NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v BRAVES

October 15, 1999

Bobby Valentine

BOBBY VALENTINE: He came out yesterday, had really good batting practice. He's swung the bat as well as he has in about a week. After he got through running, he said he felt a little weak, but should be okay today. When he came in' today, he said he felt great.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'm not prepared for this. Flu-like symptoms, I guess is what it was. I bet that's what it said on the thing. That's what it said for Reed the day before. That's what it said for Cook yesterday or whenever it was.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Seemed like it, yeah. Light, sick, vomiting, light-headed, cold.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I haven't seen the atmosphere tonight yet, but it should be a real exciting night for baseball here in New York. I'm excited about it.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Melvin's played well. He's a good defensive outfielder. With Al pitching, defense is one of the things we're looking for, and as good a defense as possible. It allows me to have Shawn Dunston on the bench to counter any move, rather than having Melvin on the bench as a pinch-hitter. It's tougher for a young guy to do that.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I was surprised myself. I have no statements about the game or anything. I hate to see that happen. It's not one of the things we like to see, that's for sure.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Actually the question was: Would coming back make us too confident now. And I'm not real concerned about being overconfident. (Laughter). That's all I can say. I think that we're a confident team. I think we believe in ourselves. But some runs would help, also. I don't know about the past, how much that's dealing with what we're doing, and I think really what we do is going to dictate how we feel.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'm not sure if he's good for the game, I don't know. It seems like he's pretty good for his team when he's pitching, that's the thing I know for sure.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Yeah, we're down 0-2, so we need good efforts. To have Al pitching tonight, Rick tomorrow, it's going to give us our best shot to get back into this thing.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I think the crowd is part of it. Whether it can help or hinder someone's performance, I think that's just the individual. I don't think that it's the team that it necessarily -- that it necessarily can have an effect on. But I think sometimes an individual -- maybe an older guy looking for that extra adrenaline rush might be able to get it from them. Maybe someone who pays too much attention to it might be distracted by it, I'm not sure.

BOBBY VALENTINE: It seems that there have been innings that the crowd came into play with the pitcher, in my recollection. It seems like it has happened at times when we've been on the road or trying to get the outs. I remember Bert Hooten, wasn't it raining that day? Whether it was the rain or the crowd, the crowd took credit for it. But it did seem to have a momentous effect.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Today's batting order: Rickey is first, Olerud second, Alfonzo is third, Mike is fourth, Agbayani fifth, Ventura, Mora and Ordonez is eighth. Obviously, there is some spacing that we needed when we played Houston, because of their dominant left-handed reliever. And Fonzie went to fifth. I think the same kind of spacing, with Fonzie being hot, hitting from Mike where he might get a pitch or two more to hit, gives Fonzie a little more prominence in our line-up and it spaces our left-handers. So it will be real difficult in one inning, I think, to pitch to John and pitch to Robin with the same left-hander. Now, I know they have another good left-hander out there, and I know they can use Maddux to go after my right-handers, and probably will if the situation calls for it. But I think it will make it a little more challenging for them.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I didn't think that they were going to pitch to, who was it, Hatteberg. But they threw a pitch to him. I didn't project that.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Kind of. I don't know. I was watching it without any voice on. I just thought it was interesting. I thought the Yankees -- they bunted and played for one run and got two. And the Red Sox bunted it and played for two runs and got none. I thought it was interesting on how the players came through for the respective sides.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I can't really tell. When we play the Yankees, we have so many Met fans, it's hard to tell Yankee fans and Met fans. It's been long enough time that I've been the opposition at Yankee Stadium where we did have Met fans for me to really remember. Yankee Stadium, I think, is a little closer to the field. It seems like it, anyway. The fans at Yankee Stadium are a little closer to the field.

BOBBY VALENTINE: I'm not really smart enough to know that. I can't tell you why he feels better right now than he did last year at this time. And it's different for different people, obviously. To be able to use guys in the bullpen in between starts this time of the year means that they're not tired. They pitch a lot of innings; so I don't really know what it is. Right now it's just good that he's feeling good.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Just those subtleties of what it's like being in the dugout. We're doing it a little differently. You turn, and Bruce isn't there, or you turn and Cookie is not there. There's a little uneasiness, I think, but we're adjusting.

BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, I think it could be better. I don't think it's necessarily the key. It wasn't the middle of their line-up who has beaten us for two games offensively. We need to score more runs than they do, and we'll be back in this thing.