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MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v BRAVES


October 25, 1999


Bobby Cox


NEW YORK CITY: Workout Day

Q. I wonder if you decided on the designated hitter for the next two games because it's a lefty and righty and you probably use different ones. What could you tell us about the guys you're going to use in that spot?

BOBBY COX: Well, neither one of them are power hitters, I suppose. But Jose Hernandez is going to DH tomorrow, and probably Keith Lockhart against the righties. Both of them, you know, Hernandez hit, I think, 18 home runs for the Cubs and a couple for us. He does have power. Lock, every once in a while, will juice one out.

Q. How do you feel today as you sit here about where your team stands, you know, looking ahead? Joe has talked about in '96 how there were things in the first two games that still made him feel good about where they were.

BOBBY COX: Well, you know, any team that has good pitching like we have, we can always reel off three in a row. We've always been able to do something like that. It's no different now. But we've got on hitting the ball a little bit better, too. They have great pitching. Most who have these games should be close-scoring ball games. The first one was, and we kind of let that one get away from us.

Q. How is Glavine and how much do you expect to get out of him tomorrow night?

BOBBY COX: Yeah, he looks a lot better, and we expect somewhere around seven, hopefully, you know, a good seven would be fine.

Q. What is your reaction to the two starts the Yankee pitchers have had?

BOBBY COX: They couldn't be better. We've had one; they've had two. Kevin's start last night was not indicative of the year he's had or the way he's pitched. He had a lot of hitters two strikes last night, couldn't put them away. He got the ball in the wrong spot. That's what hurt him mostly last night. Hernandez was great, I thought. He struck out a lot of guys. David Cone showed the experience, and, you know, the veteran that he is, being able to pitch like he did. His fastball was not overpowering last night I didn't think, but the ball sunk so well, the ball had great movement on it.

Q. To follow that up, did you expect them to be that good? Have they been even better than maybe you thought?

BOBBY COX: Yeah. You expect them to be good. Absolutely. You know that you have to throw a good ball game and they know they have to throw a good ball game in order to win, and our bats have been a little bit cold right now but I think you have to tip your hat honestly to those two pitchers. I don't care who they were facing those two nights, I think they were going to pitch a good ball game.

Q. At this point how much does the mental obstacle of trying to beat the Yankees come into play?

BOBBY COX: I don't think the name of the team has anything to do with this -- beating the Houston Astros, we don't care what their name is, you have to win that series. I don't think there's anything to that at all. The Mets were tough, and, you know, the name doesn't mean anything, really. It's just, you know, you're trying to win the World Series. It happens to be the Yankees. But it would be the same if you were playing somebody else, you know.

Q. What do you feel about the first two games that your team played?

BOBBY COX: Well, for about 17 innings we only had two hits, so, we offensively, we weren't doing too well and we had a great opportunity to win one of them, believe it or not. So I feel good about that one. I feel good about the last inning in last night's game. We hit some balls decent, and scored a couple runs. And, you know, at least we got something out of it. I think the only really good thing last night that came out of my night was being able to be in the same ballpark with the Legends Team. I thought that was as good as it gets. I just hope I have the opportunity some other time in my career to be with those guys again. I mean that's quite an experience for 50,000 people, I thought.

Q. After you guys made that trade, Hernandez seemed to play regularly for you. Can you talk about how he's gotten behind the other two guys in the post-season and how tricky of a decision is that for you every game?

BOBBY COX: They're all pretty good, you know. Hernandez came over initially, helped us quite a bit, and got some pretty key hits at the beginning and Walt Weiss is a pretty good shortstop. Ozzie didn't look like it last night, but he can still play short. I don't know what happened on the humpback ball to him that he missed, I don't know if it got in the lights or not. But he can still play. Ozzie's a good hitter, Ozzie can hit. Walt maybe is the weakest hitter, but last year when he led off for us, he had a tremendously high on-base percentage the first half the season, then he hurt his leg and he's kind of floundered with that leg problem all the time. Right now he's healthy, and it's pick and choose. I don't think you go wrong with any of them, honestly. But tomorrow night we'll be playing Weiss.

Q. The Yankees have a slight advantage because they've used the DH all year. They had classic style DHs and you really don't.

BOBBY COX: Yeah. You're exactly right. It's a little bit advantage for us, quite honestly, because they're used to playing with the DH the entire season. That means one of their best hitters has to come out of the line-up and we've let them escape without the DH in the line-up. So that should have been on our side of the pluses, and it didn't turn out that way. They still scored enough runs to win two. But, no, I'm sure, you know, we don't have that type of -- our DH may get a home run but more likely they hit a double or a single.

Q. Are you a meeting-type guy or are you a guy that will get together with your group and say we need to do this or that and have a different approach? Or are these guys just so good that you just let them go out there and play?

BOBBY COX: Yeah, we've always had some meetings when we got down. I may have one tomorrow, I don't know. If they mean very much, to be -- we can't play any harder, we can't try any harder, and all that. And I really, at this point, I don't really know what to say except a few chinkers here and there might help.

Q. Where's the confidence level of the team right now coming in here down 0-2?

BOBBY COX: We've never been lacking for confidence. We've always felt because of the pitching we can always win a ball game, even on a few hits. And, you know, we don't want to be 2-down. I would feel a lot better if we were 2-up. The odds probably aren't good, but we've overcome that before. We've rode the table before, we've run it.

Q. Do you think the sudden scratch, Glavine not pitching in Game 1, had any impact whatsoever in preparedness and how you played the last two nights?

BOBBY COX: I don't think so. The pitchers, you know, did their side sessions, preparing for their particular start and that got fouled up some because Tommy at the last minute couldn't pitch. It didn't affect Maddux much, I didn't think. I thought he pitched a great ball game and really Brosius killed him in that game. He had the three ground ball base hits and then start the eighth inning with another ground ball base hit. I don't think he was bothered by it. I really don't think Kevin Millwood, I talked to Kevin this morning about his game, mostly it was the two-strike pitches. He just couldn't locate the ball where he wanted to. His arm feels great, he had great stuff, it was just his location was not good.

Q. Do you think the key to getting your offense going is Gerald and Bret getting something at the top of the order? Even though you got through the two series, Gerald really hasn't been getting on that much.

BOBBY COX: Sure. I think Gerald plays a big role. I know he's, you know, he hasn't had many hits in the past six or seven games, but he can get hot at any time. Of course Booney is just as likely to hit a home run as he is anything else. He's got real good power for a second baseman. I think some of the other key guys would be Jordan and Chipper, they have been holding their own here for a long time. We need to get Ryan Klesko and Andruw Jones, those guys have really good power and we haven't seen that lately. If they could get hot, it could be a huge swing here. But they've got to get hot.

Q. Just following up the Glavine thing, how about psychologically, when you have things set up for a series to ask pitchers to change at the last minute?

BOBBY COX: I don't know. You know, if it does or not. You're trained to look ahead, it's your day. You're prepared for that. Psychologically, I don't know. Maybe it's even better because you don't sit as long. Because these guys were going to have a little bit of rest in there. And I don't think so. I really -- I don't think so.

Q. Do you look at Glavine as just one of those guys who thrives when all the pressure is on you guys now?

BOBBY COX: Yeah, I think he does. And, you know, I know he regrets getting sick. He wanted Game 1 pretty badly. He's strong enough to go tomorrow night, that's for sure. He does, he pitched a lot of big games, we've been in so many playoff games they've all pitched in big ones. We've been in pennant races now for almost ten years straight. There's big games during the course of the season as well as these playoffs, and they step forward. And Tommy's one of the guys that's capable of doing that. Happens to be one of our better hitting pitchers, too.

Q. You said you have the confidence that you can win because of your pitching staff. Is that more negated in this series because of how the Yankees' pitching staff has been as well?

BOBBY COX: I don't think it's negated, but it's certainly a factor, you bet. That means -- having good pitching means we have a chance to win every night. If we can score a few runs some way, you know, we can win a ball game, sure. It allows us to do that. Doesn't offset it, I mean it kind of offsets each other. Somebody's got to get some runs.

Q. You ran the table in '96 against the Cardinals in the NLCS when you were down. Is this as tough a spot as that, as having lost the first two at home, or is it nothing compared to being down in a National League game?

BOBBY COX: It's exactly the same. Not quite as bad, maybe. I mean we could afford to lose one more game and sweep, but in St. Louis, we had to win them all. There wasn't any tomorrow, and it had to be a W on the board. But, you know, we have done it.

Q. How much more dangerous do you consider the Yankees line-up now with the DH in it?

BOBBY COX: A lot better. It's a lot more potent. There's no doubt about that. I can remember playing Minnesota in '91, they had Chili Davis. He didn't play, as I recall, when we were in the National League. And it changed that team around a lot.

Q. Is Glavine particularly well made up to pitch this kind of game, where you really have to -- you need to win a game very badly?

BOBBY COX: Yeah, it is. He does a lot of things good, and he's a strong make-up guy. He wouldn't have come this far, you know. Tommy's had a great career and is going to have a long one, even after this season. Tommy's going to pitch a long time. And he's a great student of the game, and he's a little tricky and he's as tough as they come. Tommy's very, very tough competitor. Very quiet guy but extremely tough.

End of FastScripts…

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