NL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS v BRAVES

October 5, 1999

Bobby Cox

BOBBY COX: We left them bleeding a little bit after we left New York. They still had a crack at it. The other teams controlled their own destiny, and they didn't do it. They ended up winning three and Cincinnati lost two out of the three to Milwaukee, or won one I guess, out of three. Good, because they have got a real nice ballclub. A real good ballclub, and good players on it, good guys. And you know, they went through some hard times there for eight consecutive days or so, and we were in New York for three of those, and it was kind of rough on them. They have got a real good ballclub and they sort of deserve to be in. Certainly, Cincinatti is going to get a lot of credit for doing what they did. They could have made it pretty easy, and I know they were winning the game in Milwaukee 3-1 with Nagel, who started that game, and they ended up losing that one, and that was probably the game that killed them.

BOBBY COX: The only thing that's important is what he's done. He's won 20 ball games, and he's been one of the best pitchers in the National League and he's got the chance to be to be the Cy Young Award winner. He's going up against his teammate, Mike Hampton and Randy Johnson, of course. He's in that category and he's one of the best pitchers in the league.

BOBBY COX: I don't think about that, no. Not much. You know, you'd love to sweep in three. Any manager would. I think you just play them one at a time. We come out of the chute with Maddux and we'd go -- Millwood would still have three days off to relieve in that game, if that's what you mean.

BOBBY COX: This year, there's not a weak team in the group, and I'm not sure there ever is. Last year, the Cubbies were the wild card. This year, they had so many injuries with their pitching; they didn't have a good ballclub. You know, the rules are the rules, and it's something I don't think about a lot because it doesn't make any difference; you know, you go by the rules. You know, the team with the best record should play the team with the worst record, but it's so close this year, any team could winning this thing.

BOBBY COX: Well, we're talking about a 17-game winner last year, and this year, what did he win, 18? He could have won the 19th. To me, he's a better pitcher this year. He's a little more overpowering. He's got that good hook right now. Come up with a change-up, slider and a curveball. But basically he spots his fastball really well, and it's got movement. He's not down the middle of the plate much, but he looks as if he's really matured as a pitcher because he looks like a guy that's been pitching maybe for seven or eight years. He's that type of guy.

BOBBY COX: Maybe more difficult. I don't think it's any more emotional. The one injury we addressed was Galarraga, because it was a cancerous tumor. We addressed that in spring training, and it was something we needed to talk about. But the other injuries we didn't discuss on the team at all. We just brought up somebody and put them in the lineup or took somebody off the bench and put him in the lineup and tightened up the belt a little tighter and played baseball. It's not as brutal as a guy being injured and you move him over five yards and you run another play. In baseball, the schedule is so long, there's no reason to talk about injuries. And we had good guys on the bench and we got Hernandez and Mulholland to help out, too, down the stretch, and those were great acquisitions. And we had good players on the bench that knew how to play the game.

BOBBY COX: I'm not so sure -- I don't know, because everybody is asking that, and I'm not sure we are termed that, because everybody is asking that question: Should you be or whatever. That's something I don't give much thought about. It's nice. It would be nice, I suppose, but I don't think it's anything our players think about or I think about, certainly.

End of FastScripts….