NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PADRES v BRAVES

October 14, 1998

Bobby Cox

BOBBY COX: Hitchcock was really good. We've ran into him twice now, and he's did exceptionally well. First time, he got wild and gave us some runners to try to score, and we didn't do that. Only reason we had runners the first time was because he got wild. He was equally as tough today. He has a great curve ball, throws the fastball by the guys, and throws -- Dave Stewart has done a wonderful job. He threw in, in, in, in when he came to Seattle. He throws away now, and you can't catch up with him. I knew they wanted to get him in as the No. 3 guy. As long as a month and a half ago, I heard the rumor they were going to slip him in there. And some guys widened their eyes at that. You saw why they did it. He is extra tough to hit at. He is really tough.

BOBBY COX: Yeah, a little roller went through. We were going to give them one run at that point, and we tried to hold them to one, but we end up giving five. Yeah, it's the smart thing to do because Caminiti was trying to make contact today, from what I saw, because it was hard to see. The first base hit was a little roller up the middle. He was trying to put the ball in play, which is smart.

BOBBY COX: You couldn't do anything differently. We kept the ball out there. I think it got in the lights or something, and that was the extra three runs. And Danny normally is an outstanding defensive outfielder, but I think it got in the lights just enough.

BOBBY COX: No, the team is good. You think Houston's evaluating their team, if they kept the same team and took them to New York the day after tomorrow? They might sweep it in four. They're a great team, and they're not here, and they could easily throw them in the World Series. I'm sure they're not reevaluating much, and we don't need to, either. We went in the game today and the 3, 4, 5, 6 guy didn't get on base.

BOBBY COX: No, it's the same line-up that had a great year against lefties. Michael Tucker hit the other night, struck out against lefties. He had a great night the other night, and Danny. How do you take out a .380 or .360 hitter against lefties? He had one of the few line drives. At the time, the stolen base could have been big, if we got him in. Your big guys in the middle have to hit some. Weiss got on twice today. We didn't hit.

BOBBY COX: We had some chances to score. Again, we didn't get the big hit. Chipper got called out; runners at first and second on a pretty low pitch, there. I thought the umpiring was just outstanding, all the games. I thought the umpires behind the plate did a great job. I don't think there was even one argument on the field. I thought they did a super job.

BOBBY COX: I would still take our chances in a two-game series at home. It's unbelievable that we're 0-3 at home. So much for home field advantage. But I liked our chances a lot. Tommy, he had us right there. The one big inning that just -- and he wasn't hit hard that inning, just a lot of little things, but yet they still count. I thought they were smart. They tried to hit the ball. We were trying to hit the ball a little too hard for not being able to see it very good. It was really tough to see the ball at 4 o'clock.

BOBBY COX: That, I don't know. I'm just talking about Hitchcock. I just saw -- Kevin Brown and Ashby have been great for a number of years, but I like Dave a lot. And I thought I'd make that remark about Hitchcock, because he's on the outstanding side, this guy. I don't care who he pitches against, he's going to get them out.

BOBBY COX: Well, the base hit he got off of Maddux was a little ground ball. And this one was off the end of the bat that we dropped. They didn't give him a base hit on that, did they?

BOBBY COX: Well, you can call it any way you want. We had a great year. We lost today and it sure would be great to be playing tomorrow. That would be some matchup tomorrow, Maddux and Brown. If you don't get hot in these things, in certain games, you're just not going to win them. Somebody -- we just didn't swing the bats good enough today to really mount much of a threat. But I think the guys, I mean, they played hard all year. They kept their heads up even when we were 0-3. And they felt they could do it. We don't have anything to be ashamed of, and I respect the way they played all season. They carried themselves very well. We went about this thing from Spring Training with goals in mind, and we tried as hard as we could. And that about sums it up, actually.

BOBBY COX: I think so, simply because one of your goals is to get back there and win. And the World Series is an awful lot of fun. And maybe you came up short on your goals. But again, you could take that Houston ballclub and run right through anybody they play in the American League. They're not here, and the ball didn't go their way. At least we did get this far, and we just didn't -- we didn't make any luck today, to be honest with you. We didn't hit enough balls to have chances to fall in.

BOBBY COX: We were five runs down, and we had the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th to play with. We didn't think we were beat yet. But they got out of that inning, if we could have collected a couple there, and put pressure on them there, before they get to Hoffman in the 9th.

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