MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v BRAVES

October 25, 1999

Tom Glavine

TOM GLAVINE: I mean they weren't a whole lot of fun to watch, but I don't think they could have made me feel any worse than the flu did, so, you know, they're over and done with and obviously we're going to play better the next few times out.

TOM GLAVINE: I kind of, I guess, felt it coming on around 8 o'clock Friday night. I started getting a pretty bad headache, and according to my wife and my mom and everybody else who had already had it, it was pretty much the way theirs started. Then, you know, later on that night I guess around 11 o'clock was the first time -- was the first time I threw up. I knew at that point in time I was pretty much in it until it was over with. So that was when I called Maddux and told him to be ready and tried to get a hold of Bobby and let him know what was going on.

TOM GLAVINE: I guess about five to seven pounds the last time I checked. But, you know, I've been trying to eat and drink as much fluids as I can the last couple days. I don't know how much weight you can gain back eating soup and eating crackers, but, you know, I mean I feel okay. I don't -- you know, I don't know how my stamina's going to be, to be quite honest with you. I think if it was a summertime game and was going to be 100 degrees, I'd be a whole lot more concerned about it than I would be tomorrow, where it's going to be cool. That obviously will help a whole lot. But I'll just go out and see what happens. Like I said, I don't anticipate too, too many problems. We'll just take it an inning at a time and see what happens.

TOM GLAVINE: Well, I mean that's the most disappointing thing for me. I haven't missed a start in my career. There's a lot of things I've had to pitch through that haven't kept me from pitching, and, you know, to be pitching Game 1 of the World Series at a point in time where I felt real good about the way I was throwing the ball, obviously I wanted to get out there and pitch. But, you know, you don't have control over things all the time, and, you know, just goes to show you that, you know, Mother Nature or whoever you want to blame it on, is a lot stronger than we are sometimes. And sometimes, sometimes things get the best of you. All I could do at that point in time, you know, try and get over it and look forward to getting back out there and getting healthy as quick as I can. So, you know, as it turns out, you know, tomorrow's a pretty pivotal game for us, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

TOM GLAVINE: You know, I don't anticipate it being a problem; I really don't. I was more concerned about how my arm was going to feel, how my location or control was going to be, you know, having not pitched in twelve days, more than how I am about how my body's going to feel. If my arm feels good and I'm able to throw pitches the way I want to throw them, I think the rest of it will take care of itself. If I have the type of game where I'm not pitching ahead in the count and I've got guys on base all the time and I have to work extra hard, then, yeah, it might become a factor. If I can go out there and pitch the way I did the last time out against the Mets, which was getting ahead a lot and, you know, making good pitches, then hopefully the fatigue factor doesn't become as much of an issue. But, again, I'm not -- I don't anticipate it being an issue. I think that based on the way things have gone, it seems like every six to twelve hours I have a pretty drastic improvement over where I was before that. So, you know, we've got over 24 hours before the game time tomorrow night, so I anticipate these next 24 hours I'll be a whole lot better in that point in time than I feel right now.

TOM GLAVINE: You know, honestly I don't know that there's that much difference. I really don't. I haven't pitched here enough to know whether or not there's a huge difference. The two times I pitched here, I pitched pretty well. I obviously had that going for me. To me, there's only one ballpark in baseball, at least in our league anyway, that has a psychological hold on you and that's Coors Field. Fortunately, for me, wherever the ballpark is, my game plan is to keep the ball down and get ground balls. And, you know, I don't think that this place is any different in that regard. I'm going to have to go out there and do certain things I need to do to be successful, and, you know, like I said, the two times I've pitched here I was able to do that and had pretty good success. Hopefully that will continue tomorrow night.

TOM GLAVINE: I mean I mentioned that, you know, when I did this before what was supposed to be Game 1 of my start, I talked about how good these guys are. You know, I don't care what kind of years they had. Like I said, you know, David probably didn't have the type of year statistically speaking that he's used to having, nor did Roger or probably even Andy for that point. But all three of them have thrown well in the post-season, and, like I said, regardless of what they've done, any time those guys go out on the mound they're capable of going out there and pitching a great ball game. And obviously the first two guys did that. That's what you have to be mindful of. That's what people have been mindful of with our staff, even though, you know, statistically, I didn't have the greatest of years or Smoltz had some troubles physically and Maddux was a little off the beginning of the year, that's part of the psychological thing about it. People know when we go out on the mound, we have a chance to throw a shutout on any given night, and particularly in the post-season. So, you know, I'm not the least bit surprised those guys have gone out there and thrown well. They're those type of pitchers. You have to anticipate in a post-season matchup with teams that are this good that had this good pitching, somebody's going to step up and do a good job. So far their two guys did a great job the first two games. Now it's up to me to go out there and try to do something to get us back in the series.

TOM GLAVINE: Yesterday, I probably felt okay. I think it was more about getting to the park and getting some exercise and getting out of bed more than anything else. I didn't really anticipate having a great side session, and I really didn't. You know, but I felt like the more I threw, the better I felt; the more my body started to respond to being up and doing something; my arm felt great. So, you know, those are really the things I was looking for, and, you know, even today I went outside and threw a little bit today. I was 100 times better today than I was yesterday. So, you know, am I going to be 100 percent tomorrow night? I don't know. Like I said earlier, it seems with every six to twelve-hour increments, things get a whole lot better, so I'm hoping that, again, in the next 24 hours things will continue along that path and I'll be a lot better than I feel right now. But, you know, if I had to make an assessment as to how I feel right now, it's probably about 80, 85 percent.

TOM GLAVINE: I think it all depends on the rest and how much guys have thrown in anticipation of when they're pitching. I know with both guys, with Kevin and Greg, it really wasn't an issue in terms of rest, because they were both on a full five days anyway. You know, my biggest concern, which I didn't know, was, you know, how much Greg had thrown, you know, Friday afternoon, if at all, in preparation for pitching Sunday. And if he had thrown a lot Friday afternoon and has to turn around and pitch Saturday, then it might become an issue. But, you know, fortunately this time of year, guys aren't doing a whole lot of throwing. It's just kind of playing catch and getting loose. So, you know, based on those factors, I don't think it was that big a deal, and probably even more so because I was able to let Greg know Friday night than to have to call him Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon and let him know then.

TOM GLAVINE: Yeah, there's been talk about it. I think Bobby's asked me probably twice every day, if I'm sure I'm going to be able to pitch tomorrow. I assured him I'm going to be all right. And he's, you know, been very upfront with me about if you're not, then it's no big deal, we'll take one more day and pitch Smoltz. So I don't really think the situation we're in or the Yankees' success against lefties really has any bearing on the decision. It's, you know, it's basically do I feel fit enough to go out there and pitch tomorrow night? If I do, we're going to go with it. If I didn't, then we'd go to another plan and have Smoltz throw. But from my standpoint, really, again, has nothing to do with how the Yankees may or may not do against the lefties, purely, too, I think I'm going to be well enough to go out and pitch? The answer is yes.

TOM GLAVINE: You know, I probably do. There's probably times where, you know, I can honestly sit here and tell you I shouldn't have pitched. You know, it probably wasn't the smartest thing in '92 to pitch the last six weeks of the year with a broken rib, but I did it and I guess you learn from your mistakes sometimes. But, you know, I'm stubborn, I guess, when it comes to that kind of stuff. I feel like if I can go out there at 60 or 70 percent, then, you know, that's good enough to win sometimes. And, you know, I've got a lot of pride in the fact that I've never missed a start and it's a streak I'm proud of and I'm trying to do everything I can, obviously, to continue it. So for all the things I've had to go through, yeah, it was somewhat disappointing to have a flu bug grab me and not enable me to pitch. But, again, it's just sometimes you don't -- you don't have control over those kinds of things, and, you know, the way I felt, there was just no way I was going to go out there and pitch Friday or even yesterday for that matter. I just, you know, I mean the slightest bit of exertion yesterday, the 10 or 15 minutes I threw on the side yesterday pretty much wiped me out for the rest of the day. But, you know, I mean that mentality of, you know, if there's any way I can get out there and pitch, a lot of that comes from playing hockey.

TOM GLAVINE: You know we all want to say, "yeah." Everybody wants to sit here and say, "yeah, this is what I thrive for. I'm going to go out there and do this, and go out there and do that and everything's going to be great." I don't know. It's a big game. I'm going to go out there and give everything I have to give us a chance to get back in the game and win the series. I don't think tomorrow's going to define my career as a pitcher. If I go out there and pitch a good game tomorrow, then obviously everybody is going to be throwing around the "Big Game Pitcher" tag that comes around this time of year. You go out there and do the best you can. Sometimes things go your way; sometimes they don't. The bottom line for me tomorrow is somehow, some way go out there and give us a chance to win the game. That's my job, plain and simple. It's not about me going out there and having some career performance or winning a game myself; it's about me giving our guys a chance to win the game. And that's all I'm going to try to do.

BOBBY COX: I wouldn't say I knew him well. I saw him at a number of Pro Am Events I played in. I saw him at the ballpark both in Orlando and in Atlanta, and it's -- you know, it's a sad thing. I mean it's one of those things that, you know, we are all sitting here talking about a World Series and that seems like the most important thing in the world right now, but it's something like that that makes you realize there are a whole lot more important things in the world than a baseball game or a sporting event for that matter. It's unfortunate that, you know, it takes stuff like this to make all of us realize, you know, how fragile life is and how important family is and how important your health is, and, you know, we all take that for granted at some point in time and it's, like I said, it's stuff like this that pulls you back and makes you realize, you know, the things that are really important in life. And, you know, it's a sad, sad story. I mean he was a nice guy. You know, you just -- you just hope for the best for his family and friends and that, you know, everybody can get through it all right and move on and, like I said, maybe it puts a little bit more importance on, you know, giving your wife or your kid that kiss good-bye when you walk out the door because you never know if it's going to be the last time.

TOM GLAVINE: It's one of those things that I don't think it's going to have an overbearing impact. It's one of those things that as a pitcher you can't worry about what your offense is or isn't going to do. You have to go out there and do the best to do your job, which is to get their guys out and limit their opportunities to score runs and hopefully limit the amount of runs that they score, you know, and all the while giving your offense a chance to win a ball game. And obviously, that's what I want to do tomorrow. I don't want to have to go out there, pitch a type of game where we end up getting in a slug fest. On the other end, I can't worry about the fact that we struggled the first two games; I have to go out there with the mindset that my job is to hold those guys down, and hope that what happened in the first two games is over with, something's going to click and we'll start swinging the bats the way we know we're capable of swinging them and start scoring some runs. It's almost the same as if you're part of a marquee pitching match and you're going head-to-head with somebody. Those head-to-head matchups, sometimes so much is made out of them that is doesn't need to be. It's not you against that other pitcher. It's you trying to get their offense out and their pitcher trying to get your offense out. Sometimes it's made to be it's you against that other pitcher and that's all that matters; it's not. There's a lot more to it. This is much the same thing. I have to focus on getting their guys out and hope, like I said, that our offense gets back to where we know it can be.

TOM GLAVINE: I don't know that I'd ever go out there and feel like I have to throw a shutout to win. You know, if the game unfolds that way, then, you know, you start thinking that way as the game unfolds. But, you know, I think my approach has always been if I hold the other team to three runs or less, you know, over seven, eight or nine innings, then I've done a good job and I've given my team a chance to win. If the game starts to take a different course than that, you know, if you're in the sixth inning of a 0-0 ball game and you have a runner on second, obviously you're bearing down not to let that guy score. If you've got runners on first and third and one out, you'll probably be less apt to give up an out for a run. You'd tend more to go for a strikeout or double play. It may change during the course of the game, but I know Andy's throwing the ball well, and I know that chances are he's going to limit our opportunities to score runs. But does that mean that I feel like I have to go out there and throw a shutout tomorrow, no. I feel like I'm going to have to do the same thing; I'm going to have to go out there and limit their opportunity to score runs. They're a good hitting ballclub. They're going to create some opportunities, like I had said earlier, you as a pitcher just have to do your best not to add to that by walking people, pitching behind in the count, because if you start doing that against a club like this, that creates enough of their opportunities as it is, it's going to help them to create even more opportunities.