NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PADRES v BRAVES

October 10, 1998

Bobby Cox

Denny Neagle

BOBBY COX: You know, actually I think not working out probably was a good thing. We've played this park many times. And we know the angles in the outfield are a little different. And probably not working out probably helped them more than going ahead and having a workout. And it may be a blessing in disguise. The field looks terrific. The ground crew here -- this happened to us once before when Navy played here last season, and the field was turned around and it looked super. It looks great now. You've got a ground crew you can really be proud of. I don't know how they do it, but they do it.

BOBBY COX: Well, some guys can hit in them and some can't. Once you start spreading around the dugout, "I can't see the ball," pretty soon everybody is afflicted with that disease. I don't think Tony Gwynn has trouble seeing that time of day. Those shadows are tough, and you can't see the spin properly, and it makes it double tough. The concentration has to go to a different level with these hitters. It's tougher, you bet it is.

BOBBY COX: I would, personally, but invariably somebody is going to come back mad, and say "I can't see the God damned ball," you know.

BOBBY COX: I think it's around the largest crowd, yeah. We don't have a stadium we play in that can accommodate that many people anywhere. Maybe it will help us. You know, the home field advantage, sure didn't do much for us. Maybe seeing all the seats full will help. It still comes down to holding the other team, and hope that you cross home plate one more time than they do. The hometown crowd or the home field advantage put the Yankees, '96 that one year, we went up the first year, and slugged the ball all over the place, and came home and got swept by them. There's certain ball parks -- years ago, certain clubs that Ozzie Smith played on with Coleman and Willie McGee and those guys, if the Cardinals opened up, I think the home field advantage in those days, that would have been huge for that team, because they were an astroturf team.

BOBBY COX: No, Denny is ready to go, chomping at the bit. And we've got all the confidence in the world with Denny. Denny got nipped last year for the Cy Young; had another stellar season this year, and had plenty of rest. And Denny is on top of his game right now. So I just feel we need to go to Denny.

DENNY NEAGLE: I don't think so. I think we know we ran up against some good pitching with the San Diego Padres. We knew we wanted to jump out and get the first game against Ashby. He's a great pitcher, too, but going in Game 2 with Kevin Brown we would have our hands full. But it seems like particularly in the postseason he's been on top of his game. We knew it would be a hard fought, pitching type games, and that's what it turned out to be. Unfortunately, we've been on the short end. As far as the mood, everybody is not down, not pressing about anything. We've had a lot of guys in the locker room that have been through the wars before, and they know what to expect. Bobby and I talked about it today. We are going to go out and try to win one game and go from there.

DENNY NEAGLE: Last time I pitched was the second to the last game of the season, two innings in relief. And it works out that way. They haven't needed me the last couple of years in the division series. Last year I was to start the 4th game of the series, and I got a couple of games in the first game of the LCS and then this year made my start. I had some bursitis in my shoulder, but it's better now. Got some cortisone shots, and got my rest, and I feel confident starting.

DENNY NEAGLE: I got it right after the season was over. So it gave me time before the division series started, and obviously plenty of time now to get my rest. That's what you need when you get a cortisone shot you need three or four days off. It takes a couple of weeks to get out of there. It's just what the doctor ordered, and like I said I'm feeling confident, I'm feeling healthy and ready to go.

DENNY NEAGLE: Well, I don't think so for the type of pitcher I am. I've always been a controlled pitcher. I'm not one that's sometimes effectively wild or anything like that, anyway. I think the telltale for me, which it always is is the first inning. You go out there and get the butterflies out of your system. And obviously like we talked about earlier, the fact I haven't pitched in a regular season or any kind of postseason game yet, those are the type of things you have to go through and experience first, to get out of your system. And usually if I get through the first inning and settle down, I'm good from there. But I don't expect to incur any kind of control problems or anything like that tomorrow.

DENNY NEAGLE: It started like -- I missed two starts before the -- my last start of the season. And it kind of started -- more or less towards the end of August. Usually most pitchers go through the dead arm or sore arm season. And I pitched through a couple of starts where it was nagging. And that's when I needed some time off, and just kind of got some treatment at that point, but it was a little bit nagging. That's where I injured myself. As far as I know, I can get through an injury or soreness, if if it's impinging me or nagging me, or if it's annoying a little bit, and something you can pitch through. When I got to the point I couldn't follow through and get my release point, I knew I had to miss a couple of starts. And at that point it helped me out. And the fact was that fortunately with the first one they didn't need me. And right now it worked out I didn't pitch in the first game in relief. It's been what the doctor ordered. It's no longer nagging. I've thrown to some BP hitters and to the side. I was ready to go in the division series, and it's felt good every time I've been warming up and throwing for the hitters, so I'm confident it's better.

DENNY NEAGLE: It was just an an accumulation of innings. Like I said, I think every pitcher goes through it once or twice during the course of a season. It's just a matter of -- like we talked about, whether it's something a slight bit of fatigue or soreness or something like that, or if it gets to the point where it really does impinge you or bother you that much so you can't throw a good side shot without it bothering you. I'd throw in the bullpens or it took a long time to get loose for some of my starts; that's when you know you've got an injury, when it takes a long time to get loose and after you start it starts bothering you right after you start pitching. At that point I knew I had to do something.

DENNY NEAGLE: My shoulder. That's where I get my pain or soreness, in the back of my shoulder. And I've had it almost all the time in the years past. Every pitcher goes through it. It's just at this point it was impinging me too much, and I needed to nip it in the bud.

DENNY NEAGLE: I had a cortisone shot -- actually never really in my pitching shoulder. This is the first time I needed it in my pitching shoulder. Last year I had the weird injury in my right shoulder. I tore my right rotator cuff, and had some cortisone shots there. Leave it to a left-hander to do that in his right shoulder. I've had cortisone shots before, but not in the pitching shoulder.

DENNY NEAGLE: I think that's what I'm feeling on this year, and I'm going to try to remember what I did last year, and the fact that I was talking about earlier the fact that I didn't pitch in the division series last year. And it had been a while, like 9 or 10 days since I had picked up a ball in any kind of game, and it worked out last year that Bobby got me to three innings in Game 1, and we lost to the Marlins in the NLCS. It kind of knocked the rust off. But had I not pitched in the first game, I would have felt confident going into that game. Because last year, I had the right shoulder, I had to get another shot before the -- even though it was my right shoulder, I had to alter my mechanics, and I felt confident, and I picked up where I left off. And that's what I foresee tomorrow. I don't think the time off right now has hurt me at all. I think it's helped me, if anything, and I expect to go out there and be on top of my game and give our team the best chance to win the game tomorrow.

DENNY NEAGLE: It's one of those weird things in baseball. You own certain teams, you own certain hitters, and vice-versa. Sometimes there's a certain team you can't get out or I hitter you can't get out. Tony Gwynn, in my eyes and a lot of eyes, is probably the best hitter in baseball. But I've taken the approach that I don't try to make the nasty pitches against Tony. When you do make the perfect pitch, you're playing into his ballgame because he's watching for it. Johnson threw a slider, and he lays it down the left field line, and that's how good Tony is. I take the approach, I go after him aggressively and make good quality strikes, good quality pitches, I should say. I don't try to make the perfect pitch. I attack them with strikes, because you're pretty much not going to strike him out. He strikes out once every 90 at-bats, it seems. Go after him aggressively, and hopefully he hits it at somebody, and I hope he does it again tomorrow.

DENNY NEAGLE: My approach isn't going to change. I took the approach last year, when we were down 2 games to 1 against the Marlins series last year, and actually the year before that, '96 NLCS against the Cardinals, we were down two games when I started in Game 4. Sometimes it does get frustrating that you get the questions: Do you think they'll go back to Smoltz, or bring back Maddux. And I have enough confidence in my ability to focus under these situations that I go out there with the same approach, that I'm going to attack these guys with my best stuff, and like I said give our team a chance to win the ballgame. Whether we're up three games to nothing, or up three games to nothing, whatever it is, my approach is if we do lose the series, I'm not going to look back and say I was too nervous or fell a little short in my start. I want to look at myself this winter and say I did give everything I had. And if we lose, we lose. But I have to give the team the best chances to win the game.

End of FastScripts….