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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS v BRAVESOctober 16, 1999Bobby ValentineNEW YORK CITY: Game Four Q. Bobby, how is Piazza today? BOBBY VALENTINE: I haven't seen him yet. We called him this morning and he said that he felt okay to play. But he was going to come in for treatment. And that's probably where he is right now. Q. That's on his -- BOBBY VALENTINE: On his hand, yes. Q. Can you talk about Yoshii? BOBBY VALENTINE: He said he felt great throwing. He worked out on the EFX machine, which is a cardiovascular machine. He felt no pain in his ankle and he's ready to go. Q. Any changes in the line-up? BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, from yesterday, of course, yeah. There's a right-hander going today. And Melvin Mora is not in there. Yesterday, obviously, everyone knows that was a very daring thing that I did with the line-up yesterday, to put Melvin Mora in there. He won't be in the line-up today, unless Ricky can't, because he had some spasm in his back at the end of the game yesterday, but we haven't heard from Ricky yet. Q. Philosophically, has Atlanta done anything in the first three games that has surprised you or have the three starting pitchers done anything different than what you saw them do all year long? BOBBY VALENTINE: What they've done differently is they used Smoltz in relief in one game. They haven't surprised us. Q. There's a lot of similarities to the way they have matched up against you throughout July and September when you saw them, there's no differences? BOBBY VALENTINE: No. Hernandez played shortstop some against us earlier and Weiss has played shortstop. Q. You've had quite a bit of success against Chipper in this series. Are you approaching him differently? Other than the base hit he got last night where he got thrown out at second base? BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, we walked him ahead of a home run on a 3-2 pitch. He had a good series in Atlanta against us, and then we came here and played a three-game series where he was one of the regular Big Leaguers in Atlanta. And he's been a regular Big Leaguer here, I guess. Q. Bobby, when a team wins, it seems like the manager is just doing his job by letting that team win. Can you talk a little bit about the job that Cox has done this year with the Braves? He had to be a little more hands-on, given everything that's taken place with Atlanta? BOBBY VALENTINE: Well, as I've said before, I think he's done a great job. I don't know about all the things he's done. Developing Rocker as a closer, I think, has been paramount. I think filling the void at first base in his line-up was creative. And Javy Lopez, I think, is one of the best players. And their pitching hasn't missed a beat. And in this series their offense hasn't missed a beat with Eddie Perez. So those are all things I think that Bobby definitely gets credit for, and rightfully so. Q. Bobby, on this side, the media has a chance to look after the game at the good parts and the bad parts of the strategy. Do you look back on how you did yesterday, and say: "I did this well"; "This I could have done better"; do you second guess yourself at all? BOBBY VALENTINE: I think that stuff is all crazily overrated, for what it's worth. I watch all the games again. I know what went on the first time. I don't necessarily need to do it twice because I don't get to do it over. You'd rather have guys get a 3-2 pitch and hit it in the gap or get a ground ball when you need it. You'd always rather have that happen, then you wouldn't have to worry about anything else. Q. Bobby, just going into the series, can you talk about how important it was to you to not let Chipper Jones beat you? BOBBY VALENTINE: I never mentioned it to one person, including my wife. Q. Obviously, the team is probably down after last night's game, 0-3. What's your expectation level coming in today, preparing? The old cliche is you can only win them one at a time. Will you have any discussion with the team at this juncture, Bobby? BOBBY VALENTINE: Yeah. We'll probably have a discussion, and it will be brief. We know where we are. We know what we have to do. And we know it's going to be difficult. Q. I came in late, Bobby, did you address Piazza? BOBBY VALENTINE: Yeah, we called him this morning, and he said that he was feeling good enough to play. But he was going to come in and get treatment and see how it all felt at batting practice, et cetera, et cetera. End of FastScripts… |
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