MODERATOR: Mike Scioscia is in the interview room. Anything you want to say, Mike?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: First thing I want to say, I want to congratulate the San Francisco Giants on not only an incredible series against us, but an incredible season. Those guys are National League champions, they brought a great game that we had obviously our hands full trying to whip. What a great series. Dusty had those guys ready to play. They played a great series, a great team. I'd like to congratulate the Giants on a great season. They're an incredible team. They played a great series, they really did.
Q. We talk about your pitching, the amazing way they were able to go through the Giants with Lackey, Donnelly's two huge innings. Talk about that.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We knew we were going to be thin tonight. The pieces of the jigsaw fit perfectly. I think that's a credit to the way John Lackey pitched, Brendan Donnelly, two incredible innings, and Frankie Rodriguez, who had thrown 40 some pitches last night, to come back and give us an eighth inning like that, then Troy Percival finishing it up. What an effort from our pitchers, especially since we've been going to them quite a bit.
Q. How do you explain John Lackey, 125 days in the Major Leagues, pitching Game 7, three days' rest, how do you explain that?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think it's the makeup of John Lackey. You just have to look at what he's all about. This guy is not going to rattle, he's not going to be intimidated. If he's going to go out there and get beat, the other team is going to have to do it. I think he showed that tonight. What an effort from a youngster who started in Triple A, came up and gave us a big lift in our rotation the second half of the season. But to come back pitching out of the pen, during playoffs, coming back on three days' rest, he did everything we could have asked of him. What a job.
Q. If the series had ended last night, Barry Bonds would have likely been the MVP. Instead, a guy who is a little bit overlooked, won it.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I don't know about Troy ever being overlooked. He's not overlooked from my eyes. I think our whole team did what we had to do. Troy Glaus stepped up and did what big-game players do in a series like this. The hits he got for us were incredible. Just his presence in the lineup was incredible. Although it is a team effort, I think Troy absolutely brought his A-game to the series. You can see how talented he is.
Q. A lot of talk through this series, your hitting approach, spring training. Were things that bad last year? How radically different was this team going to have to play to do what you wanted to do?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Very subtle changes. Very subtle changes. Our team making the turn in September last year was eight games over .500 and just a game or two out of a wildcard berth before we collapsed in September. The year before, we weren't eliminated until four games to go in the season. In my mind, we were championship-caliber, just needed some things to fall into place. One of the things we approached -- we really emphasized this spring, just looking at our production last year, was our situational hitting was one of our Achilles heels last year. For the first meeting we had in spring training, I know Troy was in that meeting with four or five other guys. He remembers it well. We talked about the type of offense we needed to sustain the long haul, to get into the playoffs and to get to where we wanted to be. We planted the seed, and these guys, they picked it up and ran with it. They were getting on each other if they weren't executing in the situations they needed. I think that's very rewarding when you see a team go in a direction that you know is going to be positive. Our guys certainly did.
Q. In a way, does Brendan Donnelly epitomize everything your team is about?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: You know, it's funny. People get to a destination by taking different roads. Certainly, in our club, there's a lot of players that have taken different roads to get where we are right now as world champions. Brendan Donnelly and Ben Weber are two of the more incredible stories and journeys of perseverance and guys that never gave up, even though teams and coaches certainly gave up on them a number of times. What Brendan Donnelly has been through has become part of his makeup, and maybe he wouldn't be here right now if he didn't have to experience the tough road he did. This guy is as mentally tough as they come. I think he understands what he has to do to get hitters out. Even though he's been a late-bloomer putting it together, we would not be here right now if it wasn't for Brendan Donnelly and the job he did in our pen this year.
Q. We talk about excising the demons of this franchise, winning this World Championship, what it means not only for yourself, but this community?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: It's an incredible lift to this whole community. Our fan support has been incredible. I've only been here three years. Troy has been here a little over four. For me to look at the past, the Angels, they've had championships here. They've won divisions. They've never gotten to the level we have. This organization has a tremendous player-development system. They get guys in the Major Leagues that just never put it together at the Major League level. I don't look at that as demons as much as the pieces of a puzzle falling into place as they did for us this year. I can't comment on -- everyone talks about a curse, demons, 40 years to get to the playoffs. I've only experienced the last three, and they've been incredible. For us to get to this level is very, very rewarding.
MODERATOR: Thanks.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Thank you.
End of FastScripts.
