NL DIVISION SERIES: METS v DIAMONDBACKS

October 5, 1999

Buck Showalter

BUCK SHOWALTER: Pulling him at that point? Because of the pinch-hitters they had available, we felt more comfortable there in that situation compared to who they had coming off the bench. Randy had told me the inning before that he was okay, but he was getting there. Bobby came in and did a good job. He got into a count that he couldn't get out of to a hitter that already hurt us, not just us, but a lot of people in baseball. Alfonzo is a good hitter.

BUCK SHOWALTER: I don't think it's something -- you don't assume everything. We talked about it every time Randy pitches, or any of our guys pitches. Certainly, Randy is -- we wouldn't be sitting here today without him. You don't assume that, especially when you're facing clubs that you're facing this time of year in the playoffs. I know Randy and our club certainly didn't assume it. We'll continue to go that way. Same way tomorrow. But you tip your hats to the Mets. It was a great ballgame, until that last inning. It was a lot of fun for our fans. I wish we could have come out on the other side of it.

BUCK SHOWALTER: We've got some guys to pick from, obviously. If we had a base open or something where Matt had a margin for error -- Rickey, not many people are better than drawing a walk than Rickey. Bobby, one thing he has done, he's one of our best pitchers out of the bullpen , especially with rest coming in here. Matt Williams made a great play. Had a great defensive night. It looked like we had a shot to get out of it, and he got behind in the count there. Tried to get a ball away and down and ran back over the plate. Barely fair, I guess. Still counts, obviously. Matt hadn't been in that situation all year, with Rickey there and the base on balls being a possibility, with any pitcher, but Bobby, we felt like -- or I felt like, was best-suited for that situation. He's done the job for us most of the year.

BUCK SHOWALTER: Randy has been -- he's a guy obviously at this stage in his career understands -- Mark and he talked during the game, and we trust Randy and Mark's evaluation of what's going on there and their communication with me. But no, he's -- I think he'll be the first to tell you that you've got to give some credit to the Mets and their approach and what they were able to do him, especially, early on. But he gave us some lock-down innings after that and we were able to get back in the ballgame and tie it. Sure wish we could have figured out a way to keep Alfonzo in the park, and then could maybe have had some fun in the 9th inning.

BUCK SHOWALTER: I think so. That's not something I'm going to ask him when he comes off the field, but I would think so for sure. That's usually something like that when that happens.

BUCK SHOWALTER: It happens. It happens to players who have played for 10 or 15 years, as everyday players.

BUCK SHOWALTER: Got one of their best pitchers going Tom. Yoshii has had a good year for them. Hopefully we can get on a winning note tomorrow. Knowing the Mets, that this is going to be easy -- we've got to make it a little tougher on them. They are one-up with now and the advantage is in their court. Hopefully, we can do something to get some good things, thinking about our chances tomorrow.

End of FastScripts….