NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PADRES v BRAVES

October 12, 1998

Bruce Bochy

BRUCE BOCHY: Greg Vaughn's real close to being playable. He's listed at 80, 85 percent, in that area. Talking to our trainers, and team doctors, they felt like there was a risk if he went in the outfield tonight and that's why he's not in there. It was tough not to put him in, because he's ready to go, and they feel he's okay to go. But they feel he could use another couple of days.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I knew he would make a big difference in our club. I said this before: I didn't know he would make this big an impact. And we felt like when we acquired Kevin Brown, right away we felt like we were contenders again. And looking at our division, there's some good clubs there. So we didn't feel like we would be the favorites. The Giants won the year before. The Rockies made a lot of moves, and, of course, the Dodgers. But we felt like we were contenders, no question about it.

BRUCE BOCHY: Oh, great. They're having fun with this. And sure, we lost yesterday, but we're playing a good club. But the guys are very upbeat, and they're enjoying this time right now. And this is what you look forward to playing at this time of year and guys are handling it very well.

BRUCE BOCHY: I don't think so. Sure, we'd like to win one more game, and it would be nice to win here. But we had to play a couple of games in Atlanta to start this, and we won there. For us to put ourselves in that kind of situation where we're putting a lot of pressure on us, no, I don't think the club feels like that.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think anytime you get a front-line starter like Kevin Brown, who I consider one of the best pitchers in the game, it's made a huge impact. I think other pitchers feed off him. He's made them better pitchers. He's made us a better ballclub with the way he approaches the game and how he plays it. And you can tell from the start when he came over here that guys feed off the fire and intensity that he brings to every game he pitches.

BRUCE BOCHY: He might have. I think more than that, I think what Kevin Brown has done, being a No. 1 guy, how he approaches the game,. I think Dave Stewart has helped Andy Ashby, and I think it probably did take a little pressure off of him. But I think more so just watching someone like Kevin work, and Dave Stewart being in his head.

BRUCE BOCHY: John Vander Wal is in left field again.

BRUCE BOCHY: It's pretty intense. He wants to play. He feels like he's close enough to play, and after going through some drills there and talking to the trainers and talking to our team physician, they felt like there was a risk if he went in the outfield and played. And for me, I don't think it's time to take that risk. And it just felt like another couple of days, and he'll be real close to a hundred percent.

End of FastScripts….