NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES v CARDINALS

October 3, 2000

Tom Glavine

TOM GLAVINE: None? Good.

TOM GLAVINE: I think that there is still an emotional level that is attached to it. You know, you are in the postseason now, you are trying to win a World Series, there is pressure that goes along with being in the postseason because you do not have the room to recover from the mistakes like in the regular season. I think that having played in a postseason as much as we have, it is definitely a plus, you know, because you know what to expect, you know what you will have to deal with, you know what your preparation needs to be, all those things should help you to be successful. But, I don't know how much of an advantage it gives you. It could be argued that maybe it is an advantage not to have pitched in this because you do not know what you are getting into, you do not know any better. But, you know, I think from my standpoint, it is definitely gotten easier to prepare and pitch in the postseason because we have been here so many times, you know what to expect.

TOM GLAVINE: I think Bobby is extremely underappreciated. I think the people have the notion that this team has been basically the same team for a number of years now, Bobby just shows up with the same lineup card every day, says, okay, guys, go get them. That has not been the case. We have had a lot more turnover on this club over the years, Bobby has been able to continue to keep this team together, keep it going in the same direction, even with all the new faces we have had over the years. I think that Bobby does a tremendous job at keeping this team focused and keeping this team going in the right direction. There has been a lot of teams over the years that have had as much talent as us, that for one reason has not gotten things done. You hear about the problems that go on in the clubhouse, things like that; we never had that. Bobby has done a great job of managing a room full of good, good players, and not letting egos become a problem or anything like that. I don't think he gets credit for that kind of stuff. I do not understand why if Bobby is not going to get any credit when we win, why he takes so much criticism when we lose. The same group of guys going out there, same lineup card he fills out. When we win, it is not because of him, but when we lose, it is because of him. I have never quite understood that.

TOM GLAVINE: Probably not. It is like anything else in life. What is the saying? You do not realize what you may have until it is gone. This is very true with this ball club. It is almost a foregone conclusion we will be in the Playoffs. As players, we wish it was that easy. We wish we could come to Spring Training and know we were going to the postseason. People do not realize sometimes how difficult it is that you are one or two injuries away from being right there with the rest of the pack, not being as good as everybody else; that has happened to us the last two years, when we lost Andres and Javy last year, it made a huge difference in our ballgame. When we lost Smoltz in spring straining it made a big difference. We have been able to overcome those and still be successful. As players, we do not take for granted that we will be here every year. I think sometimes people outside of our clubhouse take that for granted. It is unfortunate, but at the same time, it is understandable, because we have done what we have done, we created the expectations we created, and I guess people expecting us to be in the postseason and World Series every year is a lot better than it was when I first got here, which was lose a hundred games a year.

TOM GLAVINE: You know, I think that, if we do not win another World Series, you certainly have to look at the ball club and give us credit for the success that we have had, regardless of that. Certainly, if we were able to win another World Series, it would add to it, and I think it would take away a lot of the, you know, negative talk that surrounds this team because of only one World Championship, but still you have to look at this ball club and see what we have done. We did something nobody else in this sport ever did, winning 9 Division Titles in a row, to me, that speaks for itself. Obviously, you know, in the end a lot is judged on how many World Championships you have, that is where we have a little bit of a shortfall. Again, if I retire and we only got one World Championship, I would be extremely proud to be a part of what this organization has been able to do, but there is no question, I would feel a lot better if I had another ring to go along with it.

TOM GLAVINE: Absolutely, I feel like it. I think you can see it coming in 1990, I think I was here, Smoltz was here, Avery was here, Justice and Blauser, Lemke, Gant and all those guys were coming along. You could see we had some talent. We were some veteran players away from being a good ball club. If you told any of us in 1990, that we would win the Division the rest of the '90s, you know, we would have told you that you were crazy, for two reasons: No. 1, it is something again that had never been done in the history of the game, so why would we anticipated our club doing it. No. 2, I don't think we ever felt like we had that kind of talent. We felt we were good and on the verge of being good, like I said, I don't think you can anticipated a ball club doing something that has never been done before, it just kind of happens, it has been fun to be a part of that. Hopefully it will continue.

TOM GLAVINE: They have a good lineup. From my standpoint I am not real sure which one I will see. I pitched against them twice this year. The time I pitched against them here, I think Edmonds and Clark were the only two lefties in the lineup. When I pitched in Atlanta, there were a couple more in there. I am not real sure what lineup will be out there. In any event, whether it is a left-handed lineup or right-handed lineup, they have a good club. They are pretty well balanced. They have obviously some power in the middle of the lineup, they got some speed, it is a lineup as a pitcher that you have to bear down, you cannot afford to make too many mistakes. Obviously there is a little bit of a difference without Mac in the lineup, Will Clark has done more than a good job of making up for that. He has been on fire since he has been here, he hit real well against us in the two series we faced them, so if you are losing something by not having Mac in there, it is not a whole lot, Will has done a tremendous job. It will be a tough series for both pitching staffs. You will have to keep your mistakes to a minimum because both lineups, if you make too many mistakes will make you pay for it.