NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS v DIAMONDBACKS

October 11, 2001

Bob Brenly

BOB BRENLY: Yes. I mean, who knows. Games that you anticipate being low-scoring ball games sometimes turn out to be football games, and matchups where you think a lot of runs should be scored turn out to be great pitchers duals. I don't think there is any easy way to predict what's going to happen in any of these post-season games.

BOB BRENLY: That was a very good pick up by our scouting people. First of all, to see Miguel Batista and envision what could be. He's always had a great arm and this year he has matured into a pitcher rather than a thrower. He has a very good idea what he's doing out there on the mound. He's got several different ways he can attack hitters, depending on what's working on a given day. He has been invaluable to me because of his diversity, as you know we've had him in the rotation on a regular turn, he has been a spot starter, long reliever, set-up guy, pitches between starts, and has come through all of it with flying colors. He has had an outstanding year for us.

BOB BRENLY: That's what we're anticipating because he's done it all year long. He has shown no adverse effects from the amount of work we've given him. And if anything, he seems to be one of those pitchers that gets sharper the more he throws. I hate to use the term rubber-arm, but resilient. He's resilient mentally, as well as physically.

BOB BRENLY: There's a possibility. We're going to go through the workout today and batting practice again tomorrow. There are some question marks in guys that we've had in the starting lineup the last couple of games, and we'll have to see where they are physically tomorrow before we make a determination on who's going to start.

BOB BRENLY: You know, you never hope for that. And I have enough confidence in Miguel Batista and Albie Lopez, I feel comfortable running them out there. Certainly if we had the opportunity to get those guys back out on the mound, should the weather play a factor in this series, that's not all bad.

BOB BRENLY: That would be an option.

BOB BRENLY: It's really just a nagging, lingering thing that prevents a couple of guys from doing what they're capable of doing. And like I said, getting some treatments today, going through the workout today, more of the same tomorrow, leading up to the ball game and we'll make a judgment tomorrow. I would prefer not to mention any names.

BOB BRENLY: Physically or mentally? (Laughing). He says he's fine. He took that ground ball. I misidentified it yesterday. I said it hit him in the heel of the hand, but it actually hit him in the thumb. He's got some bruising in there. But he immediately came in my office when he got to the ballpark today and said he's fine, ready to go. And from the amount of force he put on my hand when we shook hands this morning, I would say he's pretty good.

BOB BRENLY: He's a great pitcher. I mean, his signature pitch is that overhand curve ball that he throws at a variety of different speeds. He commands his fastball on both sides of the plate. He changes speeds. He really is an outstanding pitcher, and unless you catch him on an off night where he's missing his locations, you know it's going to be a battle to try to score runs against him once again, and our offense, we're going to have our hands full against him tomorrow.

BOB BRENLY: It helps a little bit. I mean, Kile uses his curve ball a lot more than Woody Williams did in the ball game yesterday. I think one thing that may help a little bit is the fact we played the Brewers in our last series of the season and they have a lot of pitchers that throw fast ball/curve ball, not quite the same caliber as Darryl Kile's curve ball, but we've seen a lot of curve ball pitchers recently and hopefully that will work to our benefit.