. Once again like that, loss, extra inning, you got to bounce back today. For me the best thing is to leave a guy alone and include everybody in the talk because we lost. Cruz didn't lose, you know, we lost. The team lost. We had several opportunities to get runs in, you know. Unfortunately, they made the pitches, they made the plays. Conine made a play, Castillo stop a throw between the legs of the outfielders, I don't know how he did that. They did some things extraordinary and wound up winning. And they also got a base hit with the bases loaded to win it. And we had bases loaded I don't know how many times. Every time I look up, the bases were loaded with Giants. Made some tough pitches on our guys and they got an out.

FELIPE ALOU: I remember making a mistake. It was not a playoff, even though we wound up winning the division. I was playing for the Braves. It was a tied game. I led off the ninth inning with a ball in the gap in right center, and standing up at third base, I kept going, you know, because they kind of mishandled the ball in right field, and the third base coach stop me with nobody on, I kept going to the plate, and they threw me out at the plate. But a couple of hits later, Aaron hit a home run and we took the lead and we won the game. But I often think, you know. It was a clinching game. I remember Felix Millan got a hit, Aaron hit a home run. That was in the top of the ninth. We won it. So my thing last just a few minutes as opposed to if you make a mistake that loses a game, it might stay with you for a long, long time.

FELIPE ALOU: Two days left? I don't know, I don't remember that, saying that. I don't know. If there are two days left, there might be more than two then, so yeah.

FELIPE ALOU: Unless we have tremendous rain here today (laughter).

FELIPE ALOU: Well, he's a guy who gave the Giants organization tremendous lift this year. He came up from the minor leagues. He's been very good. He's a fearless type of guy, good command of pitches and everything, very intense competitor. He's the guy today. He's the guy who we've been announcing for the fourth game, getting him ready for today.

FELIPE ALOU: Well, you know, there's people who know me, I don't really have a long leash - never did, for anybody. This kid has given us innings, five, six, seven, a couple of times complete games. This is a matter of seeing how things are going. We got to be on top of it. We went with 12 pitchers in this lineup because of some concerns about some of our starters. You know, a guy like Rueter had a little bit of a shoulder problem, Schmidty a little bit of an elbow problem earlier. And those guys have been healthy. So we have an overflow of arms. If anything, we prove last night, we went to a number of guys to stay alive. But Williams, we going to keep an eye on him. It's going to be hot, and it's going to be intense. Going to be a lot of people, going to be a lot of pressure. =So myself, I'm going to be reading into all of that, those factors. We always have somebody. We always have somebody near ready to make whatever move we have to make quickly.

FELIPE ALOU: I didn't tell him. I went home to Palm Beach last night. But I was in the hotel until about 11 p.m. last night. I don't believe anybody told him. He found out this morning because, you know, there was a lot of -- Schmidty's name was floated around as the possibility of pitching the game tomorrow. But I know Jerome is ready. He's in the clubhouse getting ready for his thing. I haven't talked with him today either. The pitching coach talked with him.

FELIPE ALOU: Thank you.